Lots of glare in windshield?

[Fenixgoon]

So I'm driving home tonight, and some cars coming the other way more or less completely blinded me with their headlights. The entire driver's side of the windshield was just a giant sheet of yellow. And yet, the passenger side seemed pretty clear. I'm not 100% sure if it's just view angle, but damn the commute was no fun.

Diagram:

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The slashes are my windshield wipers (pointing towards the driver's side at maximum rotation to the left). Basically, the area in between the two wipers was the really affected area.

Is there any good way to reduce glare? It got pretty scary for a few little while. Mad glare + crap headlights + annoying outside lights + fog + paint-only lines (no reflectors) = incredibly difficult to see

 

[LordMorpheus]

I think the deal is just small dings and imperfections in the windshield that aren't normally an issue scatter light when a bright light source is directly shining on them (the sun, headlights, etc) and make it hard to see through.

A new windshield would fix it for sure but that's a drastic measure. Although, that said, it'll probably only set you back 120 dollars or so, so it might be worth it if it's getting dangerous.

 

[CurseTheSky]

I run into this from time to time when it's dark and raining out. The reflection from headlights lighting up the moisture on my windshield practically blinds me. Fog can have a similar effect.

Unfortunately, I don't know any way to avoid it.

 

[jlee]

How old is the windshield? My MR2's windshield has 248k on it and it has terrible glare...I've already priced out a new one. It's sandblasted..

 

[LTC8K6]

Is the inside of the windshield clean? If not, it can cause glare problems.

 

[SparkyJJO]

Make sure both inside and outside are clean. Even a thin layer of dirt film can make it hard to see out of.

How old is the windshield? When I bought my car it looked like the previous owner had something very fine on the glass and used the wipers to clear it - millions if micro scratches made it near impossible to see out of when it was wet and rainy out at night. Bought a new windshield for about $200 installed.

 

[Fenixgoon]

Make sure both inside and outside are clean. Even a thin layer of dirt film can make it hard to see out of.

How old is the windshield? When I bought my car it looked like the previous owner had something very fine on the glass and used the wipers to clear it - millions if micro scratches made it near impossible to see out of when it was wet and rainy out at night. Bought a new windshield for about $200 installed.

windshield was cleaned inside and out just a month or two ago. however, it may be the original windshield. not entirely sure since i've only had the car since 2005 but it's a 99