Polishing glass

W

wrndln

Well-known member
I have two or three fluted headlight lenses that need a little polishing and cleaning. Does anyone know a good method to clean and polish the lenses without doing any damage to them? I didn't see anything in the Eastwood catalog for polishing glass. There must be something that would make them look a little better besides Windex.
Thanks for any suggestions.
Rusty Nelson
 
Griot's Garage catalog offers a glass polish, and glass cleaning clay. I have used the polish on a minor marks left by a wiper blade and thought it was very effective IMHO.
 
Any rubbing compound or cut polish used for cars will work on glass.
I use a foam pad on a low speed polisher for cleaning marks from glass together with a liquid heavy duty compound called G-6 Farecla.
This is a great way to remove those round alkali water spots on glass too.
*Tip...you can easily cleanup a couple lenses by hand with a rag but if you elect to use a power polisher lay the lens on a piece of soft rubber like underlay or rubberbacked carpet to prevent ufo's.
 
wrndln .................
If you can catch your fingernail in the scratch, it will be too deep to polish out.
MIKE :)
 
FL&WVMIKE said:
wrndln .................
If you can catch your fingernail in the scratch, it will be too deep to polish out.
MIKE :)
Click to expand...

Thats right. You will have to take the entire surface down to the bottom of the deepest scratch to get it clear and even. You can rub out a deep scratch, but there will be a warped look to the surface...or live with a compromise. The minor surface scratches are easily dealt with, but those deep ones are a challenge.
 
The best way to deal with pits in the glass is to go to Hershey and buy a mint pair of originals. Just don't wrap them up in a towel and lay them in the back seat, then a week later grab the towel to dry your hands.:mad:

Yes, broke both of them!
 
Tom Wesenberg said:
The best way to deal with pits in the glass is to go to Hershey and buy a mint pair of originals. Just don't wrap them up in a towel and lay them in the back seat, then a week later grab the towel to dry your hands.:mad:

Yes, broke both of them!
Click to expand...
Tom,
Are you akin to that "Bull in a China Store?":eek: Pat always made me wait outside China or Glassware stores!:mad: Bill W.
 
Removal of fine scratches from glass is not unlike finishing paint. Material MUST be removed. Cerium oxide and other true glass cutting compounds will leave you with a reduced, polished surface, like plate glass.

Unfortunately that is NOT the original appearance of "A" glass. It was hot pressed. The surface is somewhat duller due to solidification contraction, not unlike what happens to paint- 100% gloss when wet, then duller as it flashes. The pressed glass surface also has a micro-pebbled surface and many tiny irregularities.

Polishing out scratches will leave you with nice lenses, but they will not appear ORIGINAL. I'm with Tom W. If it is a very nice A, get better original lenses. Polishing out headlamp glass scratches would be like clear coat paint- just not right in appearance.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top