Weird pattern in glass... polish needed?

[DaytonaJae]

I don't have any scratches in my windshield but I do have these weird drip patterns in it... looks like waterfall drips baked in. Only noticeable when you wipe the glass with a damp towel.
When the glass is dry, you can't see it. I've never had a car with this issue before.

This photo was taken after trying Griot's Glass polish with their glass polish discs on their 6" DA. Glass cleaner was applied to the glass and a damp towel was used to make the pattern visible.

(I tried to wipe and take a pic at the same time... this was the best I could get on my phone).

Maybe I didn't work the polish long enough into the glass?

Would you recommend giving Ceriglass and their pads a try for something like this?

http://i1009.photobucket.com/albums/af219/DaytonaJae/2010%20E-Class/20130905_193513_zpsba3f72b1.jpg

[Setec Astronomy]

I'm not familiar with the Griot's glass polish, but glass can get some tough to remove films on it, and also there are some mfrs that seem to have difficult glass.

More importantly--there are some mfrs that put special coatings on the windshield and driver window--what kind of car is it?

[DaytonaJae]

2010 Mercedes E-class

[Setec Astronomy]

It was Lexus that had some sort of sheeting coating, maybe some others, does it say anything in your owner's manual?

The description on the GG's polish sounds like it should work--how much experience do you have polishing? Maybe try a very small area (1'x1') and see if you can make an improvement to that area by working longer or using more pressure. Just be careful not to overheat the glass as that would be really bad.

[swanicyouth]

Those "patterns" you see only when the window is damp means something is on one part of the glass (contamination/coating/sealant) and not the other. I see them when I polish sealed glass around the areas that are too tight to polish.


The question is, was the pattern there before you tried to polish it?

Since CeriGlass "cuts" (abrasive) away the surface of the glass, anything on the surface would be removed as well. However, I wouldn't advise you to go at that window with an abrasive glass polish without doing more research, as God only knows what coating Mercedes may have used on their glass.

I do find it really odd the Griot's glass pads didn't take care of that. Was it there before you polished?

[greatwhitenorth]

Has this had an acid or iron x bath?
It could be a uv coating but I find those are usually in a "patchy" pattern
Odd question but do the lines get darker/more noticeable with uv sunglasses when the car is in the sun?

I'm not familiar with the griots glass polish either.... It does look polish able though

[Kyle_Elantra]

I have had the lines as well. Looks like the rain "draining" off the roof etched perfect lines in a vertical pattern. When it's wet, I can see the rain traveling down the same paths, and you're right, it's only noticeable when it's wet or fogged up.

And this is on a 2013 vehicle. I clayed the glass and that seemed to help, however it seems unavoidable that it will "streak" up like that again as the water continues to follow the same pattern. I've waxed the windshield and that didn't help, so now I'm going to try the DP glass coating. If that doesn't work I'll try opti-glass.

[DaytonaJae]

I just ordered ceriglass and a couple of their discs. I will give it a try and see how it goes.

Yes the patterns were there before I polished. It looks like runny water baked-in marks. It's definitely on the outside only.

I thought these were just simple hard water stains so I only went over it with one pass at speed 6 on a GG6. Then I read here in another thread that glass polishing takes a much longer time than paint, so that's probably why it didn't do much.

[Sizzle Chest]

Sell that heap! Then you won't have to look out of that messed up glass...


LOL!