How to remove tiny pinhole pits in glass windows using a rotary buffer

courtdale said:
OK, dove in this afternoon. Focusing on a test area, have hit it twice and am not making much progress.

Mike, how much time did you spend on each section?
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It's been a while since I remove the pinholes out of the windshield on the Mercedes-Benz, but if my memory is working correctly I would say the entire windshield took me about 2 hours, so around an hour a side and if you read what I wrote in Post #7

Mike Phillips said:
I broke the windshield into 4 quadrants, two on each side, upper and lower sections.
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So that would mean I spent about 30 minutes on each quadrant. Could have been longer, would not have taken less time. Glass is hard.



courtdale said:
Do I just need to keep at it??
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Yes but don't get the glass to hot as there's a film of plastic sandwiched between two sheets of glass that makes glass "safety glass" so it won't shatter. I'm not sure it's a good idea to get this plastic film real hot.




Gachrid said:
Hey Mike,
I have a bottle of Diamondite glass restorer, can this be used with the glass cutting pads to cut and polish the windshield?
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The Glass Restorer is for removing "topical defects" like water spots "ON" the glass, it won't work to remove defects "IN" the glass because it does not contain Cerium Oxide. Cerium Oxide is the key ingredient for glass polishes designed to remove defects OUT OF THE GLASS.



ShineTimeDetail said:
No pictures of the glass from the inside? My van, mustang and grand marquise all have pitting and it drives me nuts!
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The first picture I posted in this article was taken from the inside of the car. This shot is from me sitting in the car shooting at the inside of the windshield.


Tiny tiny tiny pinhole pits in the glass
MBwithPitsinGlass01.jpg



Here's the thing... once you remove the defects... there's nothing to take a picture of... (except clear glass and that's hard to focus on too)


:)
 
hate to bump an old thread but i need to do this badly on my car and the 20% off memorial day sale ends in 1h 45mins. the cream mike used is out of stock. so what product should i get?

will CarPro Ceriglass Glass Polish work the same? get the deep little specs out like mikes before pic?

the cutting pads are out of stock and the polishing pad has 2 bad reviews for velcro not sticking

will Griots Garage 6 Inch Glass Polishing Pads cut any, or do i need a cutting pad? or will they work well enough?
 
cruzer23 said:
hate to bump an old thread but i need to do this badly on my car and the 20% off memorial day sale ends in 1h 45mins. the cream mike used is out of stock. so what product should i get?

will CarPro Ceriglass Glass Polish work the same? the little specs?

the cutting pads are out of stock and the polishing pad has 2 bad reviews for velcro not sticking

will Griots Garage 6 Inch Glass Polishing Pads cut any, or do i need a cutting pad? or will they work well enough?
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Are you trying to remove scratches or just surfaces defects like water spots?

I never tried to remove scratches so I can't help there but for water spots, any polish should work. I used Mothers Chrome Polish with a white LC pad and a HF DA and it came out perfect.

Free bump.
 
Riff said:
Are you trying to remove scratches or just surfaces defects like water spots?

I never tried to remove scratches so I can't help there but for water spots, any polish should work. I used Mothers Chrome Polish with a white LC pad and a HF DA and it came out perfect.

Free bump.
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im a noob so i cant say for certain whats wrong with the windshield but it looks like the pic mike posted
View attachment 48753

i have a couple spots that look like bird poop sat on it and is embedded. its not really white but thats the idea i get when i see it.
 
cruzer23, I used the CarPro Ceriglass product and it works as advertised. I used my Flex 3401 as I do not have a rotary and the GG Microfiber pad. It was a LOT of work. In fact, I gave up after about a 50% improvement. I found it helpful to have an assistant on hand to constantly spray the work area with water to keep the product working. After I bulk up my arms a bit in the gym, I may go after the last 40-50%. And yes, it makes a mess, so cover up the car with towels, sheets or you will have a lot of cleanup to do.
 
Sorry, I just realized I responded to a year old comment. Oh, well.
 
andy0902 said:
cruzer23, I used the CarPro Ceriglass product and it works as advertised. I used my Flex 3401 as I do not have a rotary and the GG Microfiber pad. It was a LOT of work. In fact, I gave up after about a 50% improvement. I found it helpful to have an assistant on hand to constantly spray the work area with water to keep the product working. After I bulk up my arms a bit in the gym, I may go after the last 40-50%. And yes, it makes a mess, so cover up the car with towels, sheets or you will have a lot of cleanup to do.
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CarPro Ceriglass has been good to me for moderate to heavy stains on glass (only had a few small light scratches that are now gone). My go to when needed for light to moderate is the McKee's 37 High Performance Glass Restorer and by far that is my favorite glass polish.

i bought the Wolfgang Perfekt Vision Glass Polish before it was buy one get one free and in my experience, the mcKee is a better product . Easier to work with and gets out the contaminations easier and quicker even water spots on the paint.
 
Mike, any idea what to use to remove Ceriglass from inside the pitting of the windshield?

I have some bad wiper trails on my car and went to polish them out today. I have polished several windshields in the past even though we do not regularly polish glass at the detail shop I work at (99% of the work is paint related).

My car is relatively high mileage (over 100k miles) and has a decent amount of pitting on the entire windshield.

After doing one test section (luckily on a lower, less visible part of the glass), the wiper trail was reduced by maybe 30-40% which I was happy with, but I noticed the Carpro Ceriglass basically filled in all the small pits in the glass and now they appear as white dots.

