Car question
 

Has anyone ever tried getting those tiny little scratches from years of windshield wiper use buffed out? Our car is getting old, but it's running great. Only complaint I have with it is that the windshield is a little hard to see through when the sun is low. There are no deep scratches, just the hazy looking fine scratches from washing a dirty windshield with the wiper blades.

How much does buffing it out cost? Does it work? Is it something you can do yourself?

1) Be sure you have full glass coverage on your insurance policy.
2) Call your insurance company and say you need a new windshield because you can no longer see out of the old one.
Depending on your company, they will have no problem with this. If they do, hit the window with a ball pein hammer and tell them a rock flew off a truck tire w/o mudflaps.

Imagining glatt as Gary Cooper in The Fountainhead: "NOW it's broken and needs to be replaced." ha ha ha

I am noticing the glare formt he scratches on the Focus windshield at the moment, i think it's the low sun when I drive.

back in the UK we had an old car and once it got a chip and the repair guy said a repair is free, a whole new windhshileld is 50 quid deductable.
I went with a whole new screen and thought it was well worth it.

I just had a chip repaired on the Focus so asked about it, apparently the deductible for a replacemnt is $250 :(, my agent said if it needed it they could recommend local shops that would probably do it cheaper and not go through the insurance. :eek:

You should check your company and see if they offer full glass coverage. There should be no deductible. Full glass coverage is usually only about $50/yr but may only be available if you carry comprehensive coverage.

I'm pretty sure this car is so old we got rid of the insurance except for liability.

I see kits for buffing windows with an abrasive compound for like $50. Anyone ever use one? Unfortunately, I don't have a compressor set-up, so air tools don't do anything for me. I can't use one.

I buffed out headlight lenses with a corded drill and attachment that was $20. I used fiberglass rubbing compound. I know its a different surface material, but was just sharing that experience.

The "kit" we bought to do the headlights didn't work at all.

A pro may be able to do it properly, but the people I've seen people try the abrasive compounds, all ended up with distortions.
I've found it easier to just run into Philly, and have them pop in a new one for $160.

Another tack might be to fill the scratches with something that has a similar refractive index. Canada Balsam is used to cement lens elements together, so as long as you only use your car in nice weather...

What about rainx?

I heard that! :mad:

I got my oil changed, and they reccommend I replace my tires. They're 2 years/20000 miles old. It seems soon; the car manual says there should be annual checks after five years.

But maybe the tires were low quality when new, or the snow last winter took a toll, or my driving style uses them up. I have noticed they squeal on one sharp turn on my commute even if I'm driving 15mph.

sounds like you need to put air in them. Thats very common with the weather change after a long hot summer.

I've been doing that... a lot. The tire pressure light goes on with every temperature change and more, and I had one pressure sensor replaced when it had a slow leak itself (according to the garage, who couldn't find any other leaks). The dealer says they "reset" the sensor, so maybe it was the computer instead of the tires.

But I have been keeping them full.

Are you checking them with one of these?
http://www.2carpros.com/how_does_it_...sure_gauge.jpg

Yeah.

ok then what computer and/or sensor are you talking about?

I'm not certain what exactly was reset in the pressure sensor system; the sensor(s) in the tire(s) and/or the computer.

I've had bad luck with the pencil style tire pressure gauges. The dial kind seem a lot better to me.

I'm guessing there is some onboard computer that tells you when your tires are low. Is that it?

@ glatt - yeh me too, but for ease of recognition I posted the other. I think they are more common.

Yeah. There's a dashboard indicator light, so it's a good assumption there's software for it in the computer.

gotcha. Thats where the confusion was.

Oh, right. The indicator goes on, but it doesn't tell me much, so I then check each tire with a gauge.

I hate to be greedy when most cars don't have a dashboard light at all, but it would be very nice if the indicator could show which tire(s) were low. The computer must know; it probably even knows the PSI, but all it shows is the flat tire symbol.

Yeh all that seems a bit much to me. What kind of car is it anyway?

Civic Hybrid.

