A beginners guide/review in polishing glass using Ceriglass.(Pic Heavy)

[theezenutz]

Ok so this is my first guide/ review of a product so apologies for the quality of the pictures and my ability to expain the process, but I will do my best.

 

The first thing I did was to wash the car. It may be better for you to just wash/ clean the area you are going to work on, (it's a messy job) but I always start by giving it a good scrub.

 

 

Next stage for me was to give the front windscreen a good going over with a clay bar, then a generous dose of your preferred glass cleaner and IPA if you have some unfortuanly I don't.

The idea is to remove as much of the dust, dirt and grime you can from the area you are working on, so as not to inflict any more surface scratches to your glass.

 

Weapons of choice - I used a Das 6 Pro D/A Polisher coupled with a 5" Rayon Glass Pad, Ceriglass Glass Polish and a spray bottle filled with water. Other bits you may want to use is some masking tape, (I didn't have any) safety gear i.e Glasses, mask ect.

 

 

I started by applying 4-5 5p coin size drops to my pad, gave the area of the windscreen I was working on a quick spritz of water then adjusted the speed of the D/A to setting 1 and aplly it using no pressure. The reason for doing that is all I wanted to do was spread the product over the area a was working on first so as not fling it all over the place.

 

[theezenutz]

Once product has been spread over the desired area in my case half of the windscreen but you may want to reduce that area to a more managable size. I then turned the D/A up to setting 6 applied quite a fair bit of pressure and moved slowly in a up, down then left and right motion. Covering the whole area with an even consistant layer of glass polish. 

 

 

Work the product as much as you can until you notice it start to dry out, this will become evident because the polisher begins to drag and jump about a little also you should visually be able to see the product drying. At this point you'll want to give the pad a squirt with your water sprayer or maybe even the glass itself, taking care not to apply too much or you will end up making quite a mess.

I then switched the polisher back down to 1 spread it about a bit then back up to 6 to work the same as I did before.

 

 

What you have to be careful of especially when working on a smaller srea, is heat. So you'll need to use a bit of common sense and periodically touch the area with your hand, to make sure your not putting to much heat into the glass. I didn't have that problem because I was working on a big area plus it was quite cold that day, but if you do feel the glass start to get hot take a little breather until it cool down and maybe spray a little more water on the glass.

 

Very messy process as you can see in this pic.

 

 

Ok so I worked the product in until I decided it was time to re-aplly some more polish. So off I went to clean the pad also the area I was working on. Plenty of warm water until I was satisfied that it was clean enough for my liking and kept repeating the process. It took me quite a while to get most of the wiper scratches out but that was due to the fact, that this was my first time attempting it plus I was working on quite a big area.

 

You'll have to take my word for it as I was to excited to get to work with it, to of taken pictures of the wiper marks but rest assured the vast majority have gone. To give an idea of how effective this product is, i'll show you a couple of before and pic's of a deep scratch I had near the bottom of windscreen.

 

 

Quite a deep scratch, deep enough that you could feel it with your fingernail. So after much effort and quite a bit of focus on this particular area this is how I left it.

Not completely gone but far less pronounced than it was.

 

[theezenutz]

So after polishing it for quite a while I was getting to the point where I was happy enough for my first attempt plus I was very hungry and it was becoming harder to take pictures so I finished up for the day ready to start again tomorrow. At this point the amount of dust it creates is quite incredible so you will need to give it another wash, being very careful and thorough with you rinsing. Glass is very hard, much harder than your paint so try to get as much of it off as you can before you take your sponge or mitt to the paint.

 

Here's a nice shiny pic. As you can see it still has some product on but the level of shine is quite amazing. So once it has all been cleaned up it will be a very, very good base for you to apply a sealent of your choice.

 

[Hunty278]

Awesome review buddy. Best one I've read for a long time. Good lad, thank you for sharing that with us. Very valuable indeed.

[ChrisRs]

A nice write up a great work

Thanks

[devonutopia]

Nice

 

I used a similar kit on mine and whilst it improved light scratches etc my screen is simply too pitted with little stonechips, it did nothing with them apart from fill them with the polish.

 

I have never had to change my screen so I know it has done at LEAST 140,000 miles - and it shows.  Might be time to make use of my excess at some point I feel.  :(

[Thisday]

awesome, mine is in desperate need of this process. Been meaning to do it for a while!. Your guide is exactly what I was after!!!

[theezenutz]

Awesome review buddy. Best one I've read for a long time. Good lad, thank you for sharing that with us. Very valuable indeed.

Thank you for your kind words. I have some pic of me doing the back screen but I haven't finished it yet so i'll post more up when I get a chance to finish it.

 

I hope people find it helpful as polishing glass seems to have mixed opinions. I just say to anyone out there especially novices like me, give it a go it's not as bad as you think just use a bit of common sense and take the necessary precautions.

