The Detailing Hand Book

 

Dirty, poorly maintained auto glass is not only unsightly but also a safety hazard.  A dirty windshield can obscure your vision when driving and will not repel rain water effectively.  On the other hand, a clean well detailed windshield can be as shiny and reflective as paint.

 

 

 

Polishing your windshield will go a long way to giving you clear sparkling glass.  This can be done by machine or by hand, but machine polishing will require less effort.  Polishing will remove unsightly water spots, make scratches & pits less noticeable, and will remove “wiper frame” (the stained area on your windshield that the wipers do not clean).  While you can also polish your side glass and glass rear window, it’s not really necessary as these pieces of glass are not exposed to anywhere near the same amount of abuse as the windshield.

 

 

 

It should not be necessary to polish your windshield more than once per year in order to keep it clear and shiny.  However, you should wash & dry all exterior glass each time you wash your car and clean the inside of the glass with glass cleaner with the same frequency.

 

 

 

During the process of cleaning your windshield you will put the wipers in the raised position.  Remember not to open your hood while the wipers are in the raised position.

 

What you’ll need . . .

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• Shade – Most car care products are not designed to be used in direct sunlight.  Therefore, it is important to find a shady spot to work in.  This can be under a car port, a canopy, or in a garage.  It is not recommended that you detail under a tree as sap, leaves, pollen, or other debris could fall on your car during the detail.

• Microfiber towels – cheap microfiber towels from a wholesale club like Costco are a great tool for removing excess glass polish.  They’re cheap enough so that you won’t mind getting them really dirty, but they are absorbent and soft like more expensive microfiber towels.  Make sure they are clean and that all tags have been removed before use.
• Tarp – when machine polishing it is common to have polish spray from the pad onto other parts of the car.  In order to minimize clean up, it is highly suggested that you cover your convertible top with either a plastic tarp or an old bed sheet.

• Porter Cable R/O polisher – Either model G100, 7424, or 7336SP work well.  In fact, both models are virtually the same machine.  The only difference is the counterweight and most cannot tell the difference between the two.  The 7424 and G100 come with a 5” counterweight and the 7336SP comes with a 6” counterweight. 

• 5”-6” backing plate – you’ll need an appropriate size backing plate to mate the PC with the foam pads.  The diameter of the backing plate should be at least ” less than the diameter of the pads being used to prevent the backing plate from touching the car.

• 6.5” foam buffer pads – typically speaking to polish glass all you’ll need is a cutting pad.  A 6.5” pad is large enough to polish the windshield quickly, but small enough to allow the PC’s motor to work effectively.
• Glass polish – dedicated glass polishes like Autoglym Glass Polish and Detailer’s Pride High Performance Glass Restorer work best.  However, paint polishes like Meguiar’s #2 and Poorboy’s SSR2.5 can also be used to polish glass.

• Glass Cleaner – house hold glass cleaners such as Windex are not formulated to clean some of the conditions found in the automotive environment like “vinyl fog” and many contain ammonia which can damage window tint.  Therefore, it is best to use a dedicated automotive glass cleaner like Sprayway Glass Cleaner, Meguiar’s NXT Glass Cleaner, Eagle One 20/20, or Detailer’s Pride Krystal Vision Glass Cleaner.

• Waffle weave microfiber towels – high quality waffle weave microfiber towels work extremely well for glass cleaning.  Most waffle weave towels are marketed for car drying so some are too big making them awkward for glass cleaning.  So, make sure when buying your waffle weave that it is small enough to hold in one hand when folded in quarters.  It is not advised that you use paper towels, shop towels, or cotton towels to clean your glass as these types of towel can leave lint or particles on the glass.  Other types of microfiber towel are effective alternatives to the waffle weave and so is newspaper.  However, cleaning glass with newspaper can often leave ink stains on your hands.  So, if you choose to use newspaper wear rubber gloves to keep the ink off your hands.

• Rain-X – coating your windows with Rain-X or another water repellent coating meant for glass will increase many fold your vision when it is raining and make your windshield wipers much more effective.  Water will literally fly off your windshield.  As an alternative to a dedicated water repellent glass coating, many use a sealant on their glass.  This has nearly the same effect, but has been known to cause the window to fog in some weather conditions.  It is not recommended that you wax your glass as wax is not as transparent (a/k/a “optically true”) as sealants.

• Distilled water – distilled water in a spray bottle is very helpful to have on hand during the Rain-X application process.  Distilled water is different from tap water or bottled water in that it contains no vitamins, minerals, or additives.  Distilled water is simply pure water.  It can be found in your local grocery store in the aisle with bottled water and is very inexpensive.

 

How to get it done . . .

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1.      Make sure your car’s glass is cool to the touch before beginning.  Hot glass can cause your products to dry/evaporate too quickly making them less effective.

 

2.      Put your windshield wipers in the upright position so that you can clean/polish all the glass.

 

 

Make sure your glass is clean.  You can either . . .

 

a.       Wash & dry your car’s glass along with the rest of the car.

 

b.      Spray the glass liberally with glass cleaner and then wipe it down with a waffle weave microfiber towel.

 

 

3.      Apply a drop of polish about the size of a nickel to the foam pad near the outer edge of the pad’s bottom.

 

4.      With the machine turned off, spread the polish onto your working area.  Your working area will consist of a 16” x 16” section of glass.

 

 

 

5.      Turn the PC speed dial to setting five (you can also use speed 6, but keep a careful eye on your foam pad as heat may build up causing the Velcro backing to delaminate).

 

6.      With the pad flat against the surface of the paint, turn on the machine.

 

7.      Move the machine very slowly across the surface of the glass while applying approximately 5-15 lbs. of downward pressure.  First move the machine in a back and forth motion

 

 

and then follow with an up and down motion.

 

 

 

Whether moving the machine up and down or side to side be sure to overlap your passes by 50%.

 

8.      Continue repeating step #8 until the polish residue has turned clear.  Once this occurs, while keeping the pad flat on the glass, turn the machine off.

 

9.      Using a clean microfiber towel gently wipe the remaining polish residue from the glass.  If the polish residue is difficult to remove spray the area with some water or glass cleaner.

 

10.  Spray a liberal amount of Rain-X onto one side of a cheap microfiber towel which has been folded into quarters.