I've got some light scratches on my driver's side window from the car cover flapping against it on windy days. I also have some small scratches and rub marks on the rear hatch glass from the rear aero wing. There are two basic ways to go I guess. Get a do it yourself kit or take it to a pro. The problem is, I can't find anyone around here that specializes in auto glass polishing. 20 million people living in So. Cal and not one who specializes in auto glass polishing. What happened to all the classic/vintage car guys that want to preserve the original glass on their garage queens? Don't they get glass scratches too? Of all the glass places I've called, none of them do glass polishing. Just auto glass replacement and/or rock chip/crack repair. The Eastwood company offers a cheap polishing kit that includes powered rouge and a drill mounted glass polishing pad. The only problem with that is rouge is generally considered a more aggressive polishing agent compared to 90% cerium oxide. Plus, I'm not sure the drill mounted pad would be as effective as a glass polishing disc mounted on a dual action polisher like the Porter Cable. GT Auto Glass and Janvil both offer glass polishing kits that come with polishing discs for dual action polishers. They also have their own proprietary blend formulas of cerium oxide for glass scratches. However, I'm not sure which one is better. GT Auto Glass also offers the Glass Hog system for professionals which comes with a nice center water feed glass polisher. However, at $17K, it's not really that cost effective for just one or two windows if you know what I mean.lol! I guess I could buy one of the kits and then try it out. However, I don't want ruin the window or make the scratches worse. From what I've read, you have to be very careful when polishing glass because you don't want to overheat it thereby causing distortion. The glass surface needs to be kept wet and cool during the polishing process with the cerium oxide paste slurry being added every so often. Sounds kind of tricky, but not too bad. Has anyone here tried any of the glass polishing kits before? If so, how hard was it and what were the results?

I haven't seen anyone polishing glass but it'd be a useful skill to have for sure. Maybe you can pick a kit and practice on some junkyard windows.

When I lived in Philly, I knew a guy who did "Factory Recon" auto detailing for car dealers in the area. These would be mostly new cars with some used cars mixed in with the shipment. He would use the same polishing/buffing compound wheel on his buffer, on the glass, as he had used on the body of the car. Not a heavy grit.

Most of the time, he would run a big putty knife against the spinning buffing pad for a few seconds, (long enough to knock off some of the old dirt and grit), before using it on the glass. It worked every time!

Find some glass to practice on...

If your car cover causes scratches in glass.....

#1 I'd buy a new cover
#2 What kind of glass get scratched from a cover?

A convertibles back plastic window I can see from debris getting in between them, but you said the door glass?

Never tried it, but I looked into it a while ago. Came across this page
http://www.facetingmachines.com/polishing_glass.shtml

Its likely no different than polishing paint, get that hot and you'll ruin it too. With a high speed buffer its VERY easy to burn anything you're working with. Keep the speed low and keep a wet sponge above your work area and you should be able to keep it wet and cool enough to avoid doing more harm than good. Might be best to find some glass of any sort, scratch it, and try to remove the scratch before messing with the glass on your car. Better to practice on junk first.

I'm sure that doing glass polishing creates waste materials and pollution thats a big issue around here with all the enviroretards in the area so thats probably why you couldnt find anyone who does that. I couldnt find anyone 15 years ago so dont feel bad.

Stephen,

I did buy a new cover finally. A Wolf evolution 4 layer outdoor with mirror pockets.lol!

When you get strong Santa Ana's for several days, a car cover can scratch glass. When the wind is blowing, dirt gets under the cover and the constant buffeting can mar and etch the glass. Of course, I'm talking about the kind of scratches you can see with a flashlight at night or under flourescent lighting at a gas station. Nothing a fingernail can catch on. During the day, the scratches are not that noticeable.


Madmax:

Yeah, if it's like polishing paint, I might be able to do it. I've been able to polish paint like glass with my porter cable dual action polisher. No pun intended.lol! Like the others have suggested, I'll experiment on a junkyard window before I actually touch the glass on my car. I'm liking the GT Auto Glass "glass restore" kit for under $100 though.

Sometimes I feel like I'm the only one when it comes to wanting certain things for this car. A lot of things I have asked for, whether it be parts or services, people look at me like I'm crazy. The LOF glass question is an example. I've called multiple glass shops and the question is always the same. Why do want original LOF glass? Our glass is a direct OEM replacement and it shouldn't matter what kind of logo is on it. A lot of parts are hard to find for these cars. Sometimes I think it would be easier to just get a 1st gen or even a 2nd gen and restore that instead. 3rd gens seem to be the red headed stepchild for some reason.

I remember when I ordered a pair of radio anti-theft stickers for the side windows (now discontinued I believe), the parts guy took nearly an hour to find the correct part number in the system. After he found it, he commented that he never had to order a part like that before in his 15 years of working at the dealer parts dept..lol!

I found a place in Orange that supposedly specializes in polishing auto glass. I'm going to give them a call and see what they can do. If not, then I guess I'm going have to get one of those DIY glass polishing kits by Janvil or GT Auto Glass. The Eastwood version with the drill pad doesn't look like it'll be able to do as good of a job as other kits. The ones that use a buffer/polisher disc to polish the glass look to be superior than the drill based version.