Can you polish glass like you polish your car?

[spike]

Hi everyone, I was just wondering...I have swirls and "cobweb swirls" in my windshield. I don't know they got there (I inherited the car from my Grandma who lived in Santa Barbara). They are not deep scratches...they are not felt if I run my fingernail across them. They just really show up at night and in sunlight when direct light is shining on the windshield (really annoying). My question is, can I use my flex with my WG products (TSR and FG) to polish the windshield? Is there anyone that has done this? Can the WG remove my swirls? Are there any hazards to doing this? I guess I don't have much to lose because the shield looks bad to begin with. I hope it can only get better from here!

[Bert31]

Hi everyone, I was just wondering...I have swirls and "cobweb swirls" in my windshield. I don't know they got there (I inherited the car from my Grandma who lived in Santa Barbara). They are not deep scratches...they are not felt if I run my fingernail across them. They just really show up at night and in sunlight when direct light is shining on the windshield (really annoying). My question is, can I use my flex with my WG products (TSR and FG) to polish the windshield? Is there anyone that has done this? Can the WG remove my swirls? Are there any hazards to doing this? I guess I don't have much to lose because the shield looks bad to begin with. I hope it can only get better from here!

Generally the abrasives in paint compounds and polishes are not hard enough to correct glass. You will probably need a polish specifically for glass which has cerium oxide (I think that is what it is) as its abrasive. There are two that I know of one is from Lake Country:

Professional Glass Polishing System

The other from Diamondite:

Diamondite® Glass Repair System Kit polishes out scratches in auto glass windshields and windows. Diamondite Glass polish restore car glass.

[OCDetails]

Glass is much harder than paint. Paint polish isn't going to cut it at all. in order for something to cut something else it has to be harder. Kind of like you can't scratch a diamond unless you are using something harder than a diamond. The abrasives in paint polish aren't hard enough to cut glass, so you have to use something made for it. Even then it is very hard to correct it perfectly. Sometimes it is just time for a new windshield. If polishing were effective then you would see it being offered instead of replacements. I've personally never seen anything other than glass headlight lenses corrected. You can clear up oxidation and waterspots on glass, but I've never seen the sand blasting chips or scratches in glass repaired by anything.

[spike]

Thanks everyone...I didn't think about the fact that glass is so hard and paint polish isn't strong enough...oh well. I guess this is going to be more difficult than I had hoped... But thanks for the replies! I appreciate all of your detailing knowledge very much.

[sullysdetailing]

I would recommend using a Glass Polishing Kit like

Diamondite® Glasswork System Kit cleans, restores, and protects auto glass windshields and windows. Restore car glass with Diamondite glass polish.
Diamondite® Glasswork System Kit restores, polishes, and protects auto glass windshields and windows. Diamondite glass polish and glass sealant.
DP Perfect Vision Glass Kit

I have used the DP High Performance Glass Restorer it works really well

[Bert31]

Glass is much harder than paint. Paint polish isn't going to cut it at all. in order for something to cut something else it has to be harder.

Exactly, that is why the glass polishes sold by Lake Country and Diamondite have an abrasive that I believe is called Cerium Oxide. This abrasive is much harder than the abrasives used in paint polishes.

Kind of like you can't scratch a diamond unless you are using something harder than a diamond. The abrasives in paint polish aren't hard enough to cut glass, so you have to use something made for it.

You won't find anything harder than a diamond, it is the hardest material known but a diamond will scratch another diamond.

Even then it is very hard to correct it perfectly. Sometimes it is just time for a new windshield. If polishing were effective then you would see it being offered instead of replacements. I've personally never seen anything other than glass headlight lenses corrected. You can clear up oxidation and waterspots on glass, but I've never seen the sand blasting chips or scratches in glass repaired by anything.

That has not been my experience. I used the Lake Country Glass Polishing System on my car and my truck and it did an incredible job removing the mild to moderate scratches in the glass and greatly improved the deep scratch on my truck. That scratch was so deep you could easily catch your finger nail on it. Now not near as easily. That scratch is not near as noticable as before. Once it warms up I am going to take another shot at it and see what it can do.

