[Phil]

I wear polarized sunglasses and with the stock windshield I see circles of color that are upsetting. Has anyone else had that problem? Do the other makes of windshields eliminate those circles.

 

[pauljo]

Phil,

What are you using to clean the windshield? (Maybe the cleaning stuff is leaving a residue that you are seeing with the sunglasses on.)

 

[Phil]

actually I just use water and a microfiber cloth which seems to clean it very well, unless there is something on the windshield from the factory.

 

[Al Davison]

rainbows

me, too. more like clouds of color and I've yet to clean my windshield - though it's probably about time.

I thought it might be some flashbacks from my hippy days. :shock:

Al

 

[pauljo]

I wear cheap sunglasses... I'm missing out on the color show... :?

 

[Greengoose]

Im not sure what causes the circles. There are MANY windshields and automobile windows that cause similar effects. Window tint looks crazy when viewed with polarized glasses. I think it has to do with the UV protection built in to many windows. For fun look at other vehicle's side and rear windows with the glasses.

 

[30MuleTeam]

I have the same problem. I even get a strange effect looking through a helmet shield. I stopped using the sunglasses and carry a clear and tinted shields.

-DC

 

[pgray007]

I think (searching brain for long forgotten physics classes) that essentially what you're seeing is due to minor warping and thickness variations in the plexiglass, or auto glass viewed from afar for that matter. Light generally bounces around at all kinds of crazy angles, and polarizers act somewhat like "venitian blinds" and make all the light hit your eyes at the same "orientation." That why if you put two polarized lenses back to back, at different orientations, no light gets through. I think the color show happens since light going through the glass/plexi gets scattered due to the imprefections. The polarizer filters some of the imperfect light, causing only limited portions of the spectrum to hit your eyes (remember "white" light is made up of all the colors in the rainbow ROYGBIV).

Sorry, it's been a looooooong time since i took a physics class. I do remember lots of cool demos and theory behind polarization.