polish mirror

[richhinz]

Hi All Wanted to take advantage of 60 degree weather today. I plan on cleaning outside windows and polishing them and coat them. Doe's anybody know if you can polish the mirror glass on outside mirrors? thanks in advance.

 

[FUNX650]

Hi All Wanted to take advantage
of 60 degree weather today.

I plan on cleaning outside windows
and polishing them and coat them.

Doe's anybody know if you can polish
the mirror glass on outside mirrors?

•Nowadays...the outside mirrors aren’t
usually made from ‘mirror glass’. They’re
probably a coated plastic that’s easily
scratched/broken (pressure sensitive).

-Be careful.


Bob

 

[PaulMys]

I thought this was going to be a joke about the Polish.

"Why'd the Polish guy paint his mirror? So that other guy would stop peeking in on him......"


But, Bob is correct. I wouldn't use any abrasives on modern "mirrors" made of plastic.

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

•Nowadays...the outside mirrors aren’t usually made from ‘mirror glass’.

They’re probably a coated plastic that’s easily scratched/broken (pressure sensitive).

-Be careful.


Bob

New and newer cars have electronics in the face of the mirror, so Bob might be correct and if the surface is a coated plastic you would definitely want to be careful.

I would think a quality cleaner/wax would be a safe approach but the only way to know would be to test.

Here's how a person could test.

Take a cordless tool like the Nano or the PiXiE to your local salvage yard with some compounds, polishes and cleaner/waxes and do some testing on the mirrors of wrecked cars.

Take a good swirl finder light and a panel wipe to get an accurate inspection of the results.

My guess is it would be safe to use anything that uses quality abrasive technology. I machine polish clear bras and piano plastic trim all the time and remove defects without leaving defects, (always the goal), so unless the surface of new side mirrors is SOFTER than PPF and Piano Plastic I think you would be good to go.