I tried removing them and got some of it off but not completely. Looking for some ideas.

Here is what I tried:
1. 70% IPA 50/50 sprayed onto the glass and agitated with a stiff boar's hair brush and wiped off with MF towel...this did little to nothing.
2. 3M General Adhesive Remover sprayed onto the glass and agitated with a stiff boars hair brush and wiped off with MF towel...this also did little to nothing.
3. LC purple wool buffing pad and 3M adhesive remover with a Flex 3401 (I thought maybe the buffing pad would reach into the pits and clean them up with enough pressure). Nothing happened.
4. 2000psi pressure washer at a close distance...this, I want to say, cleaned up the compound some to where it's not an eye sore anymore and virtually invisible from inside the cabin, but still visible from the outside in the right light/angle.

I will not continue polishing the rest of the windshield before I figure out how to get around getting product stuck inside the pits.

This is pretty much the only thing I can find online suggesting to use a nylon bristle brush and scrubbing the area with liquid dish soap to remove the compound from inside the pits:

http://blog.buyanycarparts.com/how-to-fix-a-pitted-windshield/

I will try this and hopefully it does the trick.

Any other ideas?

Thank you Mike.
 
Our '05 Pacifica has bad pitting...tried just normal DA polisher and normal compound, but no joy. How much more powerful is a rotary like Mike used compared to an ordinary household drill? Is a rotary unit a specialized tool that I'd need to tackle a job like micro-pitting on a windshield?
 
JMak97008 said:
Our '05 Pacifica has bad pitting...tried just normal DA polisher and normal compound, but no joy. How much more powerful is a rotary like Mike used compared to an ordinary household drill? Is a rotary unit a specialized tool that I'd need to tackle a job like micro-pitting on a windshield?
Click to expand...

It will still take an extremely long time no matter what buffer you use. If the pitting is pretty deep, be realistic in your expectations. If you're expecting perfect and you have an older car with tons of highway driving damage, you're in for a big disappointment.
 
Kaban said:
Mike, any idea what to use to remove Ceriglass from inside the pitting of the windshield?
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You've tried everything I would have tried, the pressure washer probably being the best option.

The answer you don't want to hear is to continue polishing until the pits are removed - this would solve two problems.

1: Removes the pit holes.

2: Removes the Ceriglass residue that was in the pit holes.



JMak97008 said:
Our '05 Pacifica has bad pitting...tried just normal DA polisher and normal compound, but no joy.
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In my experience, using a normal "paint compound" is useless for removing any scratches or pit holes in glass.


JMak97008 said:
How much more powerful is a rotary like Mike used compared to an ordinary household drill? Is a rotary unit a specialized tool that I'd need to tackle a job like micro-pitting on a windshield?
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The rotary will have more power than a drill but more important the rotary will be easier to hold and press down on against glass at an angle than a drill for hours.

Buffing out glass is hard work. A drill would make the process take longer and more difficult.



Kaban said:
It will still take an extremely long time no matter what buffer you use. If the pitting is pretty deep, be realistic in your expectations.

If you're expecting perfect and you have an older car with tons of highway driving damage, you're in for a big disappointment.
Click to expand...

I've actually had good luck with just about any glass polishing project I've undertaken. But like you say, it does take a long time.


:)
 
How about a forced machine like the Makita w/ Ceriglass? Suggested speed?
 
howardm4 said:
How about a forced machine like the Makita w/ Ceriglass?

Suggested speed?
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I recently tested about 6 or 7 tools for machine polishing Ceriglass to remove wiper scratches off the windshield and they all worked.

After testing all tools, I would go with the Griot's Garage 6" ROP or a rotary buffer depending upon your physical condition.


I'll try to get the pictures up at some point but if you want, I have multiple videos sharing the experience on my Facebook page and the link to my FB page is in my Signature Line in every post I make on this forum. You'll need to scroll down a ways after the Detail Fest posts and the wool pads posts for rotary buffers.


:)
 
Thanks. Thanks to AG, I have both, the Makita and the GG6. I've tried the GG w/ rayon pads and Ceriglass w/o much success after a good amount of time and passes.
I think it's time to step up plus it seems like a good use of the new toy, er, Makita ;)
 
bcgreen said:
Since AG is out of stock why not just purchase the Cerium Oxide?
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Out of stock or not that's a flagrant violation of the forum rules.


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Oh, I didn't know recommending the active ingredient is verboten.
Sorry.
 
I am so glad I came across this thread. I have exactly the same kind of pin-sized pitting defect on my Nova front windshield. After digging through the Autogeek storefront I decided to buy Ceriglass, some Griots 3" glass polishing pads, 5" lake country glass polishing pads, and Griot's glass sealer. I have the Griot's 3" DA (also bought from Autogeek) and a no name DA WITH 5" Lake Country backing plate - I hope they are up to the task! I plan to remove the window trim and mask all around and keep the polish wet by misting water occasionally. Any tips that weren't shared in the thread?
 
So TheBandit... How did that work for you.

Have to admit, before I have a go at my pitted Prius windshield, I would have like to see the true AFTER shots of the original post job. Replacing a 2017 prius windshield is astronomical... as the windshield has electronic components in it... and then the electronic components on it... cameras... etc. Cost near a grand just to have calibrated. I think the estimate was near 2K. So before I risk needing a new windshield, I would have liked to see the finished product.
 
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