How to remove glass contamination? Or is it..

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vash68

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I got lots of tiny shiny spots on my car's glass, most of it is on driver side windows, and some on passenger side. I think they appeared after the car came back from bodyshop (for a bodykit installation), and of course they deny everything.

At first I though it was a stray spray of clear coat. It is not visible on paint since the car is silver.

I tried removing it with acetone, steel wool, razor blade, Autoglym glass polish (by hand), but to no avail.
If this is clear coat, should I be able to remove it?

I can not confirm that this is etching, since the spots are so tiny, but what type of chemical available in body shop would etch the glass??
And is there a way to improve/mask this problem?

The car is 2009 BMW 535
Thanks

SNC01359.jpg
 
Flitz AG sell it to clean and shine metal, used it the other day on a vet t top. about 10 bucks a tube,
 
few things come to my mind:
1\ try clay
2\ if you have any good band compound, give it a try before using Ceri Glass
3\ Is it tinted window? Those light spots may be the areas where the tint failed to bound very well? I saw similar things, almost all on tinted windows, kind of like a clear coat fail but on tinted layer. If that's the case, then maybe nothing you can do to "remove" it

Just my 2 cents
 
If steel wool and a razor couldnt get that off glass, idk how much luck youre going to have. Can you feel it at all?
 
Try NuVite C Grade - expensive has hell - but usually gets anything off windows (used as an aluminum compound) I use this product all the time for difficult issues including but not limited to glass.... my "uh oh what else can I use" product.
 
OP, I don't think you mentioned, and I don't think anyone asked, are the spots raised? Can you feel them when you run your hand over the glass?
 
Setec Astronomy said:
OP, I don't think you mentioned, and I don't think anyone asked, are the spots raised? Can you feel them when you run your hand over the glass?
Click to expand...

Good question, I am not 100% sure myself.
The dots are so small that when I run a finger over them I barely feel maybe 3 out of 20 of the dots, which leads me to believe these are tiny pits. Especially after razor blade failed to remove them.

Do I have to "level" the glass now?
Is it easy enough for a casual detailer like myself?
Will read the links provided Mike. :props: That masked AMG looks scary..
How do you get pinholes overnight on a 2 yo car?

Thanks guys for input
 
vash68 said:
How do you get pinholes overnight on a 2 yo car?

Thanks guys for input
Click to expand...
Welcome to the world of today's glass windshields! Compared to older cars, new car glass has gone soft. It doesn't take 2 years to get pitting in a new windshield, it takes two seconds behind a sand truck or less than 200 feet behind a vehicle at highway speeds on a road that has sand or some other loose, fine aggregate. Our paint's gone thinner and our glass has gone softer. It's a bad joke! At some point in the not so distant past, cars could go 100,000 miles and not see the same kind of damage from wear and tear that a new car owner can pick up in the first month of ownership. Beware that tailgating and passing unclean vehicles or even clean vehicles with sticky tires on less than clean roads puts your front glass as well as your paint at risk. Even if you're passing these vehicles so you don't get stuck in their trail of filth, you are momentarily putting your paint and glass at high risk. Sadly, perhaps the best solution is prevention in the form of staying far behind any risky car or truck. IME, if you hear stuff peppering the windshield of your new or newer car, you will see pinhole sized pitting damage as a result.


-Rick
 
Rix6 said:
Welcome to the world of today's glass windshields! Compared to older cars, new car glass has gone soft. It doesn't take 2 years to get pitting in a new windshield, it takes two seconds behind a sand truck or less than 200 feet behind a vehicle at highway speeds on a road that has sand or some other loose, fine aggregate. Our paint's gone thinner and our glass has gone softer.
-Rick
Click to expand...

I sure noticed the thinner paints, esp on BMW who now use water-based paint, and paint job quality is crap too IMHO.
I did not know about car glass, thanks for info, this is astounding :(

I do keep about double distance between me and a car in front of me comparing to an average driver out there and I only drive about 120 mi per week on highway.
BUT, I do live in CO where they use small rocks on the road instead of salt during winter... :eek:

This is my 2nd car that I bring to CO from NY after a couple of years driving them in NY/NJ or buying it used from NY.
I can tell you one thing: the car's front end paint and windshield gets pitted damage within a couple of months of driving in CO and is worse then that of driving in NY/NJ for 2-3 years!
So I became a big fan of clear bra, it really works for paint.

