How often do you change out glass pads?

[Paul A.]

Mike, I watched your glass polishing video last night and had a question I hadn't seen asked...

How often should you change out to a fresh glass (rayon) pad. I noted you cut glass for about 20 minutes with the same pad. Does it load up with product and glass powder after so many passes?

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Mike, I watched your glass polishing video last night and had a question I hadn't seen asked...

How often should you change out to a fresh glass (rayon) pad. I noted you cut glass for about 20 minutes with the same pad. Does it load up with product and glass powder after so many passes?

First - thank you for watching.

Second - For those of you reading this into the future - here's the LIVE detailing class he's talking about.

And the glass polishing pad he's talking about is the white pad on the left in front of the FLEX rotary polisher.

Good question Paul and I would say for a windshield you would want 4 glass polishing pads - one for each quadrant.


Here's how I normally tackle a windshield.

A: ALWAYS START ON THE PASSENGER SIDE - JUST IN CASE SOMETHING GOES WRONG.

B: Only work one quarter of the windshield at a time.

After working one quadrant - switch to a new pad.

When you're all through, if the wife or significant other isn't looking, throw the pads in the washing machine and wash. Let them air dry though.


Here's the link to the 5" pads

CarPro Rayon Glass Polishing Pad, glass leveling discs

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

More...


Here's the link to the full write-up for the glass polishing class.

LIVE Detailing Class - Polishing GLASS to remove Pits, Wiper Marks & Scratches





I just added this,




Here's a close-up of the before and after along the tape-line.

And that tape-line is pretty much right through the middle of the section you see here with the florescent tube lights reflecting in the glass.

Now follow me....

In the video I said that normally I would buff each quadrant HARD for around 30 minutes. That means 2 HOURS minimum to buff out 4 quadrant or the entire windshield.

How difficult and how long it takes depends on HOW DEEP the scratches are. And when it came to this specific windshield the scratches were deep and everywhere. In fact I said that in the first post of this thread before we started.

I've polished a lot of glass in my life and while this might not be the worst windshield I've worked on it's definitely in the running.

I buffed the section for 20 minutes - taking a break at the 10 minute mark. As you look at the results above it's easy to see I did not remove 100% of the scratches. BUT I REMOVED MOST OF THEM.

The first scratches to buff out will be the SHALLOW scratches, same things when you buff car paint. Anything that remains is DEEPER.


Question: To finish the job and remove 100% of all the scratches what do you do?

Answer: You simply buff longer.


It's really that simple. It's just a matter of LEVELING the surface. You abrade the surface until you level the upper most portion of the surface with the lowest depths of the defects you're trying to remove. Had I buffed HARD for another 10 minutes - to make a total of 30 minutes, (like I said I normally do), you could of and would of removed 99% of the scratches.

We have to be sensitive to how long we make people watch paint dry or grass grow when shooting these videos or people drop-off.

 

[Paul A.]

Thanks Mike! That video is brilliant and really shows how much work it takes.

 

[Paul A.]

One of the best tips you suggested is a cheap plastic paint drop "cloth" from Lowes, Home Depot, Menards whatever. Cover the ENTIRE vehicle and cut out then tape off the windows. I do like those oversized Ivan cover towels though and will be ordering some. I like your idea of "washability" and reuse.

Trust me, he wasn't kidding about sling everywhere. Consider the fact you're working a "slurry" that's wet and I was at speed 6 on my Flex 3401! S#&t flies! Then, after a good 3 hrs on my glass those splatter drops dried like concrete.

It was kinda funny when my "helper" was covered too (my dog).

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

One of the best tips you suggested is a cheap plastic paint drop "cloth" from Lowes, Home Depot, Menards whatever.

Cover the ENTIRE vehicle and cut out then tape off the windows.

Here's that tip in practice,

Sometmes I read about how when a whale, porpoise, or some other sea creature dies and they do an autopsy, they share how much plastic is found inside thier stomachs.


I was going to show this tip in the LIVE Detailing Class but instead, my Eco-friendly nature shared our Cover-up Towels instead. Reusable, washable, works for dozens of projects.









Review: The Autogeek Cover-up Towel by Mike Phillips



The Autogeek Cover-up Towels

The Autogeek Cover-up Towel is a soft washable and re-usable microfiber towel that is 25" x 68" so it's perfect for covering up areas of a car or other detailing project where you want to protect the surface from any type of sling or platter.


I use these all the time for various areas of a project that I don't want to get compound, polish or splatter dots on when machine buffing. They save you a TON of time from having to go back at the end of the project, (at the end of the day when you're tired), and use a toothbrush to try to remove all the little annoying splatter dots.


Here's how you use them...

I use a few pieces of tape to secure the towels in place...

Ready for some fast and furious machine buffing....

Compound Splatter Dots
Here's an example of what you're preventing from getting on the engine, blower or whatever it is you cover-up...See the compound splatter?

Lets get a little closer.... now see what a mess you can make to unprotected areas?. Can you imagine this type of spatter all over the blower or carburetors of this streetrod and what a pain it would be to spend hours removing it?

Saves you time
The Autogeek Cover-up Towels save you time by shielding areas from machine sling and splatter so at the end of the detailing job you don't have to come back with a toothbrush or utility towel and spend hours cleaning up.


Projects a professional image
The Autogeek Cover-up Towels create an impression of professionalism to your customers showing you're smart enough to protect areas of their car from splatter and that you both care and take your profession seriously. Kind of like a mechanic's Fender Cover that a professional mechanic places over the fender of a car when doing repair and maintenance work to protect the paint on the car from damage.


Eco-friendly
They are washable so you can use them over and over again.


The Autogeek Cover-up Towels are time savers and this helps you to maximize profits while projecting a professional image.




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Autogeek Detailing Cover-Up Towel

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