Decided to clean my car today since it was beautiful, 65 and sunny. Touched up on all the pits, scratches, and chips also. I've had a problem with the windshield shrouding for about 2 years now (my car is about 2 and a half) in which, over time, the clear coat just seemed to disappear. You'll see in the pictures what I mean. Today I decided to just "what the hell" it and use some rubbing compound on it. I figured it couldn't make it look worse than it already did. Now I'll let you guys be the judge and tell me if it was a stupid idea or not. I think it looks 100 times better now, personally, but I don't know if I did any more damage to anything. A little info, all I did was use the rubbing compound, then buff.


Before:


After (excluding the middle, which I did after this photo):


I can actually see my face now.

 

Looks better But is this a trick ? i can"t see your face Danny

 

OK, you did good.

Seriously though, I see a big improvement in the side panel but no real difference in the top one.

 

What rubbing solution did you use?

 

I hadn't actually done the top panel yet before that picture. I wanted a side-by-side comparison. I did finish it though, and they all are nearly identical.

 

This stuff: Turtle Wax - Premium Rubbing Compound

It works pretty well, as you can see.

The circular pads I used were black with paint from doing this by the way. I still don't know what that means, nor if I did something bad to my paint or not. I guess it doesn't really matter, since it was terrible before I started, and now it looks much better.

 

I don't think that I have ever seen a windshield surround in that bad of shape before. Is this a common occurrence on black surrounds?

 

Shapeshifter

I to have a 2007 black base coupe. I bought it almost new (1000mi) . I didn't notice the haze on the surround till a couple of days after I got it home. I was so happy to have a Crossfire I probably wouldn't have noticed if it was missing a tire. Anyway, I looked around the forum and asked some questions and I finally used "Meguiars ScratchX 2.0"

I did it according to the directions, pushing pretty hard when applying,buffing by hand. I had to do it twice but it came out great. Waxed the whole car with "Meguiars NXT Tech Wax 2.0" and the car looks great.
I did this about a year ago and it still looks great.
We are not the only ones that had this problem, but seems like it might be a 2007 base problem. Most members have Limited models with silver surrounds so they dont know. All there problems are with power seats, heated seats and cup holders, which we know nothing about.
Ask Mike-in-Orange what he thinks. He works for Meguiars.

Hope this helps let me know how the shine holds up.

Joejet
2007 Black base Coupe 71597 (with a shiny black surround)
Oklahoma City
PS I would post pictures but I dont know how

 

I too have a 2007 base coupe and my windshield surrounds were in that bad of shape if not worse. If your car is under factory warranty they will replace them for free. I went a few weeks ago. Of course Chrysler sent two good pieces and one was damaged so now i have one side and the top looking good and the one side looks Awful!

so if your under warranty leave it ugly and take it to the dealer asap!

 

Side looks good but top one needs rubbing too. Also that windshield seal is an eye sore.

 

I know what you mean. I'm still trying to figure out how to get it out of there.

 

doug, joejet, and anyone else- does anyone know if this is a common thing on the base models? Or just 2007s?

I had talked to a dealer before about it and they said they could fix it, but I never got around to letting them have my car for a month while they say they are working on it.

 

I have a 2005 base and just got done working on a friends 2006 base, both of the surrounds look great. If mine looked like yours did I would want to kill someone, the compound def made it look better.

I would love for anyone else with a base to chime in, I wonder if it was only a 2007 issue?? Which, in and of itself, would be strange Why would they change the process after several years, maybe bad parts, paint or prep I suppose.....

 

I have a 2005 base coupe and after 4 years in the hot south Texas sun my surround looks perfect. And I used to park it for hours outside in the direct sunlight while at work so it has taken a lot of abuse from the sun.

The only thing I notice is a small thin line circle around the center of the top. It looks like a water spot but it is not. I tried compounding but it won't come out. You have to really look at it from the right angle in order to see it.

 

I have a 2007 base black coupe also. My surrounds look kind of anodized - almost purple in certain light. I'm wondering if the dealer will replace them - they just pop out. I hear from others that there are silver stick on pieces available. I don't know if I want to go the silver route, though...

 

Personally, I think the black trim of the bases look much better on our black coupes. I never liked the silver trim that's on the limited black XF's, no offense to those limited owners out there.

So now we have 4 '07 base owners with the same problem?

I'm really interested to see how many more had/have this problem now.

 

I have a 2005 Black, limited coupe, which I purchased in August of last year, with 6,800 miles on it. I do have the sillver windshield trim, which looks as good as new.
I think the silver trims sets off the black car, which by the way, I keep highly polished, and is garage kept, at all times.

 

Does anyone actually know how to take the shroud off?

 

nice looks good

 

If the finish looks 100% better to you, then you did good. Just make sure to put a coat of wax on there, and wax it regularly to help keep it looking good. But use something good here - anything except Turtle Wax ICE because it just won't last long at all and won't give you a ton of protection. If you're a fan of TW, pick a different product of theirs, even their basic cleaner wax. There's plenty of really good stuff out there from all sorts of manufacturers, so pick what you like. I just can't abide by anyone using ICE for anything on a car they care about. TW cleaner wax though, that's perfectly fine.