Acoustic Laminated Windshield

C

CharBaby

Joined
May 25, 2005
Messages
15,687
Location
ROCHESTER, NY
My question is:
Will running 0000 steel wool over acoustically laminated glass, ruin the glass that I am trying to fix?

My FIL(92) has passes away and we are currently driving his 2018 Santa Fe w/only 20 K miles on the clock.
The windshield has fine, curved scratches in it as though the wipers were used on dirty, dry glass too many times...I'm not saying that this is what happened.

I've cleaned the glass(squeaky clean) and installed new Latitude wiper blades to no avail. These streaks can't be seen until the wipers are turned on in the rain but, it has made driving in foul weather and night time very difficult.

I have not yet tried Rain-X glass treatment or equivalent but anyway,what say the team?

Thanks,
CB
 
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I would try a glass polish product first. If those scratches can be felt with a fingernail then it might be too far gone.
 
The scratches CANNOT be felt with the finger nail nor be seen by the eyes from the inside nor outside of the car. ONLY when the wipers are ON, whisking away the rain/snow/mist or using the washer fluid. The windshield becomes a huge smear. Rain-X glass treatment may help.
 
There is a product, a kit really that is specifically made for grass polishing. It consists of a small bag of Cerium Oxide powder and several polishing wheels that will go in the chuck of a drill.
Direct from China (via Amazon) kit #BLPGO8P-80-HW is the one I used. It also comes with a microfiber towel for that matter.
Anyway, I had a small but deep scratch on the side window of my Mercedes that annoyed me. (it was a factory inclusion), so I decided to try it out.

I didn't use the mechanical wheels, just my finger on a microfiber cloth, and though I didn't work it till it was completely gone, but it is now just barely visible and cannot be felt. I could see it plainly, as well as feel it with my fingernail prior to using the polish, THIS STUFF WORKS!
It left the glass very smooth, no scratches or anything, but i'd be careful on a windshield. Micro scratches could be visible at night I suppose.
You just make a light paste from the powder using water. I used about 1/4 gram of the powder and a few drops of water.
It also removed the outside coating, which I think was ceramic "wax" that was applied at the dealer. The polished section no longer beads water like the rest of the window.
 
From your second post, you just may have a buildup of spray waxes or RainX or something. I'd try my tried and true method of cleaning the windshield first, It's saved many wiper blades from chattering.
1, Windex
2. Lacquer Thinner
3. 91% rubbing alcohol on a clean paper towel
4. Windex
In that order. Also clean the wiper blades with the alcohol.
 
JohnnyG said:
From your second post, you just may have a buildup of spray waxes or RainX or something. I'd try my tried and true method of cleaning the windshield first, It's saved many wiper blades from chattering.
1, Windex
2. Lacquer Thinner
3. 91% rubbing alcohol on a clean paper towel
4. Windex
In that order. Also clean the wiper blades with the alcohol.
Click to expand...
Thank you, I did all that. It's in my original post. Cleaned it to a squeaky claan. My FIL never waxed or cleaned anything on a car. He only drove them. I always said to him that his vehicles are nothing more than an appliance. His reply was always...NO, my car/truck/SUV is like a wheelbarrow to me! 😄
My original question is:
Will 0000 steel wool hurt laminated glass so many of these new windscreens/windshields have to help reduce outside Hiwy noise?
 
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I wouldn’t use 0000 steel wool. Go get you some Bonami powdered cleanser and use that. Secondly, all windshield wipers are not created equal. For the Hyundai and KIA vehicle’s that I’ve owned in the past, I found that OE wiper blades worked best. A close second was Trico Exact Fit or NAPA Exact Fit.
 
Found here...
priuschat.com

Cleaning your windshield? DO NOT use 000 steel wool!

I recently had a scare during a rain storm while driving on the freeway. Let me first state that my vision is taking a turn for the worse. I had LASIK...
priuschat.com priuschat.com

In general, glass is a pretty hard substance at somewhere between 6 and 7 on the Mohs scale of mineral hardness depending on the manufacturing process. Steel is much softer typically somewhere between 4 and 4.5 with steel wool typically falling pretty close to 4.0. So unless there is some non-glass coating on the outside surface of the windshield, I wouldn't have expected scratches from either the Scotch Brite pad or any grade steel-wool (000, 00, or for that matter even 4). If, on the other hand, you were using a specialty steel wool such as stainless, then you are looking at the addition of chromium to the steel wool. Chromium having a hardness of 8.5, you could almost guarantee that it would scratch the glass. Also, if the steel wool you were using was not new/clean, and had bits of other material from previous use or storage near machine shop tools trapped between the strands (silicon sand, dust from grinding hardened steel, microscopic bits of glass, etc), or had a bit of rust on it (iron oxide coming in at 6 on the hardness scale) then that might also explain the scratches.
 
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We're selling the car but in the mean time, we are using it to help move my daughter and we're driving between NY & PA with the small stuff.
 
MParr said:
I wouldn’t use 0000 steel wool. Go get you some Bonami powdered cleanser and use that. Secondly, all windshield wipers are not created equal. For the Hyundai and KIA vehicle’s that I’ve owned in the past, I found that OE wiper blades worked best. A close second was Trico Exact Fit or NAPA Exact Fit.
Click to expand...
I just removed to Hyundai OE wipers.
 
Will 0000 steel wool hurt laminated glass so many of these new windscreens/windshields have to help reduce outside Hiwy noise?
Click to expand...
0000 steel wool will ruin your windshield.
Not the hwy noise part, just the lookin' through part.
 
I've used fine bronze wool before to clean weird stuff off auto glass. No scratches when I used it. Commercial window cleaners use it.
 
Does your Santa Fe have a KAC branded windshield? I ask because my 2018 Sonata has a KAC windshield and I’ve complained about it since day one. I wonder if KAC had a quality control issue with them or something. But mine is very much how you describe yours. There have been a few people filing complaints on the NHTSA website complaining about the windshield. It’s almost like there is some sort of film on the windshield. I think it’s just poor glass quality.

As a side note, I haven’t replaced a windshield on a car in years and I never had scratches on them. My Sonata got scratched virtually the first week I bought the car, and now that it’s 2 years old I’ve noticed a lot more scratches. I’ve never had this happen to any car I’ve ever owned and I don’t use the wipers on dry glass. Again I think it’s just crappy glass quality from KAC.
 
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On my stepdads old car he used to use 0000 steel wool on the glass to get rid of bird crap (and on the paint!! o_O ) I showed him one day what it was actually doing to his glass (and more so his paint!) I ended up using my DA polisher and the CarPro Ceriglass polish kit and a CarPro Rayon pad on my DA, and got most of the glass swirls out he put in with the steel wool. Got rid of some of the paint swirls too with other pads/compound but they were pretty deep :(

I also used this CarPro kit and the Rayon pad again on my DA on my 300 layered acoustic side window after the tint shop scratched up my side window somehow (see before pic below.) It got rid of 99% of the stuff they put in too thankfully.

Great kit imho for only about $20CDN, and with a DA wasn't hard to do (though messy, tape off area and clean your car after!)
 

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JohnnyG said:
0000 steel wool will ruin your windshield.
Not the hwy noise part, just the lookin' through part.
Click to expand...
First I've ever heard that "acoustic" laminated glass was used for "optical" purpose.
Every car review that I have ever watched or read about talked about acoustic glass having a reduction in noise.

I'll give Rain-X glass treatment a try.
 
Yeah, sorry about that. It was kind of play on a Clint Eastwood movie, The Outlaw Josie Wales.
You know, the indian with the rock candy..."It's not for eat'n, it's for looking through"
 
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