Polishing Glass?

[JoeDirt41]

The 1997 Honda Accord I bought recently has a lot of swirls and fine scratches on the windshield from the wipers and just from age. Worse than any other car I've had. When glare from the sun or another car's headlights hit it, its extremely difficult to see out of. The glass is otherwise fine, no chips or cracks. Is it actually possible to polish wiper marks out of glass? I've heard of it, but never seen it done or attempted it myself. I've polished lots of paint and I'm pretty good with both a DA and a rotary polisher. Actually, I think I'm better with the more aggressive rotary than the DA.

3M makes a glass polish (60150) but it is pretty expensive, around $75 a bottle. I'd hate to waste $75 on something that isn't gonna work or will barely work. I'd imagine polishes used for paint wouldn't be nearly aggressive enough for glass?

Anyone have experience with polishing glass?

 

[Marcozi]

Try 0000 steel wool. I had issues with the factory windshield in my 1985 BME 325e. 0000 steel wool and some elbow grease worked wonders.

 

[Sequoiasoon]

Glass Polishing pads

I think I have some Griots and maybe others from Amazon or Auto Geek. I use with my Porter Cable DA. Will it make it totally go away, no, maybe after a long time. It works great for smoothing off the edges and also removing the hard water spots.

I've done a couple of my cars, my Accord was the worst as you described yours where I contemplated new windshield. That was 4 years and 60k ago. Small investment to try. The rayon glass pads are the key.

I've used the 0000 steel wool but that is mostly to clean windshield before re-treat with repellant. It didn't do anything for the scratches on mine as I tried that first.

 

[vavavroom]

Glass can be ground and polished. That's how optical lenses are traditionally made. I made a largely hand-ground telescope mirror a very long time ago. I ground the mirror out of a cast disc of glass. The final stages were done by hand. The glass was then mirror-coated. I used different types and various grits of oxides. I polish my windshields with cerium oxide.

 

[RooflessVW]

I have had decent luck with Carpro Ceriglass and rayon pads.

It's a lot of work and makes a big mess. If you have decent insurance, I'd just drive behind a dump truck.

 

[Astro14]

Griot’s glass polish works, but you need a buffer. This ain’t something I would want to do by hand.

 

[JohnnyG]

The Griot's glass polish will probably work, but there is an alternative from Amazon. It's Cerium Oxide and will definitely do the job.

https://www.amazon.com/Polishing-Sc...cphy=9195261&hvtargid=pla-1101739090309&psc=1

Once again, you will need a REALLY good buffer for a large area, and be careful not to work in one spot too long. The buffer/compound can create a lot of heat, so if it's localized, the glass may crack.
If you try the steel wool, do a small spot then drive at night, I'm thinking it will scratch the glass badly.

 

[Sam_Julier]

I use Griot’s Glass Polish with my old Porter Cable orbital.

The polish works well.

 

[ArrestMeRedZ]

I use Griot’s Glass Polish with my old Porter Cable orbital.

The polish works well.

Do you use the 5" pads with your PC?

 

[Sam_Julier]

@ArrestMeRedZ

Yes, 5” pads

 

[Blueshound]

I bet you can get a new windshield installed pretty cheap.

 

[VWRand]

Glass can be ground and polished. That's how optical lenses are traditionally made. I made a largely hand-ground telescope mirror a very long time ago. I ground the mirror out of a cast disc of glass. The final stages were done by hand. The glass was then mirror-coated. I used different types and various grits of oxides. I polish my windshields with cerium oxide.

I worked nearly 2 decades for a major OE glass manufacturer. Cerium Oxide is the only thing I would recommend. Like others have said, don't dwell too long on one area as there is always the possibility of creating wavy distortion. Anything you can feel with a fingernail isn't going to come out.

 

[3800Series]

You can polish glass, you will need a machine, not something you should even reasonably consider by hand.

Ideally a rotory, though a DA can work (just slower) with a felt pad and some dedicated glass polish CarPro makes a good product. Even with a machine it is slow, not hard to spend a few hours on glass to remove wiper marks and I'm not joking about this.

You can remove a good bit within the first 90 mins but really your just making it less noticeable vs gone. To really remove minor damage expect to spend at least 2.5 hours optimistically and maybe 3-4 realistically. As someone who has done this I don't recommend it, especially if you don't already have the equipment.

Glass is very, very hard, and to remove it is slow. You can't over work the glass as it will melt the laminate in between the layers, while also risking cracking. Its a slow process which requires some effort. Your best bet is to target the worst spots just working them over and over again. If you want to do the full windshield you can expect hours but if just 1-2 noticeable wiper marks maybe 60-90 mins to remove them 85%-90%.

 

[CleverUserName]

Optical grade cerium oxide. Mix with water to make a slurry then polish with a rotary felt buffing wheel drill attachment. Water also cools the polishing process and prevents glass distortions from heat. A spray bottle works great for this.

Deep scratches will not buff out but scuffs, swirls and fine scratches will.

https://www.amazon.com/C0301-CRL-Ce...ocphy=9061268&hvtargid=pla-816196296639&psc=1

 

[hrv]

I have had decent luck with Carpro Ceriglass and rayon pads.

It's a lot of work and makes a big mess. If you have decent insurance, I'd just drive behind a dump truck.

I second that...Good product but a messy and a lot of work.....

 

[Fordiesel69]

Use a rotary polisher with 3D 521 glass polish and their backing pads.

 

[willbur]

Glass can be ground and polished. That's how optical lenses are traditionally made. I made a largely hand-ground telescope mirror a very long time ago. I ground the mirror out of a cast disc of glass. The final stages were done by hand. The glass was then mirror-coated. I used different types and various grits of oxides. I polish my windshields with cerium oxide.

did you get telescope and mirror building instructions from Mechanix Illustrated? I remember seeing this a a small kid long ago. sigh

 

[JoeDirt41]

I bought a bottle of the CarPro Ceriglass polish and one of their 5" Rayon pads. This is definitely a very slow process. I polished approximately 1/4-1/3 of the glass with a DA for about 35-40 minutes and I can't see any difference. I'm going to pick up a 5" backer for my rotary and we'll see if that makes any more progress. I should have some time to pull the car into the garage and work on this next week.