The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop cleaning old glass

I'm looking for some suggestions to clean old glass. My 43 year old windows have a cloudy film that Windex can't touch. Are there some better products or methods that will do better? Thanks for any advice.

Jeff

Jeff - All of the windows in my '41 were in pretty bad shape; either cloudy or delaminated to the point at which the glue was visible. There were also some DA scratches in the glass from sometime in the distant pass.

Although it wasn't in my original plans I ended up renewing all of the glass because other than not being able to see too well out of it the condition distracted from the rest of the restoration.

Good luck,

Don

Is it the glass or the plastic between the glass that's hazy? Other than etching or similar process I've never heard of glass becoming hazy. If it IS the glass you might try using jewler's rouge with a soft terry cloth over a random orbital sander pad & try buffing the haze out of it. Glass is hard so it might take some effort to get it right. If it's just a coating of some kind that windex won't touch use Bon Ami oven cleaner to clean the glass. It'll put windex to shame on any glass window.

Jewelers Rouge is available at places like Wal-Mart I think or you could ask someone at an actual jewelers. It will take out the imperfections and clean without scratching. There is also a batting cloth for cleaning wheels that they sell at places like Checkers or Pep-boys (sorry don't remember the exact name). I used this on similar film on my 1950 and it cleaned up my side windows perfectly. The others were broken so I had to replace them.

Jeff,

If it is actually something ON the glass, I wonder if it could be deposits from hard water. I have used Lime-Away to remove mineral deposits on glass and it was amazing.

Stuart

Give onna them MAGIC ERASERS a try ...they work wonders on all kinda stuff ...Ive had very good luck on fiberglass and such

I haven't seen the Magic Erasers but I'll look. A guy at the local paint supply store suggested that I scrape it with a razor blade. I tried that last night and it helped a lot. They're clean enough now that I can see some scuffs and scratches. I've got a glass scratch repair kit from Eastwood that I'm going to try now. Does anyone have any experience with that stuff?

Window Glass Polishing Compound???
Many years ago, in fact about 1966 I was stationed in Sacramento, CA with the USAF. One night while I was in a red neck bar some good old boys pitched an Oly’ beer bottle through the back window of my ’60 Biscayne. I picked up a window at the junkyard the next day and took it to a glass shop to have it installed. After he got it in he took a 6” buffer to it and polished it up, saying that it took out all those little scratches they pick up in normal use on the roadway. A long time ago but I thought he said that the compound was Pumice.
Has anyone else ever heard of this?? Haven’t heard from Wilber for a long time, I’ll bet he would have an answer since he owns a glass shop.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

I'm not sure what the abrasive is in jewler's rouge. Chrome polish would probably work OK too. It's just a real fine grit in a solution.

Eastwood sells a compound and a wheel for cleaning and polishing glass. I haven't used it but at some point I will for my windshield.

Years ago when my dad ran a service station for a spell he would have folks pour coca-cola on them and the coke would cut the grime right off. I have personally used this many years ago and it will definately cut most of the "regular" dirt off when nothing else would.
Just adding info to the line.

four ought steel wool(oooo) works very good on glass and mirrors and will not harm glass.i use it all the time to remove overspray and funk off of em...........dave

Have used the Eastwood kit. Polishes glass very well unless scratches are deep enough to catch your finger nail. Just mask off your work area so you don't splatter your paint or get it down inside your window tracks. Make sure it is plenty moist when you mix up the solution, make sure the pad has been soaked, and put plenty on as you work the area. It takes awhile but I've been happy with the results.

Be careful with the "polishing kits"... if you work it too much you'll start driving along and swear you put on your nearsighted cousin's glasses. These kits can cut into the glass just as if someone were grinding a pair of prescription glasses. I've been in one vehicle where the owner was proud of the polishing job he did. Sure the glass was perfectly smooth but I think if I had been in the vehicle for more than 10 minutes I would have had a headache and I couldn't imagine riding in it at night against oncoming traffic. I think he replaced the glass the next weekend.

If the haze is caused by teh laminate between the glass along the edges. They tell me soaking a rag in Ever-clear 200 proof alkahol, will sometimes saturate the plastic and clear it up. I have a front window that is like that and I will give it a try.

Besides I always wanted to sip some Ever-clear.