My friend has a scratched faceshield

[trmptrmrk]

My friend some how got a scratch on his faceshield. He's had to replace the face shield before because he was stupid enough to leave his helmet on his bike while refueling and it fell off. But this time it's a minor scratch.

So my friend is wondering if it's possible to buff it out or something without resulting in undue distortion (because this friend understands the importance of optimum vision). :dunno

[username]

while he can likely buff out the scratch with a good plastic polishing kit, and the patience of siddhartha, there will still likely be optical distortion as a result. if it's in his line of sight, it might cause problems for him.

i'd recommend the new faceshield. i'd also recommend that he stop dropping the helmet, some folks consider a dropped helmet an obsolete helmet.

let us know how it turns out.

[dancogan]

Originally posted by username
i'd also recommend that he stop dropping the helmet, some folks consider a dropped helmet an obsolete helmet.



Agreed. That's just what they taught us in MSF class. Let a helmet fall from the bike seat to the ground, and you might as well buy a new one. There's no way to determine how much damage, if any, was done, and whether or not the foam was compressed by the fall.

[flash412]

That's just what they taught us in MSF class. Let a helmet fall from the bike seat to the ground, and you might as well buy a new one. There's no way to determine how much damage, if any, was done, and whether or not the foam was compressed by the fall. Um... common sense should tell you that the foam won't be compressed at all in a fall from the seat. There is zero force acting to compress the foam... unless your HEAD is in it when it falls.

I'd be more concerned about the shell than anything else. A visual inspection should reveal any defects. After all, the force that an empty helmet absorbs when it hits the ground is nothing compared to the force it should have been designed to absorb with a head in it, falling from almost twice the height. Polycarbonate shells are the exception. They're designed to shatter with very little force (and are completely useless to protect your head after one bounce).

[splinelube]

Am really happy that this series of comments regarding dropped helmets has started as I have had this question for a long time but not the brights to begin the posts myself. Have often read the same thing re a dropped helmet. Must be tossed. Seems to be a very arbitrary position to take. Wouldn't it be evident on a flate plate x-ray if a fiberglass helmet without visible damage was indeed damaged by a fall or isn't this a valid position to take. Polycarbonates are a different story I realize but am not so sure that if they landed on less dense than concrete surface they woiuld have to be scraped. Any smarties here with the answers. Am a little jaundiced about this helmet information published everywhere - you know the story if you have a $ 300.00 head wear a $300.00 helmet, until they go on sale that is.

[YB in IN]

Sometimes with small scratches cleaning the faceshield with Plexus can help to buff them out/fill them in. It's worth a shot.

[MCohen]

It might be helpful to point out that most faceshields have an anti-scratch coating on the outside (and an anti-fog coating on the inside). Polishing will remove this coating. This isn't a problem for a faceshield you would throw out otherwise, but you shouldn't polish a good faceshield.

Michael

[username]

Originally posted by RJF-90/S,100RS
Am really happy that this series of comments regarding dropped helmets has started as I have had this question for a long time but not the brights to begin the posts myself. Have often read the same thing re a dropped helmet. Must be tossed. Seems to be a very arbitrary position to take. Wouldn't it be evident on a flate plate x-ray if a fiberglass helmet without visible damage was indeed damaged by a fall or isn't this a valid position to take. Polycarbonates are a different story I realize but am not so sure that if they landed on less dense than concrete surface they woiuld have to be scraped. Any smarties here with the answers. Am a little jaundiced about this helmet information published everywhere - you know the story if you have a $ 300.00 head wear a $300.00 helmet, until they go on sale that is.

how much does an xray cost? is it way less than a helmet?

i think part of the rationale behind telling people that a dropped helmet is a bad helmet stems from something more complicated. it makes sense that one fall from a seat wouldnt harm a helmet. what about two falls? ten falls? 50 falls? maybe it matters how the helmet lands? i dont know the failure modes and fatigue characteristics of helmets, but for most substances, even though they don't fail under conditions, they get weaker. so there may be some potential cummulative effect that the safety folks seek to avoid.

also, since i think that one drop is the end of my helmet, and i think helmets are expensive, i am SUPER careful with mine. the result is that my helmet will hopefully never hit the ground, but the first time it does, it will be protecting my noggin as designed.

im admittedly ignorant on the topic of helmet failure modes. but i wear the thing to protect my brain. why mess around?

my friend who rides a harley is the same way with his doo-rags. if he drops one, that's it - he throws it away. :D

[GSTom]

If a modern high tech helmet became so damaged as to be useless after the small impact caused by falling a short distance from the seat of a motorcycle, how could it possibly be of any real use in protecting your head in a real crash situation?
Also, I think football helmets are about the same construction as a motorcycle helmet and they sustain multiple serious impacts over a season of use. Do you see football players changing helmets after each play?
This "truth" about damaged helmets may have been true years ago in the early days of "plastics", but hey, we're living in the "space age" now and have much better materials.

[lorazepam]

We have been living in the "space age" since 1957. I dropped a helmet once, and it began to roll and bounce down the parking lot. after I caught up with it, I was so pissed I just kicked it another 50 feet further. Good thing it was in the parking lot of a motorcycle shop, I bought a new helmet while I was there.

[PacWestGS]

I ride and race motorcross and have for years, I crash occasionally and have come off my bike at some pretty high speeds, been run over, used for traction by other competitors, and dropped or threw my (expensive) MX helmet so many times I can't count. It still works fine, I've never had a big impact with it and thousands of others wear theirs just as long without problems. Sure the fiberglass shell looks like hell but the inside foam is where it was when the helmet was new. I'd toss it in the trash in a second if I ever hit my noggin hard enough to feel dizzy after getting up. So that's my opinion and that of other dirt racers. $200 to $300 helmets should last upto five years if no major impacts: Those that cause loss of consciousness or concussion, it's done trash it.

I'd hate to think I should toss my Schuberth in the can because it fell off my seat. Heck I've run the face-bar into all kinds of things walking to my bike in the garage with it lifted up. I'd be mad for dropping it, but I ain't going to trash it for falling less than four-feet.

The manufactures, DOT and Snell; smash these things pretty well before they approve it for use.

Now for the sane ones out there, buy a new lid if you no longer trust it for any reason.

Just my opine

"Toothpaste or Brasso metal polish works well for filling and buffing a minor scratch in glass or plastic" But I agree with others, if it's in line of sight, buy a new shield.