Body &
PaintBody &
PaintWindshield Polishing
Just wanted to tell of my experience so far with the Eastwood glass
polishing kit I just got. I've only got the driver's side done and if I had 2
words to describe the process so far it would be Labor and Intensive!
Like a lot of owners, who have posted to the list, I too have the extreme wiper
track-mark/haze on my windshield. Nothing that can be felt if you run you
finger over the marks, but they can deffinately be seen. No amount of cleaner
in the world will remove these marks. I logged on to Eastwood's sight recently
and found that they had dropped the price on thier glass polishing kit
substantially. I think it was $85 and now it's around $32, so I bought it. I
thought I would work for about a half and hour on the driver's side and a half
an hour on the passenger side. Well, 4 hours later I'm still working on the
driver's side! And when I say work I mean work!
But I have no problem taking my time, as this is something I wouldn't want to
screw up by going too quickly. The results are very good so far and when
compared side-by-side (to the untouched passenger side glass) the differance is
quite apparent.
Consdiering the amount of polishing powder that they send you, I would guess
that you could do 5 windshields before you would be in danger of running out.
If you plan on doing this job I would suggest that you use either a long handle
buffer or right-angle drill. I tried to use my standard Craftsman drill and
found that it lacked the mechanical advantage to keep the thing steady during
use. Once the felt pad made contact with the windshield, it would want to cause
the entire drill to wobble in your hands uncontrollably. I rented a big old
right-angle drill from a local Contractor's Warehouse for $10 a day. This tool
gives me the ability to focus on an area in a more controlled manner making the
job a lot more bearable.
Well that's my report. Hope it helps somebody.
Joseph M. Mattiko
I understand that the windshield is very prone to cracking when there is
much of a temperature differential, (read "hot spot"). I had my rear
glass done with the NOVUS System and he used a polisher that cooled the glass
with water laced with polishing compound. Be careful!
Don Burrows
Using a polishing and wheel and rouge or a kit like Eastwood's is great for
small areas, but trying to remove streaks from large areas takes an enormous
amount of time, patience and elbow grease... as noted in the message above, it
can easily take eight hours of time to remove streaks from each side of the
windshield.
It's been my experience in all of the cars I've owned for more than 50,000
miles that the windshield suffers badly from all those miles of driving at high
speeds in to sand and dirt; driving in to the setting sun can be particularly
aggravating.
I'll admit that I am particularly lazy when it comes to tedious tasks so for my
time and money a new windshield is solution to heavy streaks or pitting in the
windshield. For MY up to '84 the glass cost is $400 - $500 and for MY '85 - '88
(with windshield antenna) it's about $100 more.
Michael Gerard