A fix for water spotted glass/mirrors

[scott01ranger]

My other car is a 2004 Lincoln LS, I bought it 2 years ago with barely 20,000 miles on it (!) It looked like new but the mirrors had waterspots, and to a lesser extent the windows.

I had tried every window cleaner, vinegar...even scrapped them with razor blades, nothing helped. I tried metal polish - one made for chrome or non clear coated aluminum wheels.

It worked! got rid of ALL the waterspots

 

[gribly]

Careful with that stuff, the reason it's so good at cleaning off brake dust is it's rather acidic. I wear gloves when using it.

 

[scott01ranger]

Careful with that stuff, the reason it's so good at cleaning off brake dust is it's rather acidic. I wear gloves when using it.

This wasn't wheel cleaner, but metal polish - the creamy stuff similar to car wax. I used "Boyd's wheel Polish" - that I've used for years on chrome bumpers & chrome exhaust tips.

 

[straycat]

Scraped the windows with a razor blade??? That is not good for the glass or the chrome or metal polish...not good for glass as well. Water spots?? I never had them or know anybody that had them. Are you talking about hard water from your hose when you wash the vehicle? Are just rain water? If vinegar did not work that is a bad issue. Apple vinegar is the best to remove water spots as Chip Foose said in one of the Spike shows I watched a while back.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Scraped the windows with a razor blade??? That is not good for the glass or the chrome or metal polish...not good for glass as well.

You use a razor to get tint off of windows... as long as you use your brain a little bit it works pretty good.

I used toothpaste to polish the face of my watch back when I wore a watch, it worked really good and would probably be as effective for water spots.

 

[straycat]

Toothpaste is ok for teeth but it is a bit abrasive and you don't want to clean your auto glass with anything that has abrasives in it. I always use Rain-X in my wiper reservoir and use the spray bottle of Rain-X whenever I wash and wax my vehicals. I just never had water spots before. Maybe the Rain-X keeps my glass cleaner?

 

[wrecking-crew]

I got some kind of stain on my ranger's windshield that only appears when it is wet and the wipers are used. Right where the washer fluid hits too. Someone probably used concentrate at one time and ruined it. Luckily, my new cab has a good windshield.

 

[scott01ranger]

Toothpaste is ok for teeth but it is a bit abrasive and you don't want to clean your auto glass with anything that has abrasives in it. I always use Rain-X in my wiper reservoir and use the spray bottle of Rain-X whenever I wash and wax my vehicals. I just never had water spots before. Maybe the Rain-X keeps my glass cleaner?

Do you realize glass is incredibly hard? That glass cutters have a diamond bit, since diamond is one of the few things harder than glass?


Razor blades are the standard way adhesives, paint overspray ,etc at bodyshops. No polish made will touch glass. Glass is far harder than the aluminum that the metal polish was made for.

Anyway, these were hard water deposits

 

[straycat]

Do you realize glass is incredibly hard? That glass cutters have a diamond bit, since diamond is one of the few things harder than glass?


Razor blades are the standard way adhesives, paint overspray ,etc at bodyshops. No polish made will touch glass. Glass is far harder than the aluminum that the metal polish was made for.

Anyway, these were hard water deposits

No it is not. It scratches very easily. Throw some sand up on the windows and roll your windows up a down...tell me that again....lol. Throw some sand up on the windshield and turn on the wipers and tell me that again...lol. I see so many scratched windows and windshields every day. Glass scratches

 

[straycat]

Another thing about over spray.....none of my friends who are custom painters will ever use a razorblade on over spray..they use mineral spirits and other cleaning supplies that also cleans glass as well.

 

[snoranger]

Razor blades are the standard way adhesives, paint overspray ,etc at bodyshops.

As long as the blade is held flat against the glass and the corners dont dig in, razor blades are fine to use on glass.

No polish made will touch glass.

Cerium oxide comes to mind, Also called optician's rouge. Look it up, its glass polish.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Glass does scratch do doubt about that, obviously since the poster is happy with his handywork it worked.

 

[ZMan]

Fine steel wool works wonders on glass, I'm talking like 00 or 000 steel wool. Also, when using glass cleaner, use wadded up newspaper instead of paper towels, don't ask me why, but it works very well and doesn't streak. I know what you're talking about with the water spots, they only seem to show up when you're cleaning the glass, using those 2 methods has worked for me for getting the glass perfectly clean.

 

[straycat]

Fine steel wool works wonders on glass, I'm talking like 00 or 000 steel wool. Also, when using glass cleaner, use wadded up newspaper instead of paper towels, don't ask me why, but it works very well and doesn't streak. I know what you're talking about with the water spots, they only seem to show up when you're cleaning the glass, using those 2 methods has worked for me for getting the glass perfectly clean.

Good point, Bro!!! You are correct about the newspaper. It works better then most paper towels. I only use Bounty towels for cleaning mirrors and auto glass. Bounty is one product that will not scratch prescription glasses. I did know about it until one of our friends who is an optician told us about it years ago. He said that he tells his patients that if they can't find something to clean off their glasses and they need to clean them keep bounty around the house or in their cars. Wet the set of glasses and wipe them dry with Bounty. Bounty does not contain any wood fiber like almost every paper towel product does. Who would have thunk that??

 

[adsm08]

My other car is a 2004 Lincoln LS...

I am so sorry.