Glass Polishing kit from CMA

**Jademonkey** · 11-19-2002, 06:21 PM

Has anyone used the glass polishing kit from CMA, which includes glass polish plus a pad for the PC?

If it does what it says, I would like to try it but have heard before that glass is very hard to polish or do anything to.

Thanks

Bryan

**imp_D Tailor** · 11-19-2002, 06:53 PM

I`d be very interested in this one too. There are windshield wiper marks, as well as some surface marring and pitting that I wouldn`t mind polishing away frmo my view.

Along the same lines (and for 30$), an actual Cerium Oxide kit can be had from JCWhitney... It`s the real thing and I`ve seen someone work wonders on a windshield with Cerium Oxide.

JCWhitney`s Cerium Oxide Glass Polishing Kit

Just another option out there, I would think that CMA`s kit is a Cerium Oxide solution as well, it`s simply pre-mixed into a slurry, where one would have to make their own mix out of the actual Cerium powder. The pro I was watching used a spray bottle with water in it to keep the section he was working nice and wet.

Anyone with hands-on experience?

**imported_Aurora40** · 11-19-2002, 10:03 PM

Be careful with cerium oxide. You can easily buff too much of the glass off and then you will have problems with distortion. You may not even notice it at first, but you may notice it as you are driving. Subtle distortion can be really annoying and hard on your eyes. My factory Service Manual recommends not using Cerium Oxide on parts of the windshield that are in front of the driver.

The CMA kit uses that Autoglym glass polish. I have a feeling it is considerably gentler, but have never used it.

**imp_D Tailor** · 11-20-2002, 05:57 AM

Thanks for bringing up distortion, I had forgotten about that one... Although my understanding is it would be very hard and tedious to buff enough that you get distortion. Maybe if one were being over-sealous trying to polish off some deeper pits or scratches??

What`s your take on maybe just trying to get rid of some windshield wiper marks, that`s not too much into the driver`s field of vision, pretty safe to "practice" there, right?

BTW, I didn`t mention that polishing glass applies ONLY to the windshield! The tempered glass of your side and rear windows will explode if localized heat from a buffing pad is applied!! The windshieled is a laminated glass and will take some heat without problem.

Thanks for the input! Anyone else with experience care to share a couple of tips?

**imported_Aurora40** · 11-20-2002, 09:15 AM

Let me first say I`ve never done glass polishing. Also, one other difference about the CMA kit is it uses a PC, not a rotary. Here are the instructions listed for my car in the Service Manual. I have an Aurora (surprise!) but the glass is made by PPG, so the instructions are probably fairly universal.

**imp_D Tailor** · 11-20-2002, 01:40 PM

Aurora, thank you very much for taking the time to scan and post this info!

I`ve been leaning towards the true Cerium Oxide kit since that`s what the pros are using. While I assumed there would be instructions with the stuff, since it`s biased towards pros they sometimes are very sketchy, if there are any...

Well I`m definitely gonna give it a shot once winter is over, I`ll make sure to post pics and report here when it happens. In the mean time if anyone else tries it, please share the info!!