What should I use on 40 year old glass?

[Grimm]

OK, so what do people suggest to use on a 40 year old windshield? It's in good shape, no major scratches or anything, but it has nearly four decades of road rash pits and swirls that can be pretty annoying when driving into the sun. Is the Diamondite system going to be the ticket?

 

[BobD]

What kind of vehicle? Might just want to get a new windshield installed.

 

[Grimm]

The '68 Cutlass I posted a picture of for your brochure.

 

[SVR]

I had great success with p21s polishing soap on a friends 1960 Ford XK windscreens

 

[cgage]

I just did a 66 Vette, i used IG and then polished with poli seal, made a huge difference.

 

[JasonD]

I don't know if this would be more aggressive or less aggressive than the suggestions already mentioned, but you could also try 0000 steel wool with a good glass cleaner like Stoner's IG.

 

[Setec Astronomy]

Yikes! I cringe when I hear about steel wool on glass. It seems to me that this has had a lot of discussion before, and that there isn't really a good way to polish glass. If you use something that has enough cut to actually remove the swirls, you're not likely to do it in a uniform enough manner to prevent optical distortion (although I guess that could be restored with some optically clear Zaino, eh? LOL). It seems to me one or more of the Scandanavian countries have windshield clarity tests as part of their car inspections (because of the perpetual darkness during the winter and the "badness" of light scattering in dark/snow/ice), and I don't remember polishing as an option to fix them.

 

[JasonD]

Yikes! I cringe when I hear about steel wool on glass.

Same here, but it really works. 0000 steel wool actually works like an extra cleaning step, not really aggressive enough to scratch. Its like clay on paint. Test it out.

 

[Eliot Ness]

I remembered an old thread on here by theveed where he had problems with 0000 SW causing micro scratches:



http://autopia.org/forum/car-detailing/37355-0000-steel-wool-windows-tricks-tips.html



While I agree that 0000 SW is pretty fine, it seems some glass might be harder than others, so I'd be pretty cautious with it. I have used a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser and glass cleaner with pretty good results, but it won't do anything for pits and/or scratches.

 

[ron231]

I have polished glass with edge2000 wool+ presta ultra cutting creme with my makita after claying ant that seems to work pretty good. Just remember to tape off the edges so you can crank up the RPMs and not worry about burning the paint.

 

[David Fermani]

Yikes! I cringe when I hear about steel wool on glass.

FYI - I haven't run into any problems using steel wool on glass yet. I've done tons of body shop cars where the glass was covered in overspray. Alot of times they use the glass as a color test/spray out panel! I've used steel wool, razor blades & 4000 grit sandpaper and never noticed any kind of damage. On the other hand, any of those 3 will totally screw up outside mirror lenses.

 

[Grimm]

I have polished glass with edge2000 wool+ presta ultra cutting creme with my makita after claying ant that seems to work pretty good. Just remember to tape off the edges so you can crank up the RPMs and not worry about burning the paint.

That is my thought. I'm probably going to get a rotary soon, so I'll probably try that with my SIP to see if that will help. Really the glass isn't bad, it just has tons of very tiny pits that are like a grain of sand along with swirls.