What works best to remove waterspots from the glass? Can a clay bar be used to remove them? Any ideas are appreciated.

 

Hey BigIke:

If your water spots have NOT baked on for days you might get them off with distilled white venigar(sp).
Often hard water is comprised of calcium and phosorous which
will actually "EAT" the glass surface. Get a bottle of distilled WHITE
venigar (about $1.50)....make sure your glass surface is clean and dry...and no direct sun....pour a cap or two of venigar onto a clean soft cloth...rub this stuff in really well in a circular motion (it stinks real BAD mind you)....dont let it sit on the glass for more than 1-2 minutes...and DONT let the venigar contact any rubber or vinyl surfaces...then hose off very well all the venegar and make sure that your body panels are hosed off too....this is an old california detail trick that I have used for years...IF this appears to have helped..then do it again...good luck.

 

The vinegar is a real good trick for relatively new water spots. If you have some stubborn ones, try Pro wax water spot remover C-30-Q. Its sold in Florida. Or try www.prowax.com.
Check out www.FL-150.com

 

I used a great product by No Touch this weekend. Its the No Touch Auto Glass Stripper,

I got it at Kregan, or Auto Zone a while back. I have a 97 Expedition and it worked like a charm. The only thing is make sure that you get it all off or it will leave nasty haze. I then put on two coasts of Rain X just so I woun't have to do it again in the near future.


http://www.notouch.com/newsite/glass-products.html

 

One other thing you may want to try is steel wool and windex. This was recommended to me by the dealer and it seems to work very well for really tough spots. Just don't try it on the mirrors (found that out the hard way). I live in an apartment complex and my truck gets sprayed every night by the sprinklers. The Steel wool works great and is fast and easy.

 

which grade wool do you use? I would guess the finest, maybe
0000?

 

Rain-X makes a glass polish and I have found it to be excellent in removing water spots. Check out their website -

http://www.rainx.com/frame_auto_glass.htm

 

Steel wool and Windex here too, #0000. Glass gets so clear you can't tell it's there,,,,98

 

I'll try it today.

 

I believe BrianD said it first, but it does work very well,,,,98

 

Hey guys,

I'm a glazier by trade. Now Windex and steel wool will take off the water spots, but as said previously, the Ammonia content is very high, and can actually eat away at the silvering of the mirror. Now what we do in our shop for water spots (on glass and mirror) is the following.

Use a mixture of fine Pumice (about the consistancy of Baking Soda), and Castle glass cleaner. Form a paste and rub the area gently. This will take out even the most stubborn water spots, and it is MUCH cheaper than water spot removers.

Just my $1.50


Mike

 

I too had some very bad water spots. The water here is hard and I made the mistake of cleaning the truck in the afternoon when it was still hot. The spots were so bad that I had to remove them immediately before I went nuts. I used a cleaning product that we use around the house called Lime Away. It is a general household cleaner with the ability to remove spots in the sinks and tub. I put some on a paper towel and rubbed the window. Worked great with very little elbow grease.
GDG

 

Ford issued a tech tip for this. They found that the use of steel wool and other chemicals damaged the glass.

It is usually only on their Dealer Only website QCDealer.com, but at the site, www.autoint.com it is under they OEM/TSB section under Ford Tech Tips.

There is also a section in the regular Tech Tips Section that shows the paint process the factory uses. It was provided by PPG.

 

I tried the 0000 steel wool and windex. It didn't even begin to
work.

 

Since the oil embargo of the early 70's, vehicle manufacturers have been finding all kinds of ways to remove weight from the vehicles.

The first was to reduce the actual glass content and replace it with polymers.

Polymers make up plastics, and your vehicles glass is as much polymer as it is glass.

Clearcoats are polymers and everyone knows how the enviormental pollutants, combined with heat and water will etch your clearcoat. Many times those "water spots" on your clear are not "water spots" but "etching" of the clear. That is why the clay bar etc will not remove them.

Just like getting battery acid on your jeans, it eats away the fabric and so it goes with the clear, IE, an etch.

The glass etches as well, and that is what you are facing.

The Ford Tech Tip will remove light etching, but for heavy, deep etches one would need to get some cerium oxide and a felt buffing wheel and try that.

If that doesn't remove the etching, time to replace the glass.


Sorry, just the chemical facts here.

ketch