When I was in O'Reilly's today I noticed they had a special product for taking hard water stains off of automotive glass. Looks to be a liquid about the consistency of polishing compound. I picked up a tube and will give it a try on the Taurus to see how it looks.

 

Well , what did the wife decide?

 

He probably hasn't let her drive it yet to make the decision

 

I've heard you can clay bar glass as well

 

I do toothpaste, works better than vinegar and watet

 

Worked very well for me when I use to get paint overspray on my windows...no more worrying since retiring!!

 

Very nice looking Taurus....looks like a little tint on the windows would help in this heat. Found it in Gordonsville, Va. if I remember!

 

Yes -- window tint is on my list of things to do -- maybe later this week when I get back to Houston.

Yes -- it spent the first 8 years of it's life in Gordonsville!

 

Actually, you're right -- she's only driven it about 1/2 mile from where the transport dropped it off back to the house! Virginia is one of the states where the license plates stay with the owner, so it arrived in Texas without any plates on the car. Managed to find time to get a temporary tag for it late last week but never found time to load up the family over the weekend and do an inaugural cruise!

I took it for about a 30-mile run on Sunday morning, but I was solo.....

 

No decision yet, but I'll be pretty surprised if she doesn't elect to drive it. I have already told her there is a list of things I need to do to the car before we begin driving it (full detail, flush and fill the coolant, and I want to check to see if it is under the Takada air bag recall) so I wouldn't expect it to be put into daily service until late-July to early-August.

I'm really torn -- when you see how clean this thing is (according to the previous owner it has never been driven in the rain) it's really a shame to place it into the hands of my wife, who views a vehicle as nothing more than transportation and could care very little about what happens to it. Once she takes over as the primary driver it will soon have door-dings galore and bumper-scrapes up the wazzoo!

It literally kills me to take a car that has been as well-cared for as this one and give it to the spouse because I know exactly what will come next.....

 

What about one of those clear wraps? That way the wrap can take all the abuse and years down the road you can take it off and still have a great looking car. I'm sure it would be somewhat pricey but maybe if you sell the escape use that money for the wrap

 

Bar Keepers Friend or Bon-Ami cleanser and a fine kitchen scratchy pad does wonders and will cost you about 5 bucks.

 

Well, a wrap isn't going to do much to protect it from door dings and things like that. We did 3M film on the leading edge of the Escape when we bought it and although it has prevented rock chips, it has discolored and cracked over the years to the point that I don't know if it looks any better than rock chips. If we run with the Taurus as her daily driver, it will likely be a 10-year commitment to that vehicle and we'll run it up to 150,000 miles or more.

The other thing I have thought about is letting her use it until I no longer feel comfortable running the Cavalier as my daily driver and then I would take the Taurus over as my new ride and let her get something else. By then it would probably have enough "hickeys" that I wouldn't feel bad using it as my work vehicle, but yet would still be reliable enough for the kind of traveling I do in my job.

I will say the car rides like an absolute dream -- if we decide to make it our new "family hauler" it will be a dramatic upgrade in luxury over her '05 Escape -- for a fraction of the price of a brand new vehicle.....

 

I've always used #0000 steel wool along with using an aerosol can of window cleaner that foams up on Windows to get rid of hard water spots. It puts a nice polish on the window and doesn't leave any scratches/swirls.

 

Well, I will be turning the keys to the Taurus over to the wife on Friday. Been spending the last month or so when I have found time to go over the car from top to bottom fixing the little things that needed attention (coolant flush, new battery, new wiper blades) and giving it a complete detail. The car as it sits right now is absolutely flawless and has only 3507 miles on the odometer, but once I hand the keys to the wife it will be all downhill from here.....

The woman simply doesn't care about vehicles and will park the thing next to the skankiest looking car in the parking lot if it will save her three steps going into Target. I think her parking lot at school is the worst -- narrow spaces and women teachers getting out of their cars every morning carrying an armload of bags while trying not to spill their Starbucks. Can you say, "door dings up the wazzoo"......

I know they always say you should never fall in love with something that can't love you back, but somehow I always manage to fall in love with cars.....