major water spots on glass

[jmarc]

i've tried all the myths (vineger, lime away, ie..), and they don't work. I've read 04 with rotory and 82 with da worked for a few people. what other solutions have worked for you?

[Murr1525]

Re: major water spots on glass

How major?

Glass cleaner, clay, and RainX have worked for me, but mine were not the worst ever.

#4 by hand is also a good option that has worked for people.

I imagine some of the new products like ScratchX 2.0, Ultimate Compound, and #105 would have a good chance or working.

[WhiteLX]

Re: major water spots on glass

Duragloss Nu-Glass by hand worked for me. Picked it up at a Carquest.

#83 on a DA with an orange Lake Country pad did an OK job.

[TimG]

Re: major water spots on glass

#4 has been very helpful in getting rid of those nasty watermarks. I have not yet tried the rest of the new 09 compounds (105 & 95), will give it a shot once I got the time to experiment around.

Here's a sample of #4 wiping off stubborn water spots.







Hope this helps.

Tim

[Michael Stoops]

Re: major water spots on glass

i've tried all the myths (vineger, lime away, ie..), and they don't work.

Those aren't myths, they actually work but it totally depends on the type of water spot you have. Water spots range from incredibly easy to almost impossible to remove. I have personally seen fairly stubborn water spots come out easily with a vinegar/water solution, and I've fought spots with a rotary buffer because they had etched into the paint so deeply. Compound the etching issue by having it happen on glass (yep, it's possible) and you may never fully get rid of them.

We had a gentleman at an Open Garage Session last fall who had tried everything he could think of to remove water spots from his windows and months later they were still there. I suggested he try M105 on a terry cloth towel and it took them out pretty quickly. Are your water spots worse than that? Impossible to say, but M105, M04 and other compounds usually do a very good job with this.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: major water spots on glass

Check out this thread... M04 is a time-proven product for removing water spots off of glass but it still requires a little elbow grease when used by hand depending upon how stubborn the water spots are...

Glass Polishing - Deep Cleaning

[Hemin8r]

Re: major water spots on glass

A while back I had a customer that had bad water spots all over the passenger side windows and what worked for me was #80 with the DA and a W-8006. Came out great. I didn't have #04 with me at the time.

[Tom Weed]

Re: major water spots on glass

Last summer I was eating lunch at a place and in the middle of the afternoon their sprinklers came on and when I came out, I had standing water droplets all over my car which spotted it right away. I took it home and washed it and still had those water spots. I had been reading about trying vinegar, so decided to give it a try and washed it with white vinegear and then washed it again with car wash soap, the spots were gone, but i also think it probably removed my wax/sealant too...

depends on the severity of them and how long they have been there...

[Mike Phillips]

Re: major water spots on glass

If you read the link to the thread I posted above, it explains the reason M04 works is because the the diminishing abrasive in this particular product is very chunky.

It is this aggressive chunky feature that enables it to cut into and remove mineral deposits and other gunk that build-ups and creates a film on glass that liquid, spray-on glass cleaners don't have the ability to break-up and remove. Yet because it breaks-down it won't scratch the glass.

Other abrasive product can work but products like M83, M82, M09 are smooth and creamy as they don't use the style of diminishing abrasive that products like M04 utilizes.

For what it's worth, I lived in Oregon for most of my life and it rains a lot up there and the constant rain together with the kind of road grime that gets sprayed onto the car as you follow other cars down the freeway in the rain is a recipe for a type of gunky road film that not only builds-up on the glass but also on the paint.

Here's the point...

When you detail someone's car, you can't just make the paint shiny and give the customer back a car with shiny paint but with glass that has water spots and a film-build on the glass. It takes away from the wow-effect after getting your car detailed and the glass isn't clear.

Because as a detailer you usually take a collection of products with you when you're doing mobile detail work because you never know what you're going to come up against and you need to be prepared, I always had M04 in my arsenal of products and for the most part either by hand or with a rotary buffer, it was able to polish the glass clean to finish the job and create the wow-effect of a sharply detailed car.

By hand you would cut up a terry cloth towel, you want a cotton towel with a large, fluffy nap, (little cotton loops), to provide some scrubbing action and help give the chunky diminishing abrasives some bite.

With a rotary buffer a wool cutting pad works best but also our W-7006 Foam Cutting Pad also works but it's not as aggressive as the wool pad.

Also, if you ever use a rotary buffer to polish glass it's a really good idea to tape off all the edges around the glass so you don't plaster your product into the crevices between the glass and the frame around the glass, especially if the car has that fuzzy strip on the lower channel.

Like we did here when we polished the glass on this BMW as a part of the detail job.

[Megafast13]

Re: major water spots on glass

Honestly the best thing I have ever used to clean Water spots that cleaners haven't is this stuff called Perma Seal. It is actually a little can of powder that you have to dab with a wet towel. It works for cleaning metals, paint, glass, plastic, etc. I am not sure where you can find it. I got it at a car show. You can order it off their website though.

Try a Polishing Compound...

Or order a Glass Polishing kit from ADS

[miahjohn]

Re: major water spots on glass

whatever you decide to use DO NOT use a wool pad first like I did. it left the windows i did with it all marred up. M04 and a foam pad worked wonders.

[akimel]

Re: major water spots on glass

I have never used it, but I know that some people have had great success cleaning windshields with Bon Ami (original 1886 formula cleaning powder, not the polishing cleanser available at supermarkets).

[Ticman]

Re: major water spots on glass

Bar Keeper Friend will work as well. I do how ever much prefer the #4 and my Mikata.

[gb387]

Re: major water spots on glass

I vote #4 as well... Use it often and it works. You seem to use more product than you normally would but with a little effort but #4 works.

For me Bon Ami or Bar Keepers Friend should be kept under the kitchen sink, they may work but not sure how safe they are for a vehicles paint but thats just me!