Just note if anyone decides to try one of these products, clay your glass very, very thoroughly with a medium or heavy clay bar before polishing. It will make the claying process much smoother. Also, Lake Country's directions on their product are not the best and that is being nice. If you buy that product, look for Todd Helme's write up he did. I followed that and it worked out really well. If you cannot find Todd's write up, PM me and I will put up a similar one.

[longdx]

@spike: I had a similar problem with my DD (bought it as a long distance commuter car) that had probably never been washed properly. The windshield would be fine in certain lights and be almost unbearable in night conditions and direct sunlight. I used the cerium oxide process which did remove the light swirls but the pitting remained ( about a 50% correction). Polishing glass is a longer process that can generate enough heat to warp the optical quality of the windshield if not cooled properly with water. The Cerium Oxide is mixed in a paste (to peanut butter consistency), water is liberally (also the pad is denser than a paint polishing pad and needs to soak in water prior to use) applied while polishing. It can make a lot of mess/splatter. I eventually just sprang for a new windshield, because the deep pits were still there.

[OCDetails]

You won't find anything harder than a diamond, it is the hardest material known but a diamond will scratch another diamond.

Well, harder or hard as is what I should have said. That's why the test of using a diamond to scratch a mirror doesn't work. As long as it is hard as the material you are scratching then it will work fine.

If a scratch is deep enough to catch your finger on it, then that isn't something that is going to get polished out. That means paint is missing and all you are going to accomplish by polishing it is to round off the corners and possibly remove paint down to the sheet metal so there isn't anything to catch anymore. I don't know that I would use a product that cuts so much paint down that it can do what you said it did on your scratch. That seems really really abrasive. Scratches that deep need to be repaired with touch up paint and not polish.

How does glass get swirls and scratches anyway? I've got the typical speckles that windshields get, but I can't say that I've ever had swirls in my glass.

[Bert31]

If a scratch is deep enough to catch your finger on it, then that isn't something that is going to get polished out. That means paint is missing and all you are going to accomplish by polishing it is to round off the corners and possibly remove paint down to the sheet metal so there isn't anything to catch anymore. I don't know that I would use a product that cuts so much paint down that it can do what you said it did on your scratch. That seems really really abrasive. Scratches that deep need to be repaired with touch up paint and not polish..

I didn't use the glass polish to remove scratches on paint, I used to to remove scratches on my windshield. The glass polish removed all of the scratches from the glass except for the deep one which caught my finger nail easily. After polishing the bad scratch was still there but not near as bad as before.

How does glass get swirls and scratches anyway? I've got the typical speckles that windshields get, but I can't say that I've ever had swirls in my glass.

The majority of scratches in glass come form junk getting stuck under the wiper blades. On all windshields I have seen, the scratches run the path of the windshield wipers. On the really bad scratch I had on my truck, a sharp pebble or something must have gotten stuck under the wiper blade and the owner before me did not do anything and just let the wiper continue to rub it against the glass making the scratch deeper and deeper.

Other thinks can scratch glass too. I have noticed since I stopped using the window cleaning tools at gas stations I haven't noticed hardly any new scratches in my glass. No telling what gets in that solution that people are rubbing on their glass.

[spike]

I would recommend using a Glass Polishing Kit like

Diamondite® Glasswork System Kit cleans, restores, and protects auto glass windshields and windows. Restore car glass with Diamondite glass polish.
Diamondite® Glasswork System Kit restores, polishes, and protects auto glass windshields and windows. Diamondite glass polish and glass sealant.
DP Perfect Vision Glass Kit

I have used the DP High Performance Glass Restorer it works really well

Hi Sully, I was just wondering if you used the DP for glass that was hazed, or for the swirl "circles" that are all over my windshield? Does it do a good job of removing light swirls? Thanks!