Review: Griots Fine Glass Polish - How to remove water spots and road film off car glass

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Review: Griots Fine Glass Polish - How to remove water spots and road film off car glass



Griot's Fine Glass Polish

Glass needs polishing just like your car's paint needs polishing.

Why?


Because just like your car's paint gets a stain build-up over time as you drive our car so does the glass on your car, truck or suv. A few years ago I wrote an article to explain why and how road film builds up on your car's paint. In the same manner, road film builds up on your car's glass. Here's the link to this article and the pictures in the article pretty much make it so simple to understand the what and the why that you don't even need to read the words... just look at the pictures.



Here's the link to the full article,

Road Film - If you drive your car in the rain your car has road film


Here's just one picture from the article...

Driving in the rain - For most of us it's unavoidable

Wanted: Demo car with water spots and road film on the glass

To write this article I needed a car with road film and water spots or water drizzle stains on the glass. After walking through the parking lot here at Autogeek I found this Mitsubishi Eclipse Convertible. Not only do the windows have the problem I'm looking for but I also needed a convertible to showcase Griot's Convertible Top Cleaner, Griot's Fabric Protectant and the new Big Blue Drying Towels we have here at Autogeek.


Here's the car and the glass before polishing.... you can see other cars behind this one in our parking lot.

Now let me zoom in a little.... see the water spots on the glass?

The word spot invokes the idea of a round visual defect of mineral deposits on the glass... but there's more than one type of water spot that builds up on glass and what you see here are both spots or stains on the glass and also a layer of road film all over the exterior glass.

Water Drizzle Stains
See the water spots? Actually, if you think about what you're looking at, these are lines of water spots or water drizzle stains. This is where the water tends to stream down the window and over time, the water and all the junk in the water from the air pollution as well as the spray of dirty water that gets all over your car from the cars that drive in front of you when it rains, creates it's own imprint trail on the glass.

Won't wipe off with a glass cleaner
So it's not just simple water spots on glass it's water staining and road film staining and this layer of gunk on the glass is tough to get off. It certainly won't simply wipe off with a spray-on glass cleaner. No - it must be abraded off using a product that uses glass-safe abrasives and then somehow applied either by hand or machine.


Here you can see the same water drizzle stains on the wing window glass....

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Two methods to polish glass

There are two ways to polish glass to remove water spots and road film off the glass surface.



By hand
Most of you reading this own a hand or two so this is fairly affordable once you get the Griot's Fine Glass Polish.


By machine
Some of you may already own a Griot's 6" DA Orbital Polisher, after reading this article if you don't there's a link that goes to the Autogeek.com store website where you can get one. Take my word for it not only is machine polishing your glass faster and easier on you it also does a better job than you and your wimpy human hand will ever do.

Besides that... you can also use it to compound, polish and wax your car's paint. And the machine will also do a much better job than your hand will ever do. I'm lazy by nature so ANY time I can do something by machine that's the path I'm going to travel. That said, below I'll show you how to use the Griot's Fine Glass Polish by machine and also by hand.



Two approaches for polishing glass

Besides working either by hand or machine or a combination of both, there are also two approaches to doing this type of work.


Polish glass after washing
I think this is the way people automatically think this type of work is supposed to be done. Truth is there are no rules that state the order in which you detail your car. Here's what I know from experience and from machine polishing glass for years in Oregon where all car glass has water spots and road film and that is glass polishing is messy. That's right, it's very messy. You're going to splatter the glass polish all over the place and especially around the window frame where most cars have some form of rubber or vinyl gasket that the glass is sandwiched in-between. Some cars even have what are called fuzzy gaskets on the lower horizontal portion of the window frame. You don't want to scrub these as you can tear up the fuzzy material. If you want to polish the glass after washing or on a clean car then my best advice to you is to get some painter's tape and cover all the gaskets around the perimeter of the glass window to prevent them from getting polish spatter and also saving you from having to clean up the mess after the fact.


Polish glass before washing
Now this is how you do it. Before you wash the car, polish the glass. Either by hand or machine. The benefit is after you polish the glass you can simply wash the car and at the same time wash all of the polish residue off the glass and out of the perimeter of the window frame as well as any splatter of any adjacent panel.

This is the approach I show when we cover Production Detailing (for money), at our 3-day Competition Ready Detailing Classes.




Read the directions
The below process is the correct order of steps as recommended by Griot's under the directions listed on the label of the Fine Glass Polish. Often time when something doesn't work they way it's intended it's due to operator error and the error starts from not reading the directions.



