How To Remove Water Spots off Glass using M04 with an RB

[mr.haributo]

How To Remove Water Spots off Glass using M04 with an RB

Here's part of my first major detail. I'll add steps and pictures to this thread once I get around to it in no particular order. First up...

Window Correction:

• Tools and Products
  • Dewalt DW849
  • M04 Heavy-Cut Cleaner
  • D120 Glass Cleaner Concentrate, 10:1
  • Buff & Shine 3" Backing Plate 5/8" Thread Rotary
  • Buff & Shine 3" Wool Cutting Pad
  • 3M blue painter's tape
  • Microfiber (mf)
  • Red Craftsman cart
  • Canon G6
• Process
  • Clean windows with D120 and mf.
  • Mask window trim w/ blue tape. Add strip for 50/50 assessment.
  • Apply M04 to wool pad.
  • Work M04 to window using DW849 until product breaks down waterspots. You can actually see after 1-2 passes.
  • Wipe off with mf.
  • If all is well, continue to work entire window.
  • Clean windows with D120 and mf.
  • Take pictures here and there throughout process to document results to post online.

Now for the results.

Figure 1: Tools and Products.


Figures 2 and 3: Before shots of waterspots.



Figures 4-6: 50/50 shots




Figures 7-9: Final shots and reflection.

[TimG]

Re: 2003 Chevrolet Avalanche

That looks absolutely great. Good job.

[Carfire]

Re: 2003 Chevrolet Avalanche

Looks Great!!!
Huge Improvement!!
Nice Work!!
Now they can see out of the GLASS!!

[christian6984]

Re: 2003 Chevrolet Avalanche

nice work, that looks brilliant.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: 2003 Chevrolet Avalanche

Excellent write-up and you show really horrible water spots and how M04 ws able to remove them without scratching the glass. Anyone reading this note that mr.haributo used blue painter's tape to tape off all the edges surrounding the glass. If you don't do this you will get M04 Heavy Cut Cleaner splatter residue onto the rubber, plastic and felt trim surrounding the glass and into the cracks and crevices in these areas and this residue will be messy and difficult to completely remove. It's so worth the extra time and expense to thoroughly tape off around the glass before machine buffing the glass. It's even a good idea to do this if you're working by hand because chances are good you'll still get residue onto the rubber gaskets surrounding the glass and taping off saves you from having to come back and clean these ares.

Good job!

The water spots on the glass in these pictures looks a lot like the water spots on many of my customer's cars when I lived in Oregon and you can't polish out the paint on a customer's car and leave the windows covered in water spots, it doesn't look good and takes away from the "wow" factor you want your customer to experience when you return their car back to them after the job is finished.

Also just to note, if the glass has water spots like this then chances are very good the paint has the same kind of water spotting too...

We're going to modify the title to this thread and place it in the How To Articles forum as a guide for others to follow should they have water spots this bad on the paint. Just to note, the M04 can also be used by hand to do the same thing but it will take longer and you'll have to put a little passion behind your applicator pad.

The DA Polisher can be used but in most cases to remove water spots this bad on glass you'll end up trying to apply so much pressure to the had of the polisher that your pad will tend to stop rotating and thus it's not as effective as working by hand or with a rotary buffer.

[The01Cav]

Re: How To Remove Water Spots off Glass using M04 with an RB

Very nice, but is there anyway that this can be done by hand?

[Tuck91]

Re: How To Remove Water Spots off Glass using M04 with an RB

read Mikes post.

[mr.haributo]

Re: How To Remove Water Spots off Glass using M04 with an RB

It's possible to do by hand. That's how I got the edges and corners of the windows. I applied a small pea sized amount on a Costco mf and buffed away. The rotary helps the overall process.

[Carl Penn]

Re: How To Remove Water Spots off Glass using M04 with an RB

Wow this is cool..I needed this. Thanks for input.

[Pharoah Ramses]

Re: How To Remove Water Spots off Glass using M04 with an RB

Great job on the windows bro!

[rusty bumper]

Re: How To Remove Water Spots off Glass using M04 with an RB

I have removed water spots from Toyota glass, by hand, by using a combination of 0000 steel wool, and a rubbing compound. However, Mike P. made mention of scratching glass with this method one time, so be careful before you proceed.

Great job on the windows, BTW!

I wonder how mr.haributo was able to get up so close to the window edge? In the photos, it appears that the tape is overlapping this area.

[JohanD]

Re: How To Remove Water Spots off Glass using M04 with an RB

Great write-up. I called a bunch of places locally to see if they had the M04, but none did. Guess I will have to order it online!

[J. A. Michaels]

Re: How To Remove Water Spots off Glass using M04 with an RB

Great write up. I agree, #4 works great to remove water spots on glass.

[1970judge]

Re: How To Remove Water Spots off Glass using M04 with an RB

Can you do this with the G110?

[akimel]

Re: How To Remove Water Spots off Glass using M04 with an RB

Can you do this with the G110?

Mike Phillips's addressed this question four years ago. Apparently the DA is too gentle to do an effective job on glass with M04:

What works best for removing any kind of water deposits or gunk that has built-up on the outside of your cars glass is a rotary buffer with either a foam cutting pad or a wool cutting pad. That's only because the machine takes all the work out of it.

If you don't have a rotary buffer then the next best approach is to use a piece of terry cloth by hand with some enthusiasm. The nap, (the little cotton loops), act as a gentle form of an abrasive together with the diminishing abrasives to help you cut through the layer of gunk and expose the glass surface.

The oscillating action of the dual action polisher with a foam pad doesn't work. That's because the dual action polisher is typically to gentle to be effective, that is, you can probably be more effective and work faster by hand than with the dual action polisher for this procedure.

The entire thread is worth reading: Glass Polishing - Deep Cleaning.