Glass - Restoring, Cleaning, Polishing

[Geoff_K]

Help wanted!
Problem
Before I put back the glass back into my car I need to clean up the glass, because of a few problems:-
Rear window > grime, light scratches, slight pitting.
Side windows > grime etc, & on one window 10mm wide scrape caused by metal to glass scraping as window was wound up and down (similiar to metal wiper blade scratches)
Front window > will be new.

Is there a grinding/polishing compound and/or a grade of wet and dry paper that can be used to remove this scratching and bring the glass back to like new.

Alternative.
I have a spare side window (glass only).  Would it be easier to remove the scratched glass from the bottom channel and insert the spare glass.  If so, how is this done, and particularly how do you get a good tight fit of the replacement glass in the existing channel so it all works well and does not pull out.

HELP

Geoff_K

[-KIWI-]

try a product called metalbrite from a company in the usa called car brite it what the glass people use for polishing glass and headlights  for roadworthy inspections
http://www.carbrite.com

[knickers]

Craig (the helpfull bird of vast knowledge & skills)

Any ideas on who in "Ostraya" you can get this product from

Knickers

[fcvan]

Hey Geoff,
 I had some small scratches/imperfections in my front w/screen and back van tailgate glass.  I rang around and every glass company said that only Novus Windscreens could do anything about it.
Front glass was scratched too deep so couldn't be restored. A replacement was needed.
The rear only had slight scratches so was able to be polished/repaired by them.  It came up a treat and now looks like new installed in the frame.
Best bet would be to take it to someone to see what they think.

Good Luck

Miikael

[Jodstar]

 I used steel wool on all my glass when i replaced the rubbers and it worked very well. It is also very good for cleaning crome . It won't scratch the glass or crome , yet is good as fine sanding medium on paint etc..  

                                          Cheers Jody. (jodstar)

[knickers]

Whist on the topic of glass restoring, cleaning, polishing have just become an Austin Healy Sprite soft top owner & wondering if anyone  has anyone any ideas on restoring yellow perspex - also a weather shield for the EK which has minor surface scratching

Cheers Nickers

[2brite]

G'Day Geoff,

If you have the cash why not get brand new side glass made up to match the new front screen.

I've seen polished up glass on cars that give a ugly distorted look,i guess that depends on  the guy doing the job.

Depends on how fussy you are i guess and how much $ you want to spend and can afford

Just my 3 cents worth
Cheers Nunzio

[Ed]

Im in a similar predicament as well, does any glass manufacturer make up flat glass?

also is it difficult to install the glass in the channel?

i thought my glass was OK, but now i think it's pretty scarred.

Cheers

Ed

[earlyholdenfan]

As far as the perspex goes, try calling one of the local helicopter operators in your area! it may sound a little far fetched, but speaking from experience the helicopters have perrspex windscreens and we have had to clean/restore them with various special compounds available to aviation industry.
Cant hurt to try Nickers.
Not sure where you are but "Professional Helicopters" (hint hint) operate out of Melbourne, Gold Coast and Central Australia.
Hope that helps a little
Matt

[HARKO]

I ran perspex in my chopped ute for two years and the last year of that was hell in the sunshine.
The day we sealed it in I gave it a very light wipe with a kleenex and it scratched the shitter out of it.
If theres a product available the I wanna know too.

[Glenn 'Stinky' Stankevicius]

How about calling a custom glazier, not the run-of-the-mill glass replacement place, but someone who does custom stuff. There is a place in Adelaide that the Street Machine Assoc. had do their trophies for the Show and Shine last year. They do custom cuts, bevels, shapes etc and polish the edges.

[FCwagon]

Hi Geoff_K
The scratches in window glass really can't be polished out without altering it's optical performance. The cheapest fix is to swap with the good one you have by removing the bottom channel.
The glass is attached to the channel by spring tension of the metal channel. Mark the channel position on the old glass with a texta & use as a guide where to fit on the new glass. The channel can be removed by slipping a screwdriver blade between the metal channel and the rubber strip, then lever the channel a little at a time. Once the 40+ year seal between the two is broken it will then pull away easily (but with some resistance). If it just falls off then it has lost tension and will need squeezing together a bit before reassembly. Wear safety goggles though while removing as the glass may splinter a bit if the screwdriver hits metal to glass. I've even broken one doing this but if it's the buggered glass it won't matter.
It's then a matter of cleaning up the channel and maybe treating and painting any rusty bits. The old seal can be reused if it's in good nick (needs to be supple still) but some plain strap the same thickness can be bought from a rubber shop to do the job.
Clean the bottom edge of the glass, run contact adhesive along the bottom faces where it will sit in the channel, place the rubber in the channel and while the adhesive is still wet and will act like a lubricant,squeeze the channel & rubber back on the glass. Give the adhesive a day or so to dry and it's set for another 40 years use.
cheers,
Leigh

[Martin]

A trick I learnt years ago to remove scratches from my watch glass is to pour a bit of Brasso or Silvo onto a bit of cardboard and rub the glass on it.  Works a treat and I've done it many times.

Maybe that method could be adapted to removing small scratches from car glass without upsetting the performance of the glass too much.  You'd need to experiment.

Martin

[HARKO]

Brasso is excelent for plastics too ,Brings old bike plastics back to new .

[Geoff_K]

Thanks for the help guys.
I have elected to replace the side window glass bottom support runner and rubber in lieu of working on the glass.  After working on the scratched glass for a while, and doing a runner removal, I decided that swapping around the glass runners was the best way to go.
So I rust proofed the bottom runners, conditioned the bottom rubbers, cleaned up the good glass I had, and put it all back together.  
The trick with this was to firstly 'contact adhesive' the rubber channel to the glass and then push the glass/rubber into the metal channel.  Depending on the sprung fit, together with solid force, a little persuasion with a hammer/tapping will be necessary. (REMEMBER to work with the glass supported on several pieces of carpet/bags etc so the top edge of the glass is not damaged or chipped.
Used brasso/steel wool pad on back window.
All now ready to install

Geoff_K

[nigelb42]

G'day,

On the perspex issue,

I was talking to the guys restoring a WW2 Mosquito fighter bomber at the RAAF Museum at Pt Cook Vic.  

They were restoring 60 year old perspex canopies that simply were not available anymore and had not only gone yellow but were crazed and scratched to pieces.  The guy doing the job was using an extremely fine glass paper, lots of water and sh*t loads of elbow grease.  Apparently they have had great success in the past so maybe you could give them a ring for the exact process?

Nige