Here's our victim, err I mean our demo car.

Here's everything I need to do the process according to Griot's.

Step 1: Remove loose dirt with Griot's Window Cleaner and a clean microfiber towel


The point and importance of this step is so that you don't grind any loose dirt into the glass. This is an especially important step if you choose to machine polish the glass BEFORE washing the car as I'm showing here.

Step 2: Remove bonded contaminants with Griot's Glass Cleaning Clay

Kind of like removing bonded contaminants off paint before machine compounding or polishing paint.

Something black and icky is coming off the glass and remember... this is after I wiped off all the loose dirt.

Step 3: Shake the Griot's Glass Polish well before use

It's also a good idea to shake this product as you work around the car. The idea being to keep the glass-safe abrasives in a uniform suspension in the bottle, i.e. no settling out.

Step 4: Apply some Griot's Fine Glass Polish onto a Griot's 6" Glass Polishing Pad

Then place the pad against the glass BEFORE turning the polisher on.

After the pad is flat against the glass turn the polisher on and start making overlapping passes using a crosshatch pattern.

If possible, pull the wiper arm away from the windshield

Question: How long to buff?

Answer: No simple answer. It depends on how badly and how long the water spots and road film have been building up on the glass.

Typically it will take a minimum of around 8 section passes and possibly more.

After finishing one side of the windshield move to the other side of the car and continue until the entire windshield is polished.

Continue moving around the car machine polishing the glass. If you're not sure whether or not you have removed all the water spots or road film simply wipe the glass clean and inspect.

3" pads and 3" HD Backing Plate
For getting into corner windows or around side mirrors, Griot's offers a 3" HD Backing Plate and a 3" Glass Polishing Pad. Swap the smaller backing plate onto your Griot's 6" DA Polisher and you'll be ready to machine polish.

You can read my review about the Griot's 3" HD Backing Plate here,

Griot's Garage 3" BOSS HD Orbital Backing Plate

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Continued....



Hand polishing
For really tight areas, or to be really careful or if you don't own a Griot's Garage 6" DA Orbital Polisher you can remove the water spots and road film by hand, you just need a microfiber applicator pad and then you need to supple the elbow-grease.

Rub hard and fast.... it's a good work out....

Side mirrors are not usually very stained by while you're at it might as well get them....

The green painter's tape is to protect the WEAVE of the convertible top material from getting any polish on it. Even though I'm going to wash the car I don't want to mess with any extra time it might take to clean out the weave of the top.

For the back glass window I didn't tape it off instead I slowed down and worked carefully.

At this point, all the glass has been polished either by machine or by hand....

Instead of wiping the residue off this is where you simply wash it off as a part of washing the car...

Foam Gun
Whenever I wash a car I use the foam gun. Here's the Mitsubishi foamed.

Here's my article on how to use foam guns. It is VERY in-depth and I highly recommend reading it and not scanning it before you ever pull the trigger on a foam gun.

How to use a foam gun by Mike Phillips

Here's a tip... be sure to saturate your mitt with either water or foam...

Then simply wash the glass as normal

After washing all the glass rinse the windows off and then rinse off your wash mitt with either a strong blast of water or rinse off the mitt in a bucket of clean water. You can also simply switch to a fresh wash mitt.

All washed and dried....

Water spots and road film are gone...

On Autogeek.com


Griots Garage Fine Glass Polish

Griots Garage 6 Inch Glass Polishing Pads- 3 pack

Griots Garage 3 Inch Glass Polishing Pads- 3 pack

Griots Garage 6 Inch Random Orbital Polisher

Griots Garage 6 Inch Heavy Duty Random Orbital Polisher

Griots Garage Window Cleaner 35 oz

Griots Garage Glass Cleaning Clay

Griot's Garage 3" BOSS HD Orbital Backing Plate

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Continued....


Review and comments....



Review
This is Griot's new FINE Glass Polish and perfect for both regular maintenance for daily drivers to keep the glass perfectly clean and clear at all times and for also undoing light build up of water spots and road film. I would say that the build-up of water spots and road film on the glass on this car pushed this product to its limits. It worked fine by hand and machine but if you're working on glass that's worse than what I showed on this car then definitely go for the regular Griot's Glass Polish.

Also, I ran out of time the day I did the work and took the pictures, (the day before Thanksgiving), but as soon as I get a chance I'll apply the Griot's Garage Glass Sealant to finish this project the right way. So watch for that review.