Civic Hybrid with the beta pressure gauge?

I have no idea.

O hai Brian. :blush:

I always thought you were just supposed to do the penny test on the tread...? Or is the mechanic the one telling you it's a hypothetical slow leak that's causing the need for replacement, not the tread?

I suspect the style of driving, mostly urban, with a high ratio of turning to miles driven, is taking it's toll. 20K is a lot of miles under those conditions. Stick to tire pressure posted on the door jamb sticker. If it's a range, use the high end.
It's easy enough to tell if the tires are worn out, as the wear bar will show across the tread.

They reccommended replacement due to the tread. I haven't checked it myself, but if 20000 is a reasonable replacement time for urban driving, I expect they're right.

The slow leak issue was a different garage; a tire was low less than two weeks after I had filled them, so I asked them to look at it. Their verdict was replacing the pressure sensor due to a slow leak around it.

20,000 miles was why almost all American tire companies were sold to foreigners. Radials in the early days did at least 40,000 miles. 10K and 20K were what were obsolete technology bias belt tires did before 1975. Yes, 10K and 20K is that much unacceptable.

How did the tire wear? Equally across the tread?

My first Honda Accord did 107,000 miles on the first set of tires. My second Accord only did 98,000.

All tires work just fine even at 20 PSI. But because Firestone was intentionally making tires that killed people, then hyped 'low pressure', well many are still brainwashed by that myth.

You maintain higher pressure so that tires last longer. But no radial tire must wear out in 20,000 miles. Again, because so many will ignore the question - How did the tire wear? Describe it.

Tire sensor: none are calibrated. You inflate the tire. Then tell the computer when the sensor's number is perfect pressure. The computer says low pressure when that number changes too much. But if not told what is normal pressure, then a computer may define normal pressure as low pressure. The whole thing is really unnecessary - a legacy of Firestone (now called Bridgestone) that was intentionally killing people. Then blaming a car owner for myths such as low tire pressure.

The car maker picks the oem tire for the attributes the want, and calculates the proper pressure from the cars weight so the tire will keep its tread flat on the road. Too high, or low, pressure will cause the tire to wear out the center or edges of the tread prematurely.


Also, it seems Civics for '06, '07, and part of '08, have a control arm problem, that causes vibration and tire wear.

Ive worked in used cars for a dealership for 10 years, buffing will make the glass "look" better but wont change the integrity. Glass pros can fill chips and stop cracks from spreading but no miracles when it come to wiper wear.Time for a new windshield

Welcome to the Cellar, dschuyler. :D
I think you're right, time to find an affordable new one.

I got about 10,000 miles on the last set of tires on my motorcycle, but they were pretty worn out by the time I replaced them. In fact, they were so thin along the center that you could see the air inside.

Bikes are a whole other case, because you're using sections of the tread at different times, unlike cars that try to keep the tread flat as much as possible.
A squealing tire on a car, at 15 mph, indicates low tire pressure (likely) or faulty suspension weight distribution (far less likely), like lifting an unladen wheel.

Thanks!

Those scratches can make windshield wipers operate less efficiently. So I would car wax the windshield. Those tiny scratches are filled with wax making the wipers operate without streaks recreated by those scratches.

But I have never had a windshield so damaged as to so seriously refract sunlight. The wax might fill those scratches - obstructing light that would otherwise be refracted by the imperfection. But there is no alternative to glass replacement if the glass is that scratched.

I worked for a guy once who killed a pedestrian. Low sun hitting his glass meant he did not see the pedestrian; ran him over with the truck. Too many scratches creating sun obstructed vision should not be ignored.

That happens to me at least once a week.

Let's not even count the number of hobos you kill per week

I scratch little lines on the front fender.

How many Census workers did you unemploy now that they have less people to go look for and count?

If they're unemployed, does that make them hobos?

According to Limaugh, they were paid so much more by Obama that they no longer have to work. According to Limbaugh, that was stimulus money.

According to Limbaugh, it will be harder for you to become an Ace. I believe you will need ten hobos to become a double Ace.

