Well, had nothing to do on Sat afternoon, so I decided to tackle the rear glass that I had stupidly scratched with a dish pad. Luckily, only about 1/4 to 1/2 of the glass was damaged due to my stupidity.
Anyways, on to the review.
Ordered the Eastwood Kit online on Tues nite and received it via UPS ground on Fri afternoon. I paid about 34.99 + $5 S/H = 39.99
Sat afternoon, about 80 degrees, high humidity, lots of rain and thunder in INDY. Open garage door for proper ventiliation, rubber gloves (just in case) and a dust mask for added protection.
The kit comes with a polishing wheel, drill adapter + nut, and Rhodite polishing compound. I am not familiar with Rhodite, I am assuming that it is similar to optical grade cerium oxide.
First I soaked the polishing wheel in 1/2" of clean water for 5 minutes. Then mixed a 1:1 ratio of rhodite + water to form a "gravy" consistency in a clean throw away tupperware type container.
I used a Bosch drill with additional handle for extra support and control (rented it from local DIY center). Attach the polishing wheel to the drill and proceed. The kit says to not exceed 1500 rpms,
The container of compound says, 'for best results, use compound sparingly' and they mean it.
I proceeded to slather on a couple of brushes with a foam paint app on the affected areas and went at it with the polishing wheel. Did a 1 ft x 1 ft section to start to see what would happen. Went at it for about 15 minutes and wiped off to see results. NOTHING! I was about half throttle on this section.
Decided to try another section just to test and this time, did not slather it on but decided to try the section with just what was left on the polishing wheel. Buffed for another 15 minutes using light, steady pressure. Again, about half throttle here as well. Wiped to check again and NOTHING!
Okay, enough is enough and decided to go against what the instructions say about using light and steady pressure and decided to put some muscle into it. I used a 2 step step stool to give me more leverage and went at it again. This time, nothing on the glass, just using the left over residue from the polishing wheel. I proceeded to buff out the first 1x1 section using a little more muscle and pushing the wheel down. I was very conscious about keeping the polishing wheel very moist with a sprayer on the wheel so that I didn't create any unwanted heat between the wheel and the glass. Went at it for about 15 minutes again and checked again. Also, I decided to go full bore on the speed and put it in a locked position. I am not sure of the exact rpms at full throttle at this time.
SUCCESS!! The majority of the marks were gone, still some left but I had found the technique that would give me the best results.
Simply use the polishing compound residue on the wheel, that is all you need, no need to slather on a bunch of the compound. And you have to use some muscle behind it. This was the second most important part, really putting the polishing wheel to the glass.
All in all, for about 1/2 of the rear glass, it took me about 4 hours. I did small sections at a time for about 10-15 minute intervals, checking regularly for results.
Thank goodness I have an extremely patient wife who kept herself busy with a shopping excursion. And we had nothing to do
If you are considering using this kit, be sure you have LOTS of time on your hands just to be safe and get ready for a serious workout on your arms.
I am impressed with the results thus far. The glass looks as good as new. And it better for all that time invested.
Ease of use - fairly easy until you get to the actual application of the product
Application process - UGH! lots of muscle needed for this one, no light and steady pressure, more like hard and firm pressure needed to see results.
Results - overall, very good - if I look real hard I can still see some very, very small scratches here and there, but they are not very noticeable unless you are really looking for them. From where my rear glass was before I started polishing until now - there is a considerable and very noticeable difference.
Overall - 3 out of 5 stars - great results, I just wish the whole process didn't take so long and didn't require Conan the Barbarian strength to achieve desired results.
I am sore just typing this review.
Hope this helps and any questions please let me know.
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