Really sick..........got ammonia

[Red Regal T]

You guys are probably way ahead of me on this, but since I've had my Grand National, I noticed I would use various glass cleaners, think my windows were clean, but in direct sunlight, I would notice all this smearing. Use a different brand, same thing. Just pushing all this "smear" around. Figured maybe it was wax from the body running over the glass while washing and leaving a residue. I tried a bunch of different window cleaners and even tried wiping the windows with lacquer thinner. No progress. Anyway, I found the best thing to take off the smear was straight ammonia. Just poured some on a clean rag, and wiped the film off. Seemed to work well while glass cleaners did nothing. Best way to check if you have this smearing problem, is put the car in direct sunlight and see if your windows are all smeary. If they are, straight ammonia will take it off. I'd been advised alcohol works, but I haven't tried it yet.

Another thing, if any of you have water etch marks on your glass, (looks like dried water droplets that don't come off) you can get them off by putting muriatic acid on a rag and wiping your glass. Just keep rubbing it until the water etch marks and fallout is gone.

 

[Roc87]

I was just going to post about "how to remove water spots", and I saw this! I've tried wax, polish, cleaners, abrasives, vinegar, and nothing seemed to do anything. I was thinking I'd have to buy new glass. Thanks, I'll give the muriatic acid a try.

BTW, I tried calling a salvage yard for the glass (to get good stabilizer guides, and they wanted $70!) so I ordered new GM guides, and I'll pull the glass to have a glass shop install them.

 

[Red Regal T]

The acid WILL do it. I had water spots on my Red T for a long time. My son told me how to do it, but by the time I got around to it, I thought he said steel wool and the acid. Did nothing. One day I poured acid on a clean rag, (try not to get it on your hands or use rubber gloves) just rubbed back and forth and the acid dissolved the water etching marks. What a pleasure.

Down here I can go to any U-Pull-It type yards and any side glass is $20-$25. Try one. For that price, it's worth having some spare glass.

 

[evil_gn]

for the spots on the glass, i found the other weekend that my porter cable with a orange pad and poorboys ssr 2.5 works great to remove the spots.

glass felt smooth like new!

 

[Gary Wells]

FWIW & IMHO:
Stoner Invisiglass does not smear. Wally World, about $ 3.50
Gunk brand spray glass cleaner, Wally World, about $ 1.98
Brasso cleans of water spots with very little effort
Claybar works excellent on windows, just like on the paint.
www.autopia.org
excellent site for more detailed stuff.
When you claybar the car, claybar the windows, too.
If your windshield smears and fogs up on the inside a lot, and sometimes on the outside, you might have a pinhole leak in the radiator, heater, or hoses going to and from. That smears windows worse than anything. After cleaning your windows smearlessly, use Meguiar's Quick Detailer on the outside window surfaces for that flawless "crystal clear look".

 

[Red Regal T]

When I polish out painted cars, I use PPG fast cut compound. Before learning about the acid trick, I remember I tried it to remove water marks with a buffer and wool pad. Unfortunately, after "cutting" the door glass, I had shiny glass with acid water spots.

 

[getchasum]

John, do you know any tricks for the water spots on the piant? Tried the clean wax, no luck. I just hate dealing with the compound clean up from buffing.

 

[Red Regal T]

Yeah! I know what you mean. All I can say is use something like a tarp or blanket to cover the other areas while you're slinging compound around to keep cleanup to a minimum. Many times some sort of glaze w/ wheel will take them off. Maybe someone else will have suggestions.

 

[evil_gn]

Originally posted by getchasum
John, do you know any tricks for the water spots on the piant? Tried the clean wax, no luck. I just hate dealing with the compound clean up from buffing.

the porter cable actually doest sling product everywhere like the roatry buffers do.

 

[MR-SHINE]

Cleaning windows; Compound Cleanup;

I also find Stoner Invisible Glass the best - especially when used
with a micro fiber cloth - no streaks or smears.

Cleanup of compound is much easier when the compound
is water soluble - Race Glaze compounds are truly water soluble,
and will easily wash off (and out of door jams, etc.) with just
soap & water.
Porter Cable DA buffer is the way to go - we wil be adding
all the appropriate pads and even micro fiber bonnets for
the Porter Cable buffer, to our web site within the next couple
of weeks.

We provide 10% discount to Buick TR owners.

Product info: www.mr-shine.com

 

[ksmmspt]

Red Regal T:

Where do you get muriatic acid? I've been battling this problem as well and it always costs me points in shows. Thanks again.

 

[Roc87]

You can probably get the acid at any home improvement type store. BE SURE you wear rubber gloves, and possibly a face mask, you DON'T want to breathe any of that!

 

[TurboJoe3.8]

My mom was a cleaning lady at our local public school for years and years, and cleaned many a window, and the trick she told me about how to clean 'smeared' windows does work. She said to first clean and dry the window (she used an amonia- based solution) first, then take some ordinary newspaper (black and white print only) , bunch it up and buff it all over the window- try it, it really works- no more smears and streaks!

 

[turbo39151]

For more info on detailing, windows too, check out this site.

http://forums.roadfly.com/forums/detailing/


I was looking for info on how to get out some water spots on my paint. These guys are fanatical about their detailing....Lots of good info too (If only I had several days to detail a car...)

 

[FlaBoy]

Red Regal T:

Where do you get muriatic acid? I've been battling this problem as well and it always costs me points in shows. Thanks again.

You can get it at most home stores as mentioned above, or sometimes is much cheaper at pool supply stores (used to keep proper pH balance in pools). Any pool supply store will have it, and after buying some at my local homedepot alst week for my pool, I saw that my local Pinch-a-Penny Pools store had it for less than half the price. Not that its particularly expensive, but hey, a buck's a buck.

 

[webleyaz]

We've been polishing high dollar paint jobs with this for quite a while. One product from 2000 grit sanded to final polish. Even removes waterspots.
system one

 

[tommynos]

i have waterspots on my gn,i buffed them out of the t-tops last weekend but never got to the windows,i was tired after wet sanding and buffing the whole car,so today i tried the muratic acid and it did not work for me..i tried going back and forth pushing hard and all i can say is if it works, its way to much work and way to dangerous compared to buffing it..muratic acid is nothing to play with..buffing works great(just be carefull not to use to abrasive of a compound or you will find your window to look very foggy in light) buffing keeps the windows smooth and silky for those quick wash and goes..after everything is buffed,always include the windows and all the lights in your wax job...at least this works for me.