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Phantom Lettering on Windshield?

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by bighouse, Oct 1, 2009.

  1. bighouse

    bighouse Active Member

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    When I wash my windshield with Invisible Glass I can see some hand-written letters on the drivers side in the upper and lower corners of the glass. It has a "halo" of fog around it when wet, but when dry it goes away. I'm thinking it's some kind of residual reaction to whatever was used to initially write those letters during production of the glass or the car. I'd like to get rid of it, but am concerned as I've heard the windshields on the Gen III have some kind of water resistance coating? Can I polish the glass and not damage that? If so, what product do I use?

    FWIW, the 2" high letters in the upper corner read:
    O
    EM

    and in the lower corner are, I think:
    3515
     
    #1 bighouse, Oct 1, 2009
  2. scottwyden

    scottwyden new jersey photographer

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    I see that too when I wash the car or when it rains and my wiper gets all the way to the left
     
    #2 scottwyden, Oct 1, 2009
  3. tumbleweed

    tumbleweed Senior Member

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    I was wondering if someone else would see those. I have different numbers than you, can't remember 27xx don't remember the last two digits. Hadn't noticed the letters yet I'll look next time I wash the car. Gen3 versions IV and V have some kind of rain-repellent front side windows but I hadn't heard anything about the windshield. Since the letters and numbers only show up when wet I guess I'll just leave them there.
     
    #3 tumbleweed, Oct 1, 2009
  4. PriusLewis

    PriusLewis Management Scientist

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    That's probably something written at the factory that is cleaned off before delivery. In the "old" days of more manual assembly (as opposed to the more automated factories of today) various departments and QA used to write all over things. Restorers today go crazy trying to perfectly reproduce this stuff (even using vintage markers that were used by the factory). Think of these as "physical cookies" - artifacts of the build process. I think they're cool and interesting!
     
    #4 PriusLewis, Oct 1, 2009
  5. LRKingII

    LRKingII New Member

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    Dianne from Manhatten Beach Toyota said what it was in another thread. It's from grease pens the tells certain info from the port. Ammonia (sp) window cleaner will take it off
     
    #5 LRKingII, Oct 1, 2009
  6. tumbleweed

    tumbleweed Senior Member

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    I think what we are seeing may be different from what Dianne was talking about. This is not something some one wrote on with a grease pen, what I see is printed by machine or stamped on, not hand lettered.
     
    #6 tumbleweed, Oct 1, 2009
  7. KK6PD

    KK6PD _ . _ . / _ _ . _

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    All I ever see is "SUBMIT, OBEY, and IT HAS TO GET BETTER"......

    I just wait for the window to dry!
     
    #7 KK6PD, Oct 1, 2009
  8. stream

    stream Senior Member

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    I've got that as well, and neither Windex nor Sprayway glass cleaner removed it.
     
    #8 stream, Oct 1, 2009
  9. qbee42

    qbee42 My other car is a boat

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    Redrum.

    Tom
     
    #9 qbee42, Oct 1, 2009
    1 person likes this.
  10. spiderman

    spiderman wretched

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    Sweet... words to live by.
     
    #10 spiderman, Oct 1, 2009
  11. alohabailey

    alohabailey New Member

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    I saw them too! Mine said H2 and P on top of that. It looked ghostly!!!!!!!!
     
    #11 alohabailey, Oct 4, 2009
  12. octavia

    octavia Active Member

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    My car had that too... and Dianne's suggestion of an ammonia based cleaner worked. Although it was a bit sad to see "Beautiful Prius Sweetie" go away..... ;)
     
    #12 octavia, Oct 4, 2009
  13. sumguy

    sumguy Junior Member

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    use it inside or out?
    have 6665 on lower and BT at top. Couple runs with Invisible glass didn't help. Also looks like there might have been a rectangular sticker on the rear driver side window that shows up now and then.
     
    #13 sumguy, Oct 5, 2009
  14. cpatch

    cpatch New Member

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    Invisible Glass isn't ammonia-based.
     
    #14 cpatch, Oct 5, 2009
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