Tried to polish my windshield...and I am throughly disgusted...

S

Spike73

New member
Hi everyone, I have done lots of research on how to polish a windshield. I have posted a few questions about this, and got some tips, so I tried to polish it today with my new flex 3401 that I got for Christmas.



Preface: The car I inherited from my grandma who lived in California has lots of swirls and some fine scratches in the windshield that are sooo aggravating at night when the oncoming headlights hit it, or when the sun is shining "just right" through the glass. I tried my best to capture the swirls with my camera, but that was not working for me either today...I'm sure y'all have seen these cobweb swirls in the windshield, so I think you know what I'm talking about...they are VERY annoying...



So I tried my flex on the windshield with Griot's glass polish, and griot's 6 inch glass polishing pads. I first spread the product around at speed 2 on the flex, then I went to speed 5 to work it in. I worked in such a way as to not stay in one area too long, because the heat would warp the glass and mess it up. I worked the polish in until it was pretty dry with an up-and-down motion, then a side-to-side motion, then wiped it off with a microfiber towel. I inspected the glass, and the scratches were still there....so I polished it again, slowly of course, and no change. If anything, there are more swirl scratches now than there were before I started. I even tried Duragloss nu glass, but it didn't do anything either. But it doesn't say that it's for scratches, only for water spots and road grime. And, to be fair to griot's, the bottle of polish says that "glass polish may not remove all scratches or etching". But, I was hoping for at least some improvement, not to make it worse!!



So, the bottom line is, either I did something wrong, or the only way to polish glass is to use some kind of cerium oxide product. If anyone out there has polished their windshield and has had success, PLEASE tell me what I did wrong! I would hope that I could salvage this bad job, but something tells me I'm going to have to spend the $100 deductible with my ins. to get a new windshield. Oh well. I just hope in the spring that I'll get way better results with the flex when I polish the car for the first time!! (with WG products)
 
I doubt you can generate enough heat with a buffer to warp glass. You might want to look at the Dimonite kits Autogeek sells.
 
Mike Philips put up a great glass polishing thread either here or on AGO. You might want to check that out to see where you went wrong.



Also, IIRC Mike's article did seem to say that you can cause distortions in the windshield through buffing.
 
If she's from out in the desert/Palm Springs area it may just be a better idea to get a replacement windshield. lots of cars out there have pits and blems in the glass. It may be more worth your time to skip trying to polish it out.
 
wfedwar said:
In SC at least, there's no deductible on broken glass. Ball-peen hammer, problem solved.
Click to expand...



felony = $100?

really?



OP: if it bothers you that bad, chalk this up to a learning experience and get the new window for $100
 
artm3 said:
felony = $100?

really?



OP: if it bothers you that bad, chalk this up to a learning experience and get the new window for $100
Click to expand...



You're advocating turning it in on insurance, too???
 
I went to Griot's and had a read of their glass polish, probably the one you used.

It sounds more like a heavy duty cleaner rather than a real glass compound/polish so maybe that's where you erred. You used a product that wasn't strong enough for the job. It wasn't the right product for the job.



I've used cerium oxide to remove really bad wiper scratches from the wife's windshield a couple of years ago. Cerium oxide is used to polish telescope lenses so it does actually remove glass. Not quickly, but it does remove glass.

The job I did took a long time, well over an hour of tedium, it definitely wasn't a quick fix.



The way I see it, you have two options: a proper kit like a cerium oxide kit or the Diamondite kit, or

a replacement windshield.



A proper kit is going to cost you 50 bucks or more, probably closer to 80. You'll only use it once in your lifetime too.

A new windshield is going to cost you $100.



Save yourself a ton of grief and aggrevation and anxiety and get the new windshield.
 
Here is a thread that I have been looking all over for that a kind person helped me find. It's a Megs forum thread, but it has the pics of the swirls that I have been describing:



Glass Polishing by Machine - Defect Correction - Car Care Forums: Meguiar's Online





Those swirls in the pics in that thread are exactly what I'm having problems with. I know it takes a lot of patience, but also I'm seeing that it takes the right product. Griot's glass polish and 6" glass polishing pads are not the right product for this kind of defect removal. I'm sure it does great with water spots, but not for swirls. It hasn't even touched my swirls, and I think I made it worse...so to everyone that wants to polish their windshield - be very careful because the glass is easily scratched...I don't care how hard the experts say glass is, and that you can't scratch glass, and stuff like that...even a polish and a glass polishing pad will scratch glass. It must be that it is scratching some kind of coating on the glass, and leaving those annoying swirls. Maybe it's not scratching the glass itself??!! I don't know at this point. I even tried it very slow, and put pressure on the flex as I was polishing, and worked in a small area, and STILL I can't put a dent in those pesky swirls.



All I know is, I wish I had NEVER even tried to put ANY kind of polish on the 'shield. I used a foam applicator pad with Megs UC the first time, and I got lots of little swirls in the glass. So, I tried to correct it by using the griots glass polish and glass pads. This also did not work. Get this: on the bottle of the griots polish, it says "For hand application, apply a small amount to a 100% cotton cloth and buff onto glass in a circular motion. Be careful, bearing down too hard in only one direction may scratch the glass". I used the flex w/ the griots glass pads, but how can you scratch the glass by hand??!! And isn't his stuff supposed to remove the scratches, not add to them??!!



I guess they ONLY way to get a clear 'shield is to use the cerium oxide products like it shows in this link. I don't want to spend any more money on this "project", because it's almost like I need to recoup my losses and I may have to spring the $100 for a new 'shield.



So, I'm throwing in the towel on this project, and I'm licking my wounds, and I realize that I screwed up, and learned from my mistake. :cry:
 
Those pads look like the LC ones..get this: Diamondite® Glass Resurfacing Crème cleans and polishes auto glass windshields and windows. Diamondite glass polish removes light scratches from car , it works. It will take a long time, and I used it with a the lightweight Flex rotary, but I definitiely got results. Just keep spraying with water as you're using it to keep the polish wet and the windshield cool.



And as discussed in other threads...glass used to be hard, it seems that auto glass has gotten soft and easily marred.
 
wfedwar said:
You're advocating turning it in on insurance, too???
Click to expand...



make a claim, tell them it's damaged due to road rash damage, and impedes vision, let them decide whether they will cover it...depending on your history of claims, they may...NOT a felony



intentionally damaging the window to commit fraud IS a felony



see the difference? didn't think so



my deductable is $500, so it's a moot point...
 
Setec Astronomy said:
Those pads look like the LC ones..get this: Diamondite® Glass Resurfacing Crème cleans and polishes auto glass windshields and windows. Diamondite glass polish removes light scratches from car , it works. It will take a long time, and I used it with a the lightweight Flex rotary, but I definitiely got results. Just keep spraying with water as you're using it to keep the polish wet and the windshield cool.



And as discussed in other threads...glass used to be hard, it seems that auto glass has gotten soft and easily marred.
Click to expand...



I would give either the Diamondite system or the Lake Country Glass polishing system a try. The Lake Country product works well. It uses Cerium Oxide (or whatever it is called) and cleaned up my windshield well.



I don't know if I agree that it is a product you will only use once as a poster stated. After a few year go by, the same swirls/scratches will find their way back to the windshield. Also, if your married you can do you spouse's car. If not, your/girlfriend/family/friends probably have cars with scratched windshields and they would appreciate it.
 
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