{"id":4613,"date":"2022-12-13T08:30:30","date_gmt":"2022-12-13T14:30:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakecountrymfg.com\/?p=4613"},"modified":"2022-12-13T10:09:34","modified_gmt":"2022-12-13T16:09:34","slug":"the-most-important-thing-to-polish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakecountrymfg.com\/detailbay\/the-most-important-thing-to-polish\/","title":{"rendered":"The Most Important Thing To Polish?","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Polishing glass ranks as one of the most overlooked detailing skills and services. Aside from being aesthetically pleasing to have pure transparent glass, it\u2019s incredibly important\u2013literally a matter of life and death\u2013to see the road ahead properly. With the low sun, rain, snow and grime of winter upon us (sorry Southern hemisphere), I think now is a great time to talk about how and why machine polishing glass is so important.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Machine polishing glass to clean it<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Cleaning glass with a liquid cleaner typically removes surface dirt, but do you notice if you then wipe over the \u2018clean\u2019 glass with a damp cloth, you can still see streaky impressions left behind? These leftover stains are fallout, acid rain, and chemical residues on the surface\u2014highly resistant to most glass cleaner sprays, and a stained surface will also tend to get dirtier and more stained more quickly. It\u2019s much easier to maintain a clean surface than having to keep restoring it. Fortunately, one of the easiest ways to fully remove glass staining is by simple machine polishing.<\/p>

In our workshop we keep old microfiber pads for this purpose, helping to extend their useful life. Take your orbital polisher and pad, apply a medium cutting compound, and polish the glass in sections. I normally divide a windshield into quarters, and for my convenience I tend to put individual squirts of compound on the glass in those sections before I get started \u2013 it just saves me time as I don\u2019t have to keep stop-starting.<\/p>

Don\u2019t be afraid to apply some pressure \u2013 you will clean the glass faster, and it won\u2019t cause any damage. It also won\u2019t do anything at all to<\/strong> remove any surface scratches from the glass.\u00a0 All you\u2019re doing is cleaning it ultra-efficiently, and those streaky stains will be gone in no time!<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Machine polishing glass to restore it<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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A beautifully detailed paint job will be thoroughly let down by a scratched windshield. While the paint pops, under many light conditions, the arcing scratches caused by gritty wiper blades (don\u2019t forget to clean\/replace these afterward) become an even bigger distraction \u2013 not to mention a potential safety issue in the worst cases, as they can increase glare.<\/p>

Machine polishing glass with a microfiber pad will not remove these scratches. However, with a Lake Country rayon glass polishing pad and a special compound, you can!<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGLASS POLISHING PADS<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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This is a technically trickier skill, but anyone with a moderate amount of experience should be able to master it quickly. For faint scratches, a random orbital polisher and a 5\u201d rayon pad will do the trick (deeper scratches may require a rotary and a 3\u201d rayon pad instead for extra, more targeted cut). Glass polishing pads are a different material and work differently to the polishing pads used on paintwork, and when combined with a cerium oxide solution they are aggressive enough to remove scratches in the glass itself, returning a pure optical clarity to the glass. Cerium oxide can be bought as a pre-mixed solution, or you can buy it in powder form and mix it with water yourself; a thin, watery mixture is usually strong enough \u2013 start from there, increasing the cerium oxide content if necessary.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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What to watch out for<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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There are three main side-effects to watch out for when machine polishing scratches from glass \u2013 heat, scalloping, and chips.<\/div>
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During glass polishing with the rayon pads, heat needs to be controlled, and the best way to achieve this is by misting a small amount of plain water onto the work area at regular intervals, which also helps keep the solution from drying out. If you\u2019re lucky enough to have a glamorous assistant, this is the time to have them nearby!<\/div>
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When tackling shallow scratches across a large area \/ whole windshield with a 5\u201d rayon pad and random orbital, scalloping is highly unlikely to be a problem. However, if you were to remove a particularly deep scratch in an isolated area it\u2019s possible to create a slight fishbowl\/lens effect in the glass, aka \u2018scalloping\u2019; you can mitigate this slightly by blending the scratch removal outwards, making the indentation less sharply pronounced.<\/div>
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One final pro-tip is that the cerium oxide solution has an unfortunate habit of setting hard in any chips, becoming practically impossible to remove.\u00a0 In the worst cases this could be more distracting than the chips were to begin with, so under certain circumstances \u2013 deep scratches, lots of chips, or a combination of both \u2013 it may be best to look at the cost of replacing the windshield.<\/div>
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After machine polishing glass<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Once you\u2019ve finished polishing, be sure to wipe away the compound residue fully, and then use I.P.A. with a different microfiber cloth to guarantee a pure surface. If planning to apply a glass coating, I would also recommend cleaning the glass with a panel wipe before the I.P.A. to ensure zero oils are left that could inhibit the coating\u2019s bonding abilities.<\/p>

For more on this topic, and quite an extreme example, check out this YouTube video featuring Kelly Harris and some unusual scratches on a Porsche window…<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\u00a0<\/p>

Until next time,<\/p>

Jay @ LC
<\/b><\/p>

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false,"gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"html"}]},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Polishing glass ranks as one of the most overlooked detailing skills and services. Aside from being aesthetically pleasing to have pure transparent glass, it\u2019s incredibly important\u2013literally a matter of life and death\u2013to see the road ahead properly. With the low sun, rain, snow and grime of winter upon us (sorry Southern hemisphere), I think now […]<\/p>\n","protected":false,"gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"html"}]},"author":150,"featured_media":4614,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"default","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[97,426,427,364,381,189,106,98,430,424,354,100,408,87,95,407,368,365,383,187,429,431,432,433],"class_list":["post-4613","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-auto-detailing","tag-car-show","tag-cloth","tag-correction","tag-da","tag-detailer","tag-detailers","tag-detailing","tag-glass","tag-good-lighting","tag-lake-country","tag-lake-country-manufacturing","tag-lake-country-power-tools","tag-lc-pads","tag-lc-power-tools","tag-lcpt","tag-machine","tag-microfiber","tag-polish","tag-polishing","tag-qd","tag-restore","tag-window","tag-windows"],"gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"link","format":"url"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakecountrymfg.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4613","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakecountrymfg.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakecountrymfg.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakecountrymfg.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/150"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakecountrymfg.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4613"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lakecountrymfg.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4613\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakecountrymfg.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakecountrymfg.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakecountrymfg.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakecountrymfg.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}