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Glass Polishing
#1
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Joseph Earl
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Has anyone tried Cerium Oxide for polishing auto glass? My '48 windshield has a haze that makes it difficult to see when driving into the sun.

I know some of you will recommend buying new glass. Down the road, maybe, when I have some $$. Right now, I can get 4oz. of lapidary grade cerium oxide and three bobs for $14.99 online.

If the original glass can be restored, I would prefer that as it has the manufacturer's marking on the lower corner.

Thanks!

Posted on: 2012/7/15 12:15
Joey

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"If chrome got me home, I'd for sure still be stuck somewhere."

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Re: Glass Polishing
#2
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packardtaximan
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Joey, My experience with the hazy windshields has been that the haze is between the layers of the glass. I have had to replace the windshields on both my 48 sedan and 49 convertible. I especially noticed poor vision at night with oncoming lights and bright sunny days. You might improve visibility somewhat, but replacing the glass is the best solution. I never realized how bad mine were until I had them replaced and the improvement was worth every penny (dollar) that I spent. I am sure others will have different thoughts to consider. ( JUST DO IT ) Best of luck. Packardtaximan

Posted on: 2012/7/15 13:09
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Re: Glass Polishing
#3
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Randy Berger
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I very carefully removed windshield wiper scratches(gouges) in my windshield with cerium oxide and a polishing pad mounted on my grinder. It took several passes plus time allowing glass to cool, but it worked.

Posted on: 2012/7/15 13:33
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Re: Glass Polishing
#4
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John Harley
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Joey


I had some pretty marked up windows on my '41. I tried the clay bar kit I bought for the paint on them. It worked very well with little effort

Regards


John Harley

Posted on: 2012/7/15 21:26
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Re: Glass Polishing
#5
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Joseph Earl
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John,

I didn't even think about the clay bar. I will try that!

Thanks!

Posted on: 2012/7/15 21:34
Joey

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"If chrome got me home, I'd for sure still be stuck somewhere."

[url=http://pac
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Re: Glass Polishing
#6
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Larry51
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Clay bar sounds like a good idea. Pity I've already bought some Cerium Oxide (- which I haven't tried yet so I can't give an opinion as to how well it works).

Posted on: 2012/7/16 8:14
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Re: Glass Polishing
#7
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Gary
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Quote:

randy berger wrote:
I very carefully removed windshield wiper scratches(gouges) in my windshield with cerium oxide and a polishing pad mounted on my grinder. It took several passes plus time allowing glass to cool, but it worked.


Randy,
I would say that my windshield is in pretty good shape for the 60 years of exposure it's had but it does have slight hazing where the windshield wipers contact the glass. There aren't really any deep scratches that you can feel with your finger nail so I attempted to use rubbing compound on those areas and it helped a little but trying to rub it out by hand yielded very minor results for the time and effort I put into it. Any idea as to how affective hand rubbing is with cirium oxide? I thought a grinder with a polishing bonnet on it would turn up too many RPM's?

Posted on: 2012/7/20 10:10
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Re: Glass Polishing
#8
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Joseph Earl
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I bought some cerium oxide, along with a felt pad at a local lapidary supply and have been testing it with my Makita buffer. The felt was 6" in diameter, about 1/4" thick and I had to glue it to a used foam hook and loop pad that I had removed all the foam from. Used 3M upholstery contact cement in a spray can.

It works, but not without effort. You have to be patient, and keep working the slurry that you make with the cerium oxide and water. I mixed it in a plastic squirt bottle, like you would have ketchup in, and you have to make sure you keep it wet as you buff at low speed. I take a plastic pail of water and a rag, set it on the roof above the area I'm polishing, with the wet rag dripping on the windshield.

My windshield was so bad, I could barely see driving into the sun. I have worked some areas completely clear so far. I like the fact that I still have the original PPG logos in the bottom outside corners of the glass!

Posted on: 2012/7/20 11:34
Joey

(?=#=?)

"If chrome got me home, I'd for sure still be stuck somewhere."

[url=http://pac
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Re: Glass Polishing
#9
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Gary
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Quote:

joeyearl wrote:
I bought some cerium oxide, along with a felt pad at a local lapidary supply and have been testing it with my Makita buffer. The felt was 6" in diameter, about 1/4" thick and I had to glue it to a used foam hook and loop pad that I had removed all the foam from. Used 3M upholstery contact cement in a spray can.

It works, but not without effort. You have to be patient, and keep working the slurry that you make with the cerium oxide and water. I mixed it in a plastic squirt bottle, like you would have ketchup in, and you have to make sure you keep it wet as you buff at low speed. I take a plastic pail of water and a rag, set it on the roof above the area I'm polishing, with the wet rag dripping on the windshield.

My windshield was so bad, I could barely see driving into the sun. I have worked some areas completely clear so far. I like the fact that I still have the original PPG logos in the bottom outside corners of the glass!


Same with the rubbing compound Joey, it dries out as you rub so you have to keep it wet but the hand rubbing is slow, tedious hard work and terribly painful to the wrists and fingers. How long did you have to work an area to achieve the clarity that you described? I've heard that some of the auto glass places will polish windshields so considering the fact that it also has what appears to be an old gunshot wound that needs to be epoxied up, I might look into getting it all taken care of at the same time.

Posted on: 2012/7/20 12:02
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Re: Glass Polishing
#10
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Owen_Dyneto
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I'm not sure just what the polymeric material is that used to fix windshield starburts and the like, but it's not an epoxy. Besides it's other properties, it has to have a refractive index quite close to that of the surrounding glass. Best left to a specialist or purchase one of the kits for doing those repairs. It's essential to have the crack VERY clean and that you draw as perfect a vacuum as you can to allow the material to completely penetrate. I had it done by a professional on a 56 Caribbean windshield some dozen years ago and it's still holding up perfectly.

Posted on: 2012/7/20 12:18
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