Cleaning Plastic Windows

[Black Bart]

I have a John Deere with a cab and snow blower for winter time. This summer I left it sit out for awhile and the automatic sprinkler sprayed it several times. No problem with the paint but the plastic windows have a yellow brownish coating that I thought was lime from hard water. First I tried using my PC with a finishing pad and plastic polish it didn't touch it. Next I used #9 no luck then I tried #83 no luck. I then tried lime away no luck. Then I tried muriatic acid but was afraid that it would damage the window so I only used a small amount on a paper towel and it smoked when I wiped it on but it did not remove whatever is on the window. Next I used 1500 sand paper and wet sanded by spraying lime away while sanding no luck it still their.
SO what do I use to clean this plastic window hate to replace them. Anyone have idea.?????

[Mike Phillips]

Here's what I would try,

First, contact John Deere and try to find out if this is Lexan or something like Acrylic or Plexiglas.

Then try to find out if it's coated, if it's coated that means your out of luck because to abrade the plastic would mean to abrade the coating.

I have never had much luck buffing sanding marks out of Lexan. Just because you couldn't do it with a PC however doesn't mean you're working on Lexan as the PC is not very effective at removing sanding marks.

If you're lucky... it's Plexiglas, the reason I say this is because Plexiglas is very easy to polish as it reacts well to abrading and polishing. Just about every other plastic is more difficult, or impossible.

A simple approach would be to try rubbing in some PlastX using a peice of terry cloth or a microfiber applicator pad.

If it is simple Plexiglas, you can use our #1 Medium cut cleaner with a rotary buffer at about 1500 rpm followed by #3 Machine Glaze. This combination should remove the defects and restore clarity.