Alright all, you may have seen my post in the wanted section.

Someone has offered me the above polisher, I want it to mainly sort the windscreen out, its pretty bad, nothing deep I think, just the pure amount of scratches.

Also want to do headlights an paint in future.

I am a complete novice on these.

Would this see to the windscreen or do I really need a rotary?

Cheers,

Kyle

I've used my Porter Cable on glass before, yes. Did a good job with some glass polish, on a medium pad.

 

I was doing it more to clean and prep the glass for repellent though, rather than trying to remove obvious scratches/defects. Shouldn't be a problem though.

Glass is far far harder than paint clear coat, so as Wardy has suggested you can give glass a really good clean up and maybe even get a visual improvement using a PC and a polish.

 

Just don't expect to be able to "correct" it as you would paintwork.

For glass you really need actual glass polish, i.e jewelers rouge type stuff.  I picked up a kit and was able to remove scratches left by a dodgy windscreen wiper blade in my Dad's car.  Aiming to use it on my car soon as have similar issues with tiny little stonechips.  Note using normal polish on glass will be largely ineffective, even cutting compound.    And when you do use the proper glass polish TAKE CARE!  There's serious heat build up and if not careful, can actually crack the screen due to it getting too hot.

Yeh, looking at getting some ceri glass, as know nothing else would touch. Was thinking of getting the silverline polisher as heard the rotary is quicker. Plus for 40ish pretty cheap.

Thanks for the warning re heat built up. Have you got any other tips?

Did you use a glass polishing pad or just a foam one? Got a link for the kit you used?

The kit I had (bought by my Dad and passed on to me) was from Ebay - I will try and find a link.  They came with their own pads.  Foam pads are useless for this.

It was something like this

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Polishing-Kit-2-pad-for-cars-or-glass-Windscreens-/300476293662?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item45f5c8621e

 

only I used my own 50mm backing plate I have anyway as part of my detailing arsenal, and my rotary polisher set to a fairly high speed compared to paint polishing, for about 1800rpm speed.  The only way to stop heat buildup is to ensure you keep it moving - staying in same place for too long is what can cause problems, just like with normal paint polishing too.

As Jason says, a Rotary is far better option than a DA Machine on glass...too much vibration and not as effective

The work required is exceptional and time consuming using proper glass polish and pads

Cheers Jason, think I'm going to go with ceri glass kit and a couple of glass polishing pads from cyc, but I m scared of what that may lead to....iron x and poss p1 purchase may result as well....

Will probably look at picking up the silver line rotary as has decent reviews for the cost.

Right sorry to be asking you lot yet another question, but hey, I trust your judgement.

So, this time. I have the choice between a brand new silver line rotary from Amazon or a 2nd hand kestrel sim-180 (used for about 4hrs supposedly).

Now I know it seems like an obvious answer (e.g go with new). But do you agree? Or are there bens from the sim I don't know (or at my level, even notice)?

Kestrel

The Silverline is crap and very heavy

Kestrel

The Silverline is crap and very heavy

 

^^^^^ this.  Nothing worse than a heavy polisher, when you're supposed to be concentrating on improving paint.  My EP801 is a nice light machine which at about 2kg or so, is fairly easy to wield.

I have the same...Superb rotary

 

http://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/polishing-machines/cleanyoucar-ep801-compact-rotary-polisher/ep801-compact-rotary-polisher/prod_854.html

 

Worth every penny