[theezenutz]

Nice

 

I used a similar kit on mine and whilst it improved light scratches etc my screen is simply too pitted with little stonechips, it did nothing with them apart from fill them with the polish.

 

I have never had to change my screen so I know it has done at LEAST 140,000 miles - and it shows.  Might be time to make use of my excess at some point I feel.   :(

 

I still have plenty of pits left in mine too. This product is very good but it won't perform miracles i'm afraid. For polishing fine scratches, laying down sealant then this is very, very good, deeper scratches it will work if you have the patience but won't necessarily remove them altogether.

Edited 14 February, 2015 by theezenutz

[devonutopia]

Once my current aquapel has worn off, I think I'll be meeting a rather large rock.

 

Driving into a low sun is a real pain at the moment.

[Toxicvrs]

Once my current aquapel has worn off, I think I'll be meeting a rather large rock.

Driving into a low sun is a real pain at the moment.

"Lorry flicked up a rock, honest guv" usually works

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[NorthernMonkey]

Very good review & pictures

Pointless doing a review without pictures IMO, thanks for taking the time to share.

[Thisday]

Once my current aquapel has worn off, I think I'll be meeting a rather large rock.

Driving into a low sun is a real pain at the moment.

low sun and at night both killer for me. Defiantly need to get some backing pads bought for my rotary

[theezenutz]

Once my current aquapel has worn off, I think I'll be meeting a rather large rock.

 

Driving into a low sun is a real pain at the moment.

I know how you feel as that my the reason I attempted it I was a little disappointed when I realised they were still there. I think I was expecting a little too much from it to be honest but I still very happy with what it was able to do.

 

No need to go through the effort of finding a rock, just park it up my way and the local youths will kindly do that service for you free of charge, jolly good bunch of lads that they are.

[theezenutz]

Very good review & pictures

Pointless doing a review without pictures IMO, thanks for taking the time to share.

Thank you. I thought it was about time I gave something back, all the guy's that use the detailing section are largely very helpful and informative when you need them.

[samuir1974]

Great review - good detail, explanation and illustration.

 

Thanks for taking the time to share 

[superbrex]

Thank you for sharing this. Quite tempted myself now. How long do you think you spent in total to achieve a satisfactory result and were there moments when the project looked worse than the start. Thanks, Rex

[theezenutz]

Thank you for sharing this. Quite tempted myself now. How long do you think you spent in total to achieve a satisfactory result and were there moments when the project looked worse than the start. Thanks, Rex

I would say it largely depends on what you are trying to acheive, polishing glass is more time consuming than your paint for obvious reasons but far more forgiving as long as you keep an eye on the heat you will be fine.

,

If you are just cleaning the glass to remove waterspots ready to put some sealant on, then it shouldn't take you very long. Just a few passes should be enough.

 

If you want to remove wiperblade scratches then that will take longer depending on the severity of said scratches. The front windscreen is much harder to do than the others due to the shape, size and fact that your bonnet is right in the way of where you ideally would want to stand, it's much harder to keep an even pressure when your arms are fully extende opposed to them being close to your body.

 

I choose to half of the windscreen mainly because I was perhaps a bit too optimistic, also because the whole of my windscreen was in a poor state (130,000 miles worth of stone chips ect.). If your sole aim is too remove the wiperblade scratches then I would perhaps reduce the size of the area and probably use tape to mark your area also so you'll have a nice side by side comparison of your progress.

 

For the sake of removing deeper scratches then that will take a bit more patience. Here's a pics attached of my rear screen with a nice deep scratch  plus some of the rear wiperblade scratches. i'll post more when i've spent a bit more time on it to show you the results.

 

Overall I spent about a full day polishing the front and rear screens and whilst it still need a bit more time spent of them especially the rear, overall I quite enjoyed the process. Just give it a go you'll have be a bit silly imo to damage your glass and for people like me who is a complete novice with a polishing machine, it was a chance for me to really get to grips with it.

 

Hope that inspires you to at least attempt it.

Edited 15 February, 2015 by theezenutz

[laff82]

Impressive work, and thanks for posting the guide, but still think I'll be polishing mine with half a house brick.

[planehazza]

Cheers for this, going to give it a go myself over Easter I think. 

 

What would you recommend for interior glass cleaning? 

[theezenutz]

Cheers for this, going to give it a go myself over Easter I think. 

 

What would you recommend for interior glass cleaning?

Your welcome and good luck don't worry you'll be fine just keep an eye on the heat.

For cleaning the interior I use this stuff http://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/interior/auto-finesse-crystal-glass-cleaner/prod_898.html

Not because it's the best but because I brought it when they had a 3 for 2 offer and to be honest it works well, I also have a bottle of Powermaxxed glass cleaner but I'm yet to try it.

I also use Autoglym glass polish but only if it needs it it takes longer to apply and buff off but it's a little more effective on the more stubborn marks.