But I never had issues with my side windows getting small pits at the rate this BMW collected them, maybe this is specific to BMW glass?
I have 2 Acuras: 7 and 4 yo, and they do not show any damage on their side windows, WTH?

_And just to confirm, these are indeed small pits on my side windows that are shown in my OP picture _

With all that said, does it even make any sense to attempt glass leveling procedure on this BMW?
If this is all road damage (which I am still debating since it is on the sides of the car) I am afraid this fix may be very temporary solution :cry:
 
szjalo said:
few things come to my mind:
1 try clay
2 if you have any good band compound, give it a try before using Ceri Glass
3 Is it tinted window? Those light spots may be the areas where the tint failed to bound very well? I saw similar things, almost all on tinted windows, kind of like a clear coat fail but on tinted layer. If that's the case, then maybe nothing you can do to "remove" it
Click to expand...

:whs:



Oh, the pits are on the side window glass. I didn't catch that originally. Wash the windows with some detergent, rinse, and try some vinegar. Then try clay. And if that doesn't work try some compound on it like megs ultimate compound or M105. I don't know why there would be pitting in the side windows...so assume it's something bonded to the surface first, as that would be more desirable and easier to take care of then below the surface damage.
 
Tonight I did the following

1. wiped windows with vinegar
2. ran with clay bar all over a few times
3. polished them with Meg's 150 polish using PC (random orbit) with 4" cutting pad
4. polished again with Autoglym glass polish using PC with medium pad

Nothing...no effect, I guess those are really the small pits in the glass :(


The windows are tinted from the factory very lightly plus aftermarket Formula One film from the inside.
I can tell that the film is adhered with no problems, maybe 1-2 tiny bubbles per window, but I am not sure how can factory tint be failing on the outside of the glass and creating tiny light spots? Is there any way to confirm?

Thanks guys
 
Diamondite Glass resurfacing creme was discontinued by a manufacturer.

I am ordering CeriGlass polish instead and glass cutting pads, but every vendor out there is out of LC glass polishing pads, any tips on what I could use instead?



Thanks :props:
 
vash68 said:
Diamondite Glass resurfacing creme was discontinued by a manufacturer.

I am ordering CeriGlass polish instead and glass cutting pads, but every vendor out there is out of LC glass polishing pads, any tips on what I could use instead?



Thanks :props:
Click to expand...


We carry the glass polishing discs, I just walked out into the warehouse and checked and we have both the Lake Country and the Griot's discs in stock, lots of them.

Check with Avi about your process for glass...

Avi@CarPro



:xyxthumbs:
 
Mike.Phillips@Autogeek said:
We carry the glass polishing discs, I just walked out into the warehouse and checked and we have both the Lake Country and the Griot's discs in stock, lots of them.

Check with Avi about your process for glass...

Avi@CarPro



:xyxthumbs:
Click to expand...


Hi Mike,

email sent to Avi, will update as soon as I hear back, thanks!

So far I ordered the following for
Step 1: LC glass leveling disks with CeriGlass polish at speed 6 (DA)
Step 2: Griot's glass polishing disks (less abrasive) with CeriGlass polish at speed 5(DA)

Are those correct substitutes and speeds?

Will try using them with FLEX DA first (order placed) , if that does not work, will have to find a rotary.

Thanks!
 
I used FLEX DA polisher and the following steps:

Step 1: LC glass leveling disks with CeriGlass polish at speed 6 (DA)
Step 2: Griot's glass polishing disks (less abrasive) with CeriGlass polish at speed 5(DA)
Step 3: Diamondite Glass poly-shield applied by hand.

I was able to remove small scratches, but not the pin holes :(
Need to try the same steps with rotary polisher.

Also, I noticed that a LC set of backing plates made for FLEX DA (4" and 6") do not run smoothly with my FLEX : they create a fare amount of vibration and I can visually see different gaps throught a circumference of an LC backing plate, which do not exists with Flex stock backing plate. This is a second set of LS plates I am trying, thanks to autogeek, but still not much satisfaction.

Anybody else experience the same problem?
Is there any other option for FLEX to use it with 6.5" and 4" pads?
 
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