Hobo stimulus. :lol2:

tw, you are too funny!

Driving While under Stimulus

Oh Hobo. Let me play my oboe
Let me drive like I was blind.
If I am distracted. A charge redacted
Then I have achieved murder without a crime.

Oh walker. I am a talker.
Let me drive my mobile cell.
If I hit right. And can take flight.
Then more notches and compacted swine.

I have a car issue.

When I start the engine, a fair amount of water suddenly drips out from underneath (say, 1/4 cup or so.) Almost underneath the driver's seat, but a little more towards the middle. It is definitely not dripping before the engine starts, and it is definitely water and not some other fluid. Over the next 30 seconds to a minute, it gradually stops. This happens every time I start the car, and only started maybe a week ago.

What's going on? And please tell me it is not an expensive thing to fix.

sounds to me like the condensation from the A/C is building up and pushed out when the engine starts. Is the A/C or fan ON when you start the car?
There is a little drain "hose" under the dash somewhere that is probably leaking because it came off or dryrotted or or or. I had it happen in my Nissan on the passenger side. It must have been accidentally kicked off at one point and cost a total of $0 to fix.

Yes, the A/C is always left on because it's a thousand degrees here. :) I knew condensation could drip, but I didn't realize it could build up in some reservoir. Is it something that really matters? Could I (make Mr. Clod) get under there and reattach an obvious hose, or is it a more internal thing?

It is probably (if this is what it is) very easy to fix and Mr. Clod should be able to do it no problem. If the male end where the hose connects is broken it could be another matter.
If the hose just got knocked off, its nothing more than slipping it back on.
I have a feeling one of my kids, when they were younger like yours, accidentally knocked it loose. Have him take a look and see where its dripping from when you start the car.

Oh and I won't do the need additional data, facts, info post yet. ;)

The cartalk guys also talk about that hose getting clogged and the reservoir overflowing.

So it's just water, right? If it leaks in the wrong place, will it even cause rust or mildew in a car in drought stricken arid Texas? You would think it would just evaporate quickly. Why fix it at all?

Keep a bottle to collect the water. You might need it later.

Good point, Pete.

I've got a car question.

Rough idle.
The car is old. After it warms up from driving around, when I stop at a light and push in the clutch, or shift out of gear, it goes into an idle where it's pretty rough. The CDs in the door pocket start to rattle against each other. The hard roof liner starts to vibrate against the roof. If I apply a little pressure to the accelerator and ever so slightly rev the engine, the vibrations and roughness go away. It does not have a rough idle when cold. (I understand the computer sends different signals to the engine when it is still cold than when it has warmed up and the fuel mixture is different then.) It is not rough when driving. This has been going on for a couple months.

How to improve? We had new spark plugs and wires (and presumably distributor cap?) replaced about 30K miles ago as part of a tune up done then, so they should still be good.

It has 115K miles now. We did that first (only) tune up at about 85K.

I could just go replacing stuff, but would like to know where a good place to start is. I was thinking fuel injectors. We've never done anything with those. Are clogged fuel injectors likely to cause symptoms only during idle?

Oh, this is a 1996 Geo Prizm LSI with the 1.6 liter engine and manual transmission. 115K miles. Starts fine. Drives fine. But idle is rough. Never stalls.

OH! OH! Is the check engine light on?

That's an unusual combination of symptoms; but, I've experienced something like it. In my case, I noticed that it initially occurred during periods of high humidity and was exacerbated by cold-wet weather. It was a minor distraction that I put off having checked out for a few months until the condition began rapidly deteriorating to nearly disabling the vehicle. It turned out to be a faulty oxygen sensor which I had replaced under warranty.

Glatt, good news! That is a super easy fix.

Look to the right of the steering wheel for one of these. Twist the knob on the Left CLOCKWISE until the sound of the rough idling disappears. If you turn it all the way clockwise and you still hear the rough idle you may need to get a new one.

that's the check engine light override knob, isn't it?

Yep. And the better ones go all the way up to 11...