Glass Restoration
#2152485
09/11/16 05:48 PM
09/11/16 05:48 PM
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Joined: Oct 2011
Posts: 768 Dry Heat AZ
AAR#2
OP
super stock
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OP
super stock
Joined: Oct 2011
Posts: 768
Dry Heat AZ
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I don't see much on this forum about glass restoration, so though I'd post up my experience to provide others with hope . . . or dismay, depending on your personality. So we've all seen or spoken to someone who has used cerium oxide, likely in an Eastwood kit. I was warned by many that if I could catch my fingernail in any of the scratches I would never be able to remove it by polishing. Heck, even some scratches that you can't catch won't be removed. Of course I wanted to salvage my original date coded glass and while the side glass was in pretty good shape, the front and rear glass was well beyond repair based on what I'd been told. So after a bit of searching I found a place called "Glass Polish Shop" based out of Ireland. ( http://www.glasspolishshop.com) I watched their videos, all of them, and was convinced I may be able to restore my glass if the product worked as well as advertised in the video. So I ordered the Glass Scratch Repair Starter Kit along with some extra pads and polish. Heck, if I could save my original for under $100 I was going to be thrilled. Kit arrived and I started by tuning up my skill with the drivers door glass as it was the worst of the good glass. I had pretty good success but was disappointed in some of the imperfections after polishing. My disappointment wasn't from the ability to remove a scratch but from the almost undetectable ripple when you inspect the glass reflection at an angle almost parallel to the glass surface. But since the glass was clear, super polished, and no defect could be detected from almost all angles it was hard not to be happy. I watched the video's again, e-mailed their support staff and asked tons of questions. They were exceptionally helpful and always answered back in a timely fashion. I was convinced (OK, I suspected, but wasn't sure) I could do better by grinding the entire surface of the glass more like they did in the coffee table video. So sink or swim I decided to take on the mother of scratched windows, my rear glass (Photo's attached) I decided I would post up my experience, good or bad to help others since I turned up empty on the topic performing searches on MOPARTs in the past. First thing I discovered was it's really hard to take photo's of scratches and defects in glass, even really bad glass like mine. So I decided to place blue tape everywhere I found a defect that needed to be removed, if you look closely there is tape on both the front and back of the glass and after starting this effort I quickly began to group my areas to try and show the magnitude of the damage. Additional pics show close ups of the areas by the tape. While only a few pictures you get the idea
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Re: Glass Restoration
[Re: AAR#2]
#2152513
09/11/16 06:26 PM
09/11/16 06:26 PM
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Joined: Oct 2011
Posts: 768 Dry Heat AZ
AAR#2
OP
super stock
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OP
super stock
Joined: Oct 2011
Posts: 768
Dry Heat AZ
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The final stage of the process would be polishing the glass. This process is laborious, don't be fooled to think your finished in the short term as you may be by immediately noticing the glass clear within the first hour of polishing. However, upon closer inspection you will see very light rotary swirls and something that appears like glass thats not quite cleaned correctly, almost a smudgy look.
Unsure if this would ever be removed completely I contacted Conn (the gentlemen who had answered all my other questions, from the polish shop) and he assured me to continue polishing to restore the glass finish.
I continued for the next 2 days, each time becoming more happy with the results. Ultimately finishing the glass with results I am pleased with and certainly ones that 99.9% (maybe more) will be unable to detect anything was performed while looking through the almost perfect glass.
So heres a few pointers; - Do not to this if you have been known to be all thumbs, heck, you better be pretty skilled if you want good results. - Don't do this is you don't have good patience and drive - Order extra pads, all of them, the Reds hold up pretty well, but the Greens and particularly the Blues burn up quick. - Order extra polishing compound, you use a lot - Sand dry - Polish wet (to keep heat out), its also easier to keep heat down doing a large area - Wear an apron, and don't do it near anything you can't clean up with water.
The real thrill here is YOU CAN SAVE THAT PIECE OF ORIGINAL DATED GLASS !!!
Special thanks to The Glass Polish Shop and Conn for sticking it out with me answering all my questions
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Re: Glass Restoration
[Re: AAR#2]
#2152633
09/11/16 08:51 PM
09/11/16 08:51 PM
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 12,968 Benton, IL.
DaveRS23
Master of nothing...
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Master of nothing...
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 12,968
Benton, IL.
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Cool post. Thank you!
Your results are impressive and I was very happy to see how your rear glass turned out because mine is in similar condition.
But I doubt that I will dedicate a week to it.
Master, again and still
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Re: Glass Restoration
[Re: AAR#2]
#2152852
09/12/16 12:07 AM
09/12/16 12:07 AM
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 18,632 jersey shore
flypaper
I hate Texas
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I hate Texas
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 18,632
jersey shore
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that is very impressive! i just spent a bunch of hours cleaning up glass for 2 cars and it took a good bit of time to just get the sealer and dirt and gunk off the glass to get it clean. i am lucky as my glass is in a lot better shape to start with only a couple of very light scratches by where the trim goes its only on a couple of pieces and it might not even be noticeable when installed i was thinking about polishing them, but i haven't even begun to research it yet i guess i'm checking out the glass polish shop web site soon
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Re: Glass Restoration
[Re: AAR#2]
#2152939
09/12/16 08:18 AM
09/12/16 08:18 AM
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 1,756 London, England
Gavin
top fuel
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top fuel
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 1,756
London, England
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Thanks for this post, I have been thinking about which way to go on this for a long time (no rush as rest of car is still in pieces) and did a lot of looking, including at commercial sites that fix store windows etc, but this is the first post I've seen which really answers the questions as to feasibility, cost, and effort!! Still not sure which route I'll go, but this helps a lot, thanks again and great job!
