Anyone know what causes this?
 

I've owned my Honda Fit for four years now...can't figure out what this is.
Driving into the sun....there is always a distinct glimmering cable like light.
It's ends are at the sun and the other end is my drivers side headlight.
It's distracting when driving. Once the sun is over 60-70 degrees...it decreases.
I asked on the Fit Freak Forum and nobody had the same problem.

Any ideas? Windshield is dirty in pic...does the same when super clean. Pic was taken this am...lots of thunder clouds, the sun is above the pic

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1598739444.jpg

It's called a "dirty windshield". Buy a windscreen polish kit to thoroughly clean the windshield. You use a drive through car wash don't you?

Nope...almost never use a car wash.
I use 'magic eraser' inside and out to scour the glass, followed by Sprayway glass
cleaner using only micro-fiber cloths.

The pic shown, is just after a storm came through and the ext glass is dirty.
It does the same when clean.

Passenger side wiper. That is where it stops on the up stroke, and has scratched the glass. Same with our 2002 Accord.

^^^ OK...but why does the 'cable image' move when I slide over in the seat?
If it was the glass..wouldn't it stay in the same spot?

your windshield has a certain thickness. and it's laminated.

the light breaks on the mark on the outside..
that makes it move on the inside

Shortly after taking the above pic...I stopped and slid over as far as I could into the passenger seat.
It was still there..but shifted to about a foot over to the left.
The scratched glass would cause that?

Because it's more like a smear of a chemical film or thousands of concentric scratches.

Think of it as being like swirl marks on paint, except they are on a windshield and the swirl is the size of the circle created by the windshield wipers.

I think it's worth a shot at cleaning the hell out of it.

It's not a scratch. It's some interaction with the various layers in the glass. Probably not fixable without changing the windshield.

As for the interior....I've cleaned it so much that it's like new...It's amazingly clear.
If it's exterior scratches...what's the answer...other than a new windshield?

That's more of what I'm thinking. I just wonder why no other Fit owners have seen the same.

That’s hard to say. If I were you, I’d try to get on the phone to a customer service engineer at a glass manufacturer, send them pictures and get their opinion. If it turns out it’s a defect in the glass, I’d ask Honda for a new one.

Probably this. Light refracts as it passes through glass. That's how eye glasses work, as we all know. Glass and all other transparent substances have a specific refractive index (RI). The windshield probably has outer layers with different RIs than the inner glass layer. This causes concentrated light where you are seeing it, only occurring at one small range of angles in relation to your eye. It's kind of like a rainbow, except the light isn't getting split into different colors. If all layers had the same RI, this wouldn't happen.

Is it a factory Honda or replacement windshield?

Not sure...I'll have to check that out later.
It's a 2010 with 230K miles...so I think my Honda options are gone.

The new purchase Fit has a very wide and very flat windscreen.
(That was the first thing noticed)
And the very first thing I applied on it was original formula RainX. Warm and dry day.

It is difficult to tell, but that visual effect might be from layers contained within an replacement windshield..
A flaw.
Or not.
If the new glass is overly aftermarket strong...

^^^ I use the original formula rainx also.
I spent more time on the interior glass...than I have on the ext body. The prev owner was a smoker and the smoke film took a lot to remove. Magic erasers were the best for cutting it.

Oh daym. I understand.

Now you are talking about 3-4 coats of primer, to clean up, after previous tenants were burning candles indoors.
Just to make new wall paint primer even stick.

It has the Honda H and and says Lami-Pane Nippon Safety
so I guess it's factory?

My 2010 Toyota Rav 4 has the same issue. I've cleaned the hell out of it and it's still there. Hoping for a kicked up stone to chip the windshield so my ins. will pay for it.

That would be my guess.

Hmm...same year as mine.:confused:

Search windshield refraction. Some of it suggests the light beam is the result of accumulated micro sand/debris pitting. If so, polish or replace.

That, since he says his windshield is clean, then it's due to scratches. In the pic, you can see that the line in perpendicular to the scratches made by the windshield wiper which points to the issue being those scratches.

This is why I replaced my Taco windshield. What a difference!

When I first got the car and noticed it....I realized that the lower end of the 'light cable' was always hooked to the drivers side headlight...even sitting in the passenger seat.
Made me wonder if something in the drivers headlight was bent and reflecting the sunlight into the windshield. If that were the case, I would look into replacing that one.
I don't know how it could do that, but it's puzzling.

You guys are killing me with all the theories. It's the wiper.

I had a crack develop on my old jeep and the plastic between the glass did almost exactly what you have. the crack never grew but the discoloration did. I think it was the plastic between the glass panes got oxidized.

Find a similar Fit and test drive it in a similar situation.

I asked on the Fit Freak Forum...there were no similar experiences. (the forum is like this one)
I have not driven another 2010.
Yesterday, after reading on here about how it had to be exterior dirt or scratches, I took about an hour of scrubbing with magic eraser over and over, trying to remove any dirt or streaks.
This morning, I drove it east (into the sun) and the 'light cable' was more pronounced that ever. It's definitely not dirt.

You might have micro scratches from using the magic eraser? I'd get one of the windscreen polishing kids and go over it.

The 'light cable' was there before I ever used the erasers

With some patience use Bon-Ami and sparing amount of water with a soft sponge on the outside glass. It won't scratch the glass, but will lift out the dirt and oils from the pores of the surface. It works. Also FYI, non OE windshields are not ground ( optically ) as finely and accurately as the manufacturer version.

^^^ I did that with the 'erasers'....no difference. It's an OE windshield.
Happy to listen to any possible answers to this problem.
Thanks

Clay bar then polish. If it is still there after buffing it is probably inside, between the layers. Maybe the glass and plastic have delaminated in that area.

I have scoured and cleaned both the int and ext of the glass. All it does is make the 'light cable' more bright. It's definitely not a cleaning problem.
If it's a glass layer problem...I may just live with it. Not worth replacing the windshield with 230K miles on it.

I'd either just replace the windshield, or live with it.

^^^ With the mileage on the car....I'll prob just live with it.
The car is a great, fun driving car. I really enjoy how it drives. But, with 230K miles, I know it's days are numbered.
It rips through the gears and still gets 40mpg. Never owned a car like it.

That would be my guess as well.

The Fit has a large square windshield.
Chassis flex may concentrate that load into a certain vertical line point after a decade.
(Right turns more than left turns.)
That might create just enough flex to separate the sealed layers ever so sightly, but not enough to create an obvious blemish.