Comments
When machine polishing with a hard backing plate and a glass polishing pad which is thin, the combination of these two things works but here's a tip to make it easier on you... place a Griot's Innerflex pad between the backing plate and the glass polishing pads and this will provide some cushion to enable the hard glass polishing pad to conform to curved glass. It's not a deal breaker to not have and use their Innerflex pads I'm just saying from experience, it helps. Let your budget be our guide.



Final comment...
Growing up in Oregon and detailing hundreds if not thousands of cars, you get real good at polishing glass because it rains a lot in Oregon and as such, most cars have water spots on the paint and on the glass and you can't detail a car and return it to the customer with shiny paint but with water spots still on the glass. So I honed my skills early on in Oregon and learned the value of machine polishing the glass BEFORE washing the car to both speed up the process and reduce the mess and the labor needed for wiping glass. I always polish glass before washing and teach the same in our classes here at Autogeek.


On Autogeek.com

Griot's Garage Glass Sealant 8 oz

Griots Garage Glass Polish

All Griot's products including Innerflex pads

 

[VISITOR]

nice write-up mike...

 

[rlmccarty2000]

Thanks for the tips. I realize this is a GG Polish tip, but I have found that a chemical water spot remover (e.g. CarPro Spotless) can sometimes remove water spots faster and easier than using a polish. I use Wolfgang Perfekt Polish to remove road grime. It always amazes me to see dirt on my pad after polishing a "clean" windshield.

 

[ScottH]

Mike awesome article as always, and very timely as Thursday I am expecting a few bottles of McKees 37 High Performance Glass Restorer Polish that I ordered Monday. Different product than you reviewed here, but same process.

Thanks again!
ScottH

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Thanks for the tips. I realize this is a GG Polish tip, but I have found that a chemical water spot remover (e.g. CarPro Spotless) can sometimes remove water spots faster and easier than using a polish.

I would agree and the key word being sometimes.

The water spots or water drizzle stains together with the road film on the glass of this car were stuck on the glass pretty good. I've used most of the popular chemical water spot removers and the key word is sometimes they work.

What I've also noticed however is even when they do work and remove the water spots, nothing compares to machine polishing glass to get it clean, clear and shiny like you can do with paint. Plus what I've always seen after chemically removing water spots is there's always the stubborn imprints left on the glass and it's a lot faster to remove these via machine polishing then using elbow grease with a chemical.

After years of buffing out glass in Oregon I'm pretty confident that the best results come from either a combination of chemical followed by mechanical. And for sure... do the machine polishing of the glass BEFORE washing the car.


If I could only choose one method then I'd choose the mechanical option as in machine polishing because I know whatever is on the glass, it's coming off.

 

[Setec Astronomy]

Hi Mike,

What's the advisability of using a foam or microfiber pad with this product rather than the glass pads?

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Hi Mike,

What's the advisability of using a foam or microfiber pad with this product rather than the glass pads?

My guess and my experience is there's no down side. The majority of time when I work with various manufacturers products I stay on message. An old habit I learned from Meguiar's. It means, stay on the company's message not Mike Phillips message.

I shared the new Fine Glass Polish as Griot's recommends. That's staying on message.


My experience is the only time you need the flat, hard felt glass polishing pads is when you're using a Cerium Oxide based glass polish to remove scratches OUT of glass.

But Griot's recommends these pads with the Glass Polish and their Fine Glass Polish so that's what I used.


My experience is that as long as the abrasive technology being used is in fact glass-safe, then pad doesn't matter except for aggressiveness and speed.

Most the time when I'm removing water spots and road film off glass I'll either use a thin, sharp foam cutting pad on an orbital polisher or either a wool or foam cutting pad on a rotary buffer.


Back when I detailed for a living in Oregon I knocked this process out as fast as I could and this meant using either wool or Meguiar's maroon foam cutting pads on my trusty, dusty Makita Rotary Buffer.

My personal RB for over a decade now has been my trusty, dusty Makita, Note how the sand-cast, textured finish on the aluminum head of my Makita Rotary Buffer has been worn smooth after years of buffing. At the end of the day I would usually be bleeding in two places on my hand where it rubbed mostly because I was to dumb or lazy to wear a band-aid, or put some tape on my finger or knuckle where it rubbed.

While I didn't show it but in hindsight I should have... here's a tip I've learned the hard way....


ANYTIME you're buffing on glass, if you've never used the polish or the pad then NEVER test it out on the driver's side of the windshield. Just in case something goes wrong.

Always test on side glass or the passenger side of the windshield.


Don't ask me how I know....



:dunno:

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Another tip from experinece.....


When choosing a glass polish, if the company that makes or offers the glass polish also makes or offers a specific pad for their polish, then go with it.

Mixing and matching different glass polishes with other companies glass specific pads can lead to scratching glass.


Again.... don't ask me how I know....

 

[Setec Astronomy]

Thanks for that perspective, Mike, and I understand you presenting the product as Griot's recommends. Would there be any reason to dedicate a foam or microfiber (or wool) pad to glass polishing after using this product? Or would it be alright to go back to paint after a thorough cleaning?

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Thanks for that perspective, Mike, and I understand you presenting the product as Griot's recommends.

Mike Pennington, the Director of Traiing at Meguiar's, the guy in charge of the official Meguiar's message as it relates to products once told me,


"The hardest part of my job is keeping everyone on message"

Would there be any reason to dedicate a foam or microfiber (or wool) pad to glass polishing after using this product? Or would it be alright to go back to paint after a thorough cleaning?

Great question.

Definitely dediated the pad for glass polishing only. If for no other reason,

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure

 

[Setec Astronomy]

Thanks again, Mike.

 

[Ray@Autogeek]

Great write up Mike! As always! I never thought of leaving the glass polish residue on the paint and cleaning it during the wash step. It makes perfect sense. 5 years later and I'm still learning here Thank you

 

[Philip01]

Mike I recently purchased a new to me truck and the windows have a streaking that will not come off. Would the Griots work to remove this? It almost appears as if the previous owner let soap dry on the windows.

View attachment 53875
View attachment 53876
View attachment 53877

Thanks for the help.

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

 

[RippyD]

Another tip from experinece.....


When choosing a glass polish, if the company that makes or offers the glass polish also makes or offers a specific pad for their polish, then go with it.

Mixing and matching different glass polishes with other companies glass specific pads can lead to scratching glass.

Yikes! I did a few cars (all mine) with Wolfgang glass polish and a Lake Country white pad. When that didn't work well enough I moved to an Orange pad. Thinking I got lucky.

Polishing the glass made huge difference in outside appearance and visibility from inside the car. I coated as well. Very helpful on a rear window with no wiper. Pretty marginal everywhere else. I think Rain Repel or something similar is about as effective but just needs to be applied fairly often.

 

[buddiiee]

I'm confused on abrasive polish on glass. How are you not thinning out or ruining the thin plastic coating that coats all windshields to protect it from spraying thousands of little glass squares all over the place when it's impacted?
And what ever happened to "Glass Scrub"? I can't find it anywhere.
Also, for cars that live in the states that use sand instead of salt for to combat road ice, are there windshields more abraded typically than other states do you think? I ask because I have massive scratching on my windshield on a car I bought from Indiana. It's as if someone put the harshest rubbing compound on the windshield wipers and turned them on and left it. Never seen this before.

 

[oneheadlite]

I'm confused on abrasive polish on glass. How are you not thinning out or ruining the thin plastic coating that coats all windshields to protect it from spraying thousands of little glass squares all over the place when it's impacted?
And what ever happened to "Glass Scrub"? I can't find it anywhere.
Also, for cars that live in the states that use sand instead of salt for to combat road ice, are there windshields more abraded typically than other states do you think? I ask because I have massive scratching on my windshield on a car I bought from Indiana. It's as if someone put the harshest rubbing compound on the windshield wipers and turned them on and left it. Never seen this before.

The thin plastic film is laminated inside the glass (think like an oreo). I would think glass condition (as far as scratching) is largely impacted by the previous owner's care regardless of location. If someone's driving around with worn out dirty wiper blades, those'll be harder on the glass than someone who keeps theirs in good condition. I see cars come in to the shop where the thin part of the wiper blade that's supposed to do the cleaning has just plain torn off and they're oblivious to it.

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Great write up Mike! As always! I never thought of leaving the glass polish residue on the paint and cleaning it during the wash step.

It makes perfect sense.

5 years later and I'm still learning here

Thank you

Thanks for the feedback Ray.

This is also something I teach in all my car detailing classes.

It's about doing professional level work but also saving time and saving steps.

Detailing cars in Oregon with all the rain taught me a lot of valuable lessons that I'm still passing on to this day.