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Re: Glass Restoration
[Re: AAR#2]
#2152987
09/12/16 10:34 AM
09/12/16 10:34 AM
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Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 8,343 Crook County, ILL
Mastershake340
master
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master
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 8,343
Crook County, ILL
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This is a very interesting post. I had my project at a shop that used someone, I believe in MI, to do polishing. This person is an engineer who had developed a technique to polish glass that didn't leave dips or waves. He charged by the hour, $50 IIRC. When my car was in the shop, there was a B body there that the guy in MI had did the glass on. Everything but the windshield, which was too bad to restore, ended up costing $3000 to polish! But the polished glass on that car really looked outstanding. There was another B body at the shop at the time with repro glass and the glass looked crappy in comparison. Despite the cost, I decided I really wanted my original glass polished. But everything with that ending up being (yet another) fiasco with my project. When he checked with the guy, he was really backed up, and with the other work on my project wrapping up, my restorer didn't want my car sitting around in his shop for 6+ months waiting for the polished glass to be returned. He found someone else who polishes glass and sounded promising in CA he wanted to try, so sent out my 1/4 glass to try them out and see how good they are. That guy then wouldn't return calls, so my restorer finally gave up after trying for several months to get a return call, told me to consider my 1/4 glass disappeared, and we ended up putting repro glass in my car. The repro glass really doesn't look good at all and I am not happy with it, has a polarized look in certain lights, little scallops along the 1/4 glass edges, etc. Then, 6 months later my 1/4 glass was returned "refused by sender". I wish I still had that CA shops name so I could list it as a place to avoid! Like I said before, the whole glass issue with my car was a real fiasco! My side glass is safe and sound stored at my house now, and I may want to try out your technique this winter to restore it, so I don't have to look at that mediocre restoration glass any longer.
Check out my car show and cruise photo albums here: Show PicsSeeking info on a Mr Norms sold T/A VIN JH23J0B308737. Does it still exist?
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Re: Glass Restoration
[Re: AAR#2]
#2153195
09/12/16 05:10 PM
09/12/16 05:10 PM
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 27,594 So Cal
autoxcuda
Too Many Posts
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Too Many Posts
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 27,594
So Cal
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Heard about someone out here in so cal that called their process "grinding" glass. Was supposedly a specialized process they do to glass high rise buildings. Was interested in car hobby, but was too busy with industrial accounts to bother.
Sounded like they had machines or processes to cut the labor time down. Still IIRC, it was close to new glass costs.
Shop that had it done was very impressed that normally uses lots of resto glass.
Last edited by autoxcuda; 09/12/16 05:11 PM.
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Re: Glass Restoration
[Re: 71rm23]
#2153307
09/12/16 08:29 PM
09/12/16 08:29 PM
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 18,632 jersey shore
flypaper
I hate Texas
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I hate Texas
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 18,632
jersey shore
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On a side note, does anyone know what to use to remove the butyl tape/sealer off of my front and rear glass ('71)
I used razor blades lacquer thinner And scrubby pads..
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Re: Glass Restoration
[Re: AAR#2]
#2153446
09/12/16 11:31 PM
09/12/16 11:31 PM
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Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 765 Vancouver, WA
Cuda Cody
super stock
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super stock
Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 765
Vancouver, WA
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Thanks for taking the time to share. And nice job!!!!
1970 Challenger T/A 4-Speed 1970 Challenger T/A 4-Speed 1970 Challenger T/A Auto 1970 Challenger R/T Auto 1970 Challenger Auto 1970 Challenger RT 440+6 4-Speed 1970 Challenger RT 440+6 4-Speed 1970 Hemi Challenger 4-Speed 1970 Hemi Cuda 4-Speed 1971 Cuda Auto 1971 Cuda 4-Speed LOOKING to BUY 1970 & 1971 E Body J, V and R Code project cars
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Re: Glass Restoration
[Re: Mastershake340]
#2153461
09/13/16 12:00 AM
09/13/16 12:00 AM
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Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 821 NW Ohio
6pkaar
super stock
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super stock
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 821
NW Ohio
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The repro glass really doesn't look good at all and I am not happy with it, has a polarized look in certain lights, I know it's new glass and you shouldn't have to mess with it, but would the "polarized look" polish out of the new glass?
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Re: Glass Restoration
[Re: 6pkaar]
#2153473
09/13/16 12:27 AM
09/13/16 12:27 AM
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Joined: Oct 2011
Posts: 768 Dry Heat AZ
AAR#2
OP
super stock
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OP
super stock
Joined: Oct 2011
Posts: 768
Dry Heat AZ
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The repro glass really doesn't look good at all and I am not happy with it, has a polarized look in certain lights, I know it's new glass and you shouldn't have to mess with it, but would the "polarized look" polish out of the new glass? As I understand it, the shading you see when wearing polarized glasses is the result of the tempering process. The process has changed over the years and while there was some shading with the old original glass it tends to be lesser and more in lines that the more uniform patches you see in modern glass. While not 100% certain, I would be absolutely shocked if you can do anything to remove that look from the glass. This was a factor in my decision to try and save my original pieces
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