water spots on glass

[miahjohn]

Lately i have noticed unsightly water spots on my windows. i wash and chamios dry once a week. after a rain i usually wash my car with in a day or two and the car is normally parked in the garage. when i first bought my car (april 08) i used steel wool on all windows to remove the pre existing water spots and it took them off.

why do these water spots form so quickly and what do you guys use to remove them and to prevent them from returning? this has not been a problem with other vehicles i have owned.

[J. A. Michaels]

Re: water spots on glass

In the past, I have used #4. I start with a foam applicator. If this is not cutting it, I step up to a terry towel. Some times a couple of applications are needed.

[yalerd]

Re: water spots on glass

Read this link. It could really help out

Glass Polishing... deep cleaning

[miahjohn]

Re: water spots on glass

great link. there is an answer to everything here. i was thinking of using some sort of compound or polish on the glass but i thought using such a product would promote water beading and produce water spots all over again? are there any products that would remove the water spots and then promote water to sheet off the glass instead of bead up?

[jfelbab]

Re: water spots on glass

I've had really good results using the Scotch-Brite Delicate Duty or Multipurpose No-Scratch scrubbing pads on glass. They remove water spotting and built-up road grime safely and effectively.

[sudsbyhubbs]

Re: water spots on glass

so when you use #4 is this before or after using window cleaner? or do you even use any window cleaner when using #4?

[Mike Phillips]

Re: water spots on glass

M04 Heavy Cut Cleaner is a paint cleaner that uses a fairly chunky diminishing abrasive and what this diminishing abrasive will do is cut through any kind of gunk, film or water spots, (which is usually some kind of mineral deposit), on the glass without scratching the glass.

You can apply it by hand using a piece of terry cloth and some passion or with a rotary buffer with a wool pad or a foam cutting pad.

It's not a perfect solution but it works when a liquid spray on glass cleaner isn't strong enough to cut the film, gunk or water spots off.

M04 is not a wax or paint sealant of any kind so it won't by itself make water bead up. You should wash the window glass with soap and water to remove any residue after you're finished or wipe the glass clean with a glass cleaner when you're finished.

On a personal note and for what it's worth... I lived Oregon for most of my life and it rains a lot in Oregon. As a detailer, most of my customer's daily drivers had water spots on the paint and on the glass and you can't detail your customer's cars and remove the water spots off the paint but return the car back to the customer with shiny paint but with water spots on the glass, so I had to find a way to remove water spots off glass using what I had in my arsenal of tools.

I always had M04 with me and so sometime in the 1980's I tried it by hand and with a rotary buffer and it worked pretty good, not perfect but better than other products and I never felt comfortable using steel wool on glass. So this is the product and system I used for years in Oregon on customer's cars.

So M04 does work and actually so does M49 in our Marine Line for the same principal idea and that's because M49 contains some pretty chunky diminishing abrasives and these chunky diminishing abrasives will cut into the gunky film and water spots that build-up on glass without scratching the glass. It will also work on the glass in shower stalls and exterior house glass, just be careful when working on large glass panels you don't push to hard, especially when machine cleaning with a rotary buffer.

Keep in mind these products are not intended to be used as glass polish and cleaners and they're not even officially recommended for use as glass polishes and cleaners, so there's no guarantees or even promises they'll work for you as these products are for removing below surface defects out of paint and Fiberglas gel-coats.

Note that how effective ANY product is comes down to you and how well you apply and work any product. Removing water spots and other types of films that can build-up on glass require some rubbing and perspiration on your part.

Also, keep in mind the residue left by both M04 and M49 is a whitish powdery residue, so to avoid getting this powdery residue on the rubber, plastic and felt trim surrounding your glass you might want to tape these areas off with blue tape like you see below...

How to tape-off a car

Because we planned on machine buffing the glass on this car we taped off all rubber, plastic and felt material surrounding the glass. This prevents these areas from getting powdery white residue on them and saves you time when it comes to clean-up.







Hope this helps...

[sudsbyhubbs]

Re: water spots on glass

i actually have some 49, so i'll give it a try. thanks, mike

[mcox]

Mike Phillips- It will also work on the glass in shower stalls and exterior house glass, just be careful when working on large glass panels you don't push to hard, especially when machine cleaning with a rotary buffer.


All interior glass for the home "should be" of the tempered variety as required by code. Therefore if broken it should break into small peeble like pieces not long sharp pieces. Note the quotation marks around should be. Nevertheless one should always take precaution when machine cleaning any glass. I know, redundant but thought I would add my 2 cents worth of glass making knowledge.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: water spots on glass

All interior glass for the home "should be" of the tempered variety as required by code. Therefore if broken it should break into small pebble like pieces not long sharp pieces.

Note the quotation marks around should be. Nevertheless one should always take precaution when machine cleaning any glass. I know, redundant but thought I would add my 2 cents worth of glass making knowledge.

The first house we bought had very large windows in the back of the house of the dining room that a sprinkler had sprayed with water for what looked like years till after we bought the house and adjusted the sprinkler head.

I machine buffed the glass with a rotary buffer but anytime I was working in the middle of the glass it seemed to really flex... it never broke but it sure felt like if too much pressure were to be applied it might crack, thus the caution above.

Thanks for you more detailed input, the point being for people to be careful and focus on the task at hand...

[miahjohn]

Re: water spots on glass



Finally had a chance to get to those water spots. i used M04 as recomended and it worked great. took off the water spots with no effort. i made a mistake though and didnt do a test spot. i used a wool pad first and what a mess!! switched to a polishing pad and removed the spots with less mess.

i tried some before and after pics but the water spots werent coming up on the camera and my batteries died on me.

[miahjohn]

Re: water spots on glass

As mentioned above I failed to do a test spot and against the golder rule here I went straight to the wool pad with M04 using a flex rotary. On the two passenger side windows using the wool pad, I realized that the glass was marred. I went over the glass again with M04 and polishing pad and it seemed to correct the problem for the most part. After topping the glass off with M21 with the DA and a coat of NXT 2.0 the glass was perfect.

Now after a couple of months and many washes I am seeing the marring on the glass again. I'm sure if I re-apply NXT 2.0 the glass will look good again but is there anything I can do to correct the marring??

[Markus Kleis]

Re: water spots on glass

As mentioned above I failed to do a test spot and against the golder rule here I went straight to the wool pad with M04 using a flex rotary. On the two passenger side windows using the wool pad, I realized that the glass was marred. I went over the glass again with M04 and polishing pad and it seemed to correct the problem for the most part. After topping the glass off with M21 with the DA and a coat of NXT 2.0 the glass was perfect.

Now after a couple of months and many washes I am seeing the marring on the glass again. I'm sure if I re-apply NXT 2.0 the glass will look good again but is there anything I can do to correct the marring??

I think you will need a true glass polish/system to correct this. Meguiar's does not sell glass polish, but if you dig around "the other" forum you will find some information there. I think the user TH0001 did a review on some glass polish.

[irf@n]

Re: water spots on glass

I'm using Auto Glym Glass Cleaner (applying with a finishing waffle pad on low speed to break down the product) once a month, against traffic film, tree sap, brake dust, etc. The result is crystal clear glasses and windscreen...