I have an obsession with perfect glass!

i wouldn't. nor would i use steel wool. you could actually be introducing scratches and haze and places for dirt to collect vs solving it. glass isn't like a clear coat or paint.

 

Spend your money on a therapist to overcome the obsession of “perfect glass”.

 

000 steel wool will not, in any way, scratch glass. It will destroy mirrors though as it’s a different type of glass that’s laminated.

The only thing with steel wool and owning a white or light colored vehicle, is that little flakes come off the wool and can/will imbed itself in the paint/clear coat. You won’t notice it until you see a bunch of little rust spots on your vehicle. The only way to remove them is to buff it. Good practice to use steel wool on windows then wash or rinse truck afterwards.

 

Let's think about this for a minute. You are advocating using a razor blade to clean the glass yet have an issue with using steel wool?

The reason it's ok to use either is that glass is harder than the steel. Using 000 steel wool isn't going to scratch glass because it's not hard enough to do so. Now I wouldn't use it on the inside as there might be some type of coating that can be scratched..... The outside is just glass though.

 

Yup.

 

suit yourself but i wouldn't

there are better tools than steel wool to accomplish the same

the blade works far better at removing contaminates and in handling the tool, you know exactly where it's touching the glass.

steel wool could have oils, manufacturing flaws, and who knows what else. the idea is to clean the glass, not make it worse.

 

thx u later

 

Yeah and a razor blades can chip leaving scratches on glass and even gouge it. And in many years I detailed cars for a Cadillac dealership, I have not once seen steel wool harm glass.

 

Razor blades don't harm the glass either.... What can happen is if there is some small hard debris like maybe sand getting caught under the razor and being drug across the glass. I think that is why they use something to act as a lubricant.

Steel wool just won't be hard enough to scratch and it's not quite rigid enough to press down a hard particle to scratch....... I wouldn't use dirty steel wool though.

 

This WILL help.

 

Permanent coatings are great for beading water, just be warned when you use these products it can and most of the time will prevent you from doing any chip repair on your windshields because the epoxy will not adhere.

Not everyone knows that so its just an FYI.


I polish my windshield yearly and clay bar my glass every few months. Keeps it slick. I use OEM wiper blades.
This combo is simple and has worked well for me.
I’m hesitant to put too many products on my glass because if a product fails to perform or hazes it can be tough to remove.

 

That's a really good point in this discussion and made me think...... If you have any repair spots, you probably don't want to steel wool or razor blade those areas.

 

Connor, how do you safely polish your windshield, and what products do you use to do it? I want to polish mine before it gets pitted.

As for using a razor blade. When I bought my 4-Runner back in '93 I took it home and within three days I notices that the dealership had used a razor blade to scrape some kind of sticker off the back top of the roll-down rear window. You could see the strokes of the blade, width of each stroke perfectly matching the width of a single edge razor blade. They copped to the crime, and replaced the rear window at no charge. Razor blades, or the crap stuck to them, CAN scratch glass.

 

It is very difficult to actually buff glass to remove imperfections. I use an orange microfiber pad with a optical grade cutting polish (V36) to essentially deep clean the glass. No correction of the glass is achieved.

 

if they scraped it dry that can definitely happen

 

Connor, thanks for the info. I am all about doing what you are doing. Please, if you would, can you direct me to a link where you purchase this optical grade cutting polish. I already have the orange pad for the Porter Cable. Thanks!

Update: Found it and ordered it! I bet this stuff will cut those water spots on glass that are too hard for clay bar to erase.

 

Does anyone know if there is any truth to the idea that ceramic coating your windshield offers any protection from pitting or cracking?