How to polish a windshield: what are the options?

Issues discussed in the material:

• Is it possible to polish a windshield and what is the best way to do it?
• What preparation is required before starting work?
• How does the polishing process work?
• How can you increase the life of your windshield?

How and with what to polish a car windshield in your garage? This question, after a certain time, is asked by all car enthusiasts. Glass, like any other smooth surface, is susceptible to scratches. The culprits for this are the motorists themselves, who use scrapers, dusty rags, as well as factors beyond their control (stones from the wheels of cars in front).

Is it possible to polish a windshield and what is the best way to do it?

It is possible to remove a scratch by polishing, but only one that does not catch when rubbed with a fingernail. When polishing, a very thin layer is removed, and in case of deep damage to the glass there will be no result.

So, which tool should you use? The most economical option at hand is toothpaste or powder. Further on the list are pastes specially designed for this purpose. It can take a long time to choose, but it is advisable to decide in advance how much money you are willing to spend on a polish and what properties it should have. It depends on what the purchased mixture will contain and what it is capable of.

1. GOI paste

Inexpensive polishing agent. Due to its ease of use, it can be used at home for light sanding of the surface.

There are several varieties of GOI paste - coarse, medium and fine grain:

• The roughest No. 4. Will eliminate significant scratches that catch the eye.
• Medium grit is No. 3. It will create a crystal clear surface and add an even shine. Will help with matte rubs from windshield wiper blades, abrasions from scrapers and brushes.
• Fine grade No. 2. Ideal for very minor changes on the surface (very small scratches, cobwebs), it will give a mirror shine.
• Paste No. 1. The darkest color. Contains no more than 70% chromium oxide. Used when light polishing is needed.

To manually rid your car of scratches on the windshield, for which the paste is most often used, you need to rub GOI on a soft piece of cloth and polish the glass in a circular motion. To improve the quality of the paste, car enthusiasts recommend dripping a mixture of oil and gasoline onto a cloth (preferably felt).

2. Toothpaste

It is actually possible to polish your windshield with toothpaste. Toothpaste with a whitening effect is an excellent support for store-bought polishes and will give good results at minimal cost. When choosing this available product as a polish, it is important to check for additional additives in the composition so as not to damage the windshield with them.

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3. Polish

In stores there is such a variety of products specially designed for polishing that one’s eyes run wild, depending on the buyer’s capabilities, the desired properties, and the professionalism of the brand. First of all, they are divided into 3 types:

• Polishes with protective properties. This type creates a layer on the surface that protects against abrasions and adverse external influences.
• Optical polishes. They contain special substances that fill microcracks and scratches.
• Abrasive pastes. Remove part of the top layer from the glass.

Polishing compounds are Teflon-based and wax-based. The former must be applied to the entire surface of the windshield to protect against serious damage. Wax polishes are similar in effectiveness to folk remedies and their cost is appropriate.

Professional quality Teflon and wax products can be used at home. There is nothing complicated in this process.

When choosing between wax and Teflon, you should choose the first. Teflon is a substance with unique properties. The Teflon-coated surface will not get wet or dirty. Dirt does not stick to it, no matter how sticky it is.

The antistatic effect is another advantage of Teflon polishing; it saves the glass from charged dust particles.

All of the listed advantages of Teflon will help keep the glass clean for a long time, with much less cleaning required. Compared to other types of polishes, Teflon ones have a long service life. The protective layer will withstand 11-12 washes.

What to look for when choosing

In addition to the type of car glass cleaner/polish itself, when choosing, you also need to take into account several more parameters. In particular:

• State of aggregation . As a rule, polishes for glass protection are sold in the form of a paste or gel. However, their viscosity and density may vary. Thicker compounds are suitable for repairing significant (deep) abrasions and are usually sufficient for a relatively small area to be treated. Conversely, thinner compounds are designed to treat minor abrasions.
• Terms of Use . Most car glass polishing pastes can be used simply in a garage, without the use of additional tools. However, there are also professional compositions that only work in conjunction with additional equipment. They are usually used in car service settings.
• Grain . The coarser the polish is, the deeper scratches it is designed to handle. Conversely, fine-grained compounds are capable of treating minor damage (fine finishing).
• Additional properties . It is desirable that the polish not only directly polishes the glass surface, but also protects the car glass from moisture, dirt and minor mechanical damage. This will provide better visibility through the glass and improve its appearance.
• Value for money . It is better not to buy frankly cheap products for polishing car glass, since they are not only ineffective, but, on the contrary, can damage its surface. It is better to purchase a polish from the middle or higher price category.

Choosing tools and place for polishing a car windshield

How to polish a windshield at home? To begin with, we prepare materials according to the list. So, you will need:

• polishing wheel;
• paste or polish;
• PE film (made of polyethylene) is soft and elastic;
• masking tape;
• black water-soluble marker;
• a spray bottle, an ordinary household one will do;
• any glass cleaning liquid;
• gloves, goggles, mask to protect the respiratory tract;
• polishing machine;

In order not to completely ruin the appearance of the car, you need to choose a high-quality polishing machine. It is important to choose a device with the desired speed size. So, for example, an ordinary angle grinder is not an option, due to the considerable speed that will quickly overheat the windshield.

For polishing car windshields, 1500 rpm is considered an acceptable amount. The ideal choice would be machines specifically designed for polishing and grinding. But if you have an angle grinder with the ability to adjust the speed or a drill with adapters for a polishing wheel, you can get by with minimal costs.

When choosing a polish or special paste, pay attention to the characteristics. Highly aggressive pastes and pastes with coarse abrasives can cause irreparable damage to glass. Let's leave them to the professionals.

