Steel wool for hard water spots on glass?

SouthArk370Z · 04-07-2016, 05:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by quarryninja

We have very hard water where I live and it also comes hot out of tap so that worsens things. ... After looking around in the interwebs, first I tried some white vinegar but it didn't work at all; absolutely no change whatsoever.

If the vinegar (acetic acid) didn't get rid of the spots then it's either not hard water spots or you didn't apply the vinegar for long enough and/or at high enough concentration. Vinegar can be any where from 5-20%, use the strongest you can find. And the type of vinegar doesn't matter, it's the acetic acid concentration that counts - white is just easier to find.

Quote:

Originally Posted by quarryninja

Next I bought some 0000 steel wool after reading wonders about it and seeing some youtube videos. ... it left a bunch of tiny scratches all over the window.

So that ain't going near my Z.

NEVER use steel wool, or any other harsh abrasive, on glass. There are many mildly abrasive products available that are specifically designed for cleaning glass.

Quote:

Originally Posted by quarryninja

As a last resource I took out my polisher and some meg's compound and polished the glass. After several passes I was able to get the windows perfectly clear but after washing I noticed that the water "sticks" really bad (even worse than before) where I polished, it doesn't drip down like it does on paint.

The reason the water is sticking is because of all the scratches you made when you used the steel wool. If you didn't use the proper materials and procedures to do the polishing, you may have made things worse.

Quote:

Originally Posted by quarryninja

Am I doing something wrong?
Any recommendations?
Has anyone had good results with the steel wool?

Yes.

Get some good glass polish and make sure you use the proper equipment and procedures. If the scratches are deep enough, you'll never get them completely out

but you should be able to make them barely noticeable

.

Not that I know of.

quarryninja · 04-24-2016, 09:42 AM

Thanks for all your replies.

Here's an update:

First of all, to all of you saying I should not use steel wool; like I said in my first post "I tried using steel wool on my other car and scratched the glass, so I'm not using steel wool on the Z"

I tried using the only clay I could get my hands on (which I assume it's "normal" not aggressive) and that didn't do anything

I've been looking for the products you've mentioned but having trouble finding anything locally. I'm going to the US in a couple of weeks so I'm going to get some of that Autoglym's stuff and try it out. I got some 3m rubbing compound and rain x to try out today, see if that helps with beading the water.

I'm also thinking about buying a DI filter to rinse the car with, but in the meantime I'm dealing with the problem by using a squeegee to dry the windows as fast as possible. It doesn't matter how fast I try to dry the car with a cloth I always seem to get water spots in the last window I dry. Its daemon water I'm dealing with here

Just FYI, this is what I'm dealing with on all my windows:

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04-24-2016, 09:42 AM	#2 (permalink)
quarryninja Base Member Join Date: Feb 2016 Location: Aguascalientes, MX Age: 35 Posts: 34 Drives: 2016 PW 370z M6 Rep Power: 10	Thanks for all your replies. Here's an update: First of all, to all of you saying I should not use steel wool; like I said in my first post "I tried using steel wool on my other car and scratched the glass, so I'm not using steel wool on the Z" I tried using the only clay I could get my hands on (which I assume it's "normal" not aggressive) and that didn't do anything I've been looking for the products you've mentioned but having trouble finding anything locally. I'm going to the US in a couple of weeks so I'm going to get some of that Autoglym's stuff and try it out. I got some 3m rubbing compound and rain x to try out today, see if that helps with beading the water. I'm also thinking about buying a DI filter to rinse the car with, but in the meantime I'm dealing with the problem by using a squeegee to dry the windows as fast as possible. It doesn't matter how fast I try to dry the car with a cloth I always seem to get water spots in the last window I dry. Its daemon water I'm dealing with here Just FYI, this is what I'm dealing with on all my windows: