Glass Polishing

[boaty_boat]

I know this isn't metal, as per the forum title, but.... there is no "other" polishing forum. Next best thing ^_^

In my awesome lack of attention to detail, I filled up my glass cleaner bottle with wheel acid. Which is basically Hydrochloric acid & some other kind of acids which I am too upset to think about at the moment.

WELL long story short, went and sprayed down the windshield of my car - you know, the only window that *really* matters, and I realized about 30 seconds into it, that.. that's not the glass cleaner smell, that's the smel.. OW my hands are burning.

So yeah, rinsed it all off, and it has left a nice etched surface on the glass. It's still transparent, but OMG I can't wait to see how bad it is when the sun is actually out.
____

Other notes:
I have used wheel acid *dozens* of times to remove water spots. It works, and works GREAT I might add. In fact to calm down, I did the same thing to my mother's truck windshield since I was out there at the house, and it worked great. My car is just... well, old. And old glass = pitted, and that = trouble with acid.

________

My big question of the day is, will Caswell's glass polishing kit work to get rid of the etched surface on the glass? I have used similar setups for removing light scratches (worked as a detail tech for a while there, but never ran into this before). I'm sure that it'll work, but before I spend the near $30 to "try" it I would like a second opinion first.

The glass was needing a good polish anyways, there are plenty of light pits and water spo.. well not anymore, but it needed it none the less. ^_^

Can somebody give me an alternative to try? The etch isn't that bad, it just looks like a light haze all over the window. I tried some Mothers Mag polish, in an attempt to see if it was just surface oxidation that could be removed. It's not - it'll have to be polished off with Cerium.

Any thoughts?
I understand how it works and all that, I just have no experience in polishing the glass with a felt bob to this extent. I've only ever used the soft microfiber pads & cerium powder in an effort to remove water stains. Nothing this major, and certainly never something this etched.

Please help!?

[CarWiz]

Wow, that is the pits. (ops sorry)

What in the World were you doing with HF in an unmarked container? Or any acid for that matter.

I've polished small scratches out of glass and believe me, it wasn't quick. I can't imagine trying to do a large section of windshield. If it's etched enough to look like fog, you'll never get a very good optical quality finish. You can't polish with the same preasure and slurry blend over a wide area. My advise is to bite the bullet and spring for a new windshield.

If it was Hydrofluoric acid, here's a notice you may find interesting:

When it comes into contact with human skin it is absorbed. You will not feel immediate pain such as burning so in some cases the affected person may not even realize they have come into contact. It then proceeds to attack the calcium and other minerals in your bones and can eventually lead to death. Treating the area affected immediately with Zephran Chloride can help but the treatment usually ends up consisting of several injections with needles directly into your bone structure.

[boaty_boat]

Oh, containers are not unmarked. In fact they are marked very well, which is why I can't believe it happened!

I use 5gal bulk containers to hold my most used chemicals, and then use squirt bottles and fill them up as needed.

Both the wheel acid & glass cleaners are clear in color. I must have mixed everything up in the process. FWIW, I use these chemicals when I do detail work during the warm season. Wheel acid has much more uses than simply cleaning alloy wheels. It cleans grime - of all ages & thickness - right off of metal. It's great for detailing chassis of trucks, especially those that are lifted.

Anyways,.. this windshield is horrible in the sun. There no "crack"s it's just that the surface is slightly hazy. Think taking 2000 grit sandpaper and scuffing some glass on accident. Now think about that, and then cut the severity in half.. it's not that bad. Still see-thru.. it's just milky. If I could get a picture to come out, I would - I tried, and failed.

But, FWIW it is especially horrible where the wipers are, and their wipe path. Makes a fan like look in the sun.

[jrow]

boaty_boat,

Just a thought, why not try some Hydrogen Peroxide and see if that will cut it!

John

[boaty_boat]

Hydrogen Peroxide did nothing *gasp I actually did try*.

So far I'm getting about 60% results.
The goal here is not to remove scratches. This windshield is nowhere near perfect enough to worry about scratches. It's 36 years old, poorly maintained, and it's milking over from too much sun exposure anyways.
The goal, is to remove the fogginess that the stupid acid left on the glass. This is *not* a film, it is literally the glass being very very lightly etched. The real problem is that it etched all the fine, not even noticeable before scratches that WERE in the windshield. Where the wiper wipe pattern is, is a billion fine scratches that flow with the motion of the wiper. Think handling scratches on a very finely polished peice of aluminum, recently wiped with a terry cloth rag (another post on this forum points those out).

Anyways, Since I have nothing to lose (except the lack of being able to GET a new windshield. No aftermarket company makes one, and the Nissan stock is all but dried up. My only hope is from Nissan Japan, but that would be at least $200 just in frieght. Not an option at the moment.

Either way here is my results so far.

I've been using 4" soft cotton wheels on a 25K rpm die grinder, and I am using the White Caswell compound. It's actually working! It obviously isn't course enough to remove scratches (maybe with more wheel pressure & more power), however it is taking about 60% of the "fog" and "Haziness" away from the windshield. - Better than nothing, at least I can drive it a bit safer. The fine scratches are still visible when in direct sunlight (leaves a long streak across the glass) so I know it's not cutting the glass down much (if at all).

The blue compound didn't do quite as good of job, however I am scared to use the brown compound (risk leaving buffing-scratches in the glass). So far I'm an hour into one half of the windscreen (thank goodness it's a small car - smaller than a Geo!). I think with more time & effort, I can remove the rest of it.

All and all, if this doesn't work to my satisfaction, then it surely reduced the amount of time I would be at it with Cerium powder, I hope. As I said, it's just a very light (lets just say a 10% opaque) etching over the glass, more in areas that were badly scratched by the wipers (Conveniently smack dab in the main field of view )

Using this method, do any of you believe that using brown compound would yield better (read: faster) results? Do you believe it is course enough to scratch/harm the windshield? I am 100% open for suggestion here!

Again, another windscreen is NOT an option at the moment. I just need this to be clear enough that I'm not driving in split-pea-soup when it's 90F out.

Please see the following pictures.
You can see the clear side (left; passenger) is what I have done so far. The right side (driver side) is what it looks like un-touched.

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j2...d/100_0996.jpg
http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j2...d/100_0998.jpg

[lcaswell]

I'm confident that our Glass Polishing Kit will be able to get this haze out. Then I would finish up with the Diamondite System. Grand total, about $100, and good as new.

[Figbash]

It's likely that your "wheel cleaner" contains hydrofluoric acid and if it got on your hands long enough to burn them, the windshield is the least of your worries. I would suggest getting to a doctor ASAP and explain the situation. You likely already have internal damage and it may or may not be too late to treat.

Read this, paying special attention to the part where it says "able to migrate through and destroy tissue until they are eventually sequestered in the bones". Some of these symptoms don't show up until weeks after exposure.

Tom