Pockmarked Windshield

M-B seems to use glass that's a bit softer than other makes and that accounts for some of it BUT the M-B glass doesn't crack as easily from flying pebbles as the others' glass. A softer glass will pit from grit and pebbles thrown up from the roadway. The only prevention is to keep a greater following distance.

You may be able to polish out the light scratches with Glasswax or similar fine abrasive products but don't expect a miracle!

Ya' know, I've always kind of wondered about windshields. I have a '72 Merz with around 155K miles on it, and the original windscreen, and it's fine. My mother had a '90 300D 2.5 and my father a '91 350SDL, and they put about the same mileage on them over the years, but the 300D

2.5 had its windshield become virtually opaque from sand damage at 100K miles, and the '91 still has its original windscreen at 172K miles. Figureing that it has the same glass in it, I sort of developed this little theory, which is utterly baseless, that the more swept back the windscreen is, the more likely it is to get hit by grains of sand at high speed whereas a more up and down windscreen has a buffer of air in front of it that slows sand before it hits the windscreen. Then again, maybe my mother just drove like a bat out of hell.

Not my experience. My 2002 has had 2-3 pits/stars repaired and, just recently, we had to replace the windshield. We drive the same routes, more or less, for years and other vehicles have not suffered so. (Of course, they had other problems.)

Kal

They do that. It's bits of grit and gravel that do that, at speed.

There's really nothing that can be done except enjoy how wonderfully clear a new windshield is.

Anything that abrades away pockmarks and scratched would be an abarasive, not a wax.

Cerium oxide is what you use to remove scratches in glass. it's a LOT of work.

If you get the windshield wet you'll notice it looks brand new as the water fills in the tiny holes.

Anything that will do permanently what water does temporarily what water does would "fix" this problem but I reckon the lack of a commercial product that deos this means nothing is a practical material.

When they repair cracks they use an epoxy. In theory you could do the entire windshield but you'd need to polish it and it will get scuffec very very easily.

The last time I needed a 126 windshiled I paid $250 installed a couple of years ago for a new one. Shop around, in person, explain you'll pay cash and find a bargin. That's the way to get the clearest windshield for the least money.

All mine fromt eh 60's 70's and 80's are the same. After a few years they're pockmarked. New oens get pockmarked. I really don't think there's much if any difference in glass... but I think roads are different and so are drivers.

I said that it was a baseless theory, but it is my baseless theory, and I'm sticking to it.

Also, roads and drivers do not explain the difference in wear between windshields. My parents drove the same roads at the same time, and my father mostly drove them a little faster. The two windscreens showed definitively different results. Some do wear more than others under the same circumstances.

And a fine baseless theory it is.

Huh. I don't even know if the glass came from the same manufacturors. Could is be the shape and aerodynamics of the car coming into play as well?

It could be anything including the color of the paint. That's why it's a baseless theory.

Actually it's not, it basic aerodynamics.