Looking for a windshield PPF for my C8.
My C7 windshield was "sandblasted" after a few years.

 

You could consider apply a layer of ceramic coating yourself, by using something like AvalonKing ceramic or any other 9H grade ceramic coating and simply wipe it on and let it cure for a day, which will add a layer of hardness to the windshield surface and reduce some scratches. Spending more than that probably wouldn't make much sense since you could just replace the whole windshield after a few years if it gets' badly scratched.

 

ExoShield nanoceramic windshield protection film.

 

clearplex is a brand or bray or exoshield as mentioned here

all do a good job had it on it 570s for 18k miles and no issues


5k miles in my c8

 

Its glass. How does one "add a layer of hardness" to it??

 

The names of these products are hilarious. May as well name them Unicorn Oil or Fairydust Sealant...

 

 

I love watching pit crew pulling the tear offs from the windshield during a stop. F1 drivers use them on their visors also. They aren't a permanent solution, but you can look into them for use on a long road trip. Stack a few and peel them off every few hundred miles.
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In a practical sense, the whole 'eleventy billion h' hardness nonsense associated with coatings is just that...nonsense. The 'hardness' added by a coating is so negligible it's irrelevant. Coatings provide a lot of nice benefits but scratch, chip resistance and hardness ain't among them.

 

I'm thinking I need something either DIY or available (quickly) at NCM for the drive home (1,700 miles). Can this film be purchased and DIY or is there a 'installer" at or near BG?

 

You can use either of those companies websites to find installers anywhere. For example, Exoshield has the following listed:

Auto Armor Window Tinting and Paint Protection
Installer
CERTIFIED
505 Kimberlee A. Fast Drive
Bowling Green, Kentucky 42103
615-553-4015

Clearplex is made by Madico, but I could not find any installers within 25 miles of Bowling Green.

 

I did this on my last car. Works great (clearplex) just be aware it scratches easily. But know that the need untouched windshield is still in tact underneath. Can swap that film out where couple few years and keep it crystal clear. Knowing how integral a windshield is to the car? It's money well spent if chips in glass drive you nuts. I know they do for me.

 

I bought and used the AvalonKing ceramic coating for the car, and after I saw their website showing that the ceramic coating can also apply to the windshield, I contacted their customer support asking about the effect of applying it to the windshield, and they told me that, because 9H ceramic coating is suppose to form a hard top layer over the surface where it's applied. So I applied the coating to the windshield of my C8 as well. What they meant was that the ceramic coating offers the same kind of scratch resistance, whatever that might be, as it does to the car body paint after applying on the car. And by scratch, it certainly does not mean strong force scratch such as stones or chips or metal hitting it, but minor force scratches such as sand or dust blasted over the surface.


It may turn out to be the case as you said that it's so negligible that may not help. I just took what AvalonKing told me and applied to both car body and windshield. Based on some reports and body shop videos, a true 9H level of ceramic coating is so hard that after it's been applied to the car body, it can not be simply wiped off, and detailers would have to use special buff or sander to remove it before they could do paint correction and re-apply the ceramic coating. I think time will tell if the coating will help keep the minor scratches down over its lifetime of a few years. I never used this before, but I am holding a wait-and-see attitude to see if it makes any difference in terms of keeping the surface to its original form.

 

How much do either of these two options cost?