Before starting the polishing process, we check that all protective equipment is worn. Are parts of the body that do not need polishing covered? The paste is difficult to remove from car paint parts and can cause microcracks and cobwebs.

Where can I polish my windshield? As for the location of the work, it is definitely not a street. It is necessary to organize work in a brightly lit room, without the possibility of dust and dirt, otherwise new problem areas will have to be eliminated.

High-quality light is necessary, first of all, in order to see individual scratches and not process excess glass surface, as well as to analyze the effectiveness of the actions performed.

Defects

Minor damage includes scratches that are not visible to the naked eye. But if the weather is clear, then the sun’s rays refracted through them greatly interfere with driving. This kind of damage occurs under the influence of external factors - dust, road sand, improper care of the glass associated with rough snow removal or the use of harsh napkins. Old windshield wipers are also dangerous. From such influences the glass becomes dull and dull.

Damage whose depth ranges from one hundred fifty to two hundred microns is considered medium. Such a scratch is determined by running a fingernail across the glass. Once it gets caught, that's where the average damage will occur.

Deep defects are immediately visible. It is best to eliminate them using photopolymers. After their application, the glass is ground and polished.

Preparing to polish a car windshield

The first thing to do is to properly wash and dry the car. We use special detergent compositions for manual washing. If you polish an unwashed windshield, you will get the opposite effect.

Second, we look for and circle with a marker areas with defects. We do this from inside the car, illuminating it with a flashlight from different sides so as not to miss a single area. This point can be missed if the entire area is polished.

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Third, we cover the car with a film to protect it from getting the composition on areas of the body that do not need polishing. We cut out a window in the film at the place where polishing is needed and secure its edges with paper tape. In order not to activate dust on the floor, all actions with the film must be careful.

The last preparatory stage is cleaning the polishing areas with a glass cleaner.

Windshield polishing process

Having distributed the polishing paste onto a circle of felt, we successively rub an area of ​​no more than 30 sq.cm on the glass, only after thoroughly processing one area do we move on to another. Wipe the treated part of the glass with a soft cloth.

During the process, it may be useful to spray the window with water from a spray bottle to ensure high-quality operation of the machine, as well as to avoid the paste from hardening. Another advantage of water is that its use will additionally cool the windshield.

We polish smoothly, without effort, pressure can lead to damage to the windshield. To ensure the effectiveness of the procedure, experts advise holding the machine at an angle of 5˚. In order not to miss anything, it is important to overlap the polished areas by about 5 cm, and only then move on.

The entire procedure will take about 4 hours.

After completing work on the entire surface, you need to wipe the windshield with a napkin and inspect from all angles for the presence of non-shiny areas. If you find any imperfections in the polishing, you need to go over the imperfect area on the glass again.

It is better to assess the effectiveness of work from the salon, with the overhead lights in the room turned off. We point a bright flashlight at the treated areas of the windshield, imitating an oncoming car. In this way, missed areas are identified.

Polish or grind?

There are two known ways to remove damage from a glass surface - polishing or grinding. The most suitable option is selected based on certain parameters:

• type of glass;
• nature of the damage.

Polishing is used to restore dullness and eliminate not very deep damage. During the work, the top layer is removed, the thickness of which is several microns. During mechanical processing, a paste is used that contains small abrasive particles.

If there is a need to eliminate deeper damage, it is recommended to use diamond paste and felt tips. The ability of such a paste will eliminate scratches whose depth does not exceed fifty microns. More serious defects are eliminated with photopolymers - colorless emulsion compositions that harden to fill cracks and scratches.

If the thickness of the damage is from sixty to three hundred microns, then the glass is ground. But here you need to know that similar technology is not used on the front window, since the glass is not thick enough. Glass grinding is applicable only if there is a need to restore the external optics of the car. Sanding car windshields can result in an uneven reduction in thickness, creating a “lens” effect.

How to polish a windshield from deep scratches

Scratches inevitably form on the windshield of absolutely every car during its use. How to polish a windshield from scratches from wipers, scrapers and other harmful materials is a question that most drivers ask. Severe scratches may not respond to simple buffing wheels. Don't be disappointed. There is another, not very economical, but option - a diamond-coated polishing disc. Although it is more expensive than usual, if you use it, there will be no need to go to a car service center. And this is already a good saving.

It is important to know that the wear rate of the windshield when working with diamond polishing discs is high. Therefore, you cannot process one area for too long; you must move the grinder evenly over the entire area of ​​the windshield until the defect is eliminated. At the end we polish with cerium oxide, and then with a paste based on chromium oxide (GOI).

Why do specialists choose GOI? Because it's cheap. The paste is high quality and gives excellent results. Why spend a lot of time deciphering the ingredients of various products on store shelves when you can buy and effectively use one proven one.

How much does it cost to polish a windshield? Car workshops offer their windshield polishing services for an average of 5-10 thousand rubles in Moscow; as for other remote cities, the price for windshield polishing is slightly lower there. Despite this, even in the region the average motorist will not spend money on a specialist and will do everything himself.

It is usually impossible to damage the windshield by simply polishing it. And these actions can be carried out independently. As for sanding, if you don’t have experience, it’s not worth the risk. New glass will be much more expensive than a specialist.

Approximate cost of services

First you need to assess all the risks, which include financial costs. The most expensive option is to carry out the work in a special workshop. The result will be good, but the cost will be quite high. The process can be made cheaper by choosing partial polishing instead of full polishing. This way you will cover only the most problematic areas.

It should be noted that there are two types of polishing – deep and superficial. The first one costs more – about ten thousand rubles.

Work carried out on your own will cost you much less, but the quality may not reach the required level.