So, before embarking on the exciting world of window cleaning, I was doing a bit of headlight restoration. I’d take various grits of sandpaper to oxidized and pitted headlights, and finish with a 3m paste that left the plastic gleaming. Since the product is designed for plastics, I was wondering if the use of an orbital sander with a sponge attachment and the 3M paste would remove hard water stains, particularly where sprinklers hit the glass on lowers with the hard water we have here in CO.
Anyone try headlight restoration products with any success? I don’t plan on using any sandpaper btw
Hey Keith [MENTION=36863]walkthruglass[/MENTION]… I’ve done headlight restoration for 20+ years in my prior business.
The 3m paste your talking about will have little affect on hardwater staining on glass, it is designed for headlights covers, and they are made of
polycarbonate a totally different animal then glass.
Hey Steve. Thanks for the feedback. I just felt it would work like a toothpaste (has anyone tried toothpaste??), and remove mineral deposits in the porous glass. Have you tried it? I wonder if 3M paste or some Colgate for that matter would do any good with an orbital or even applied to 0000 steel wool? I really want to get that hard water off. I just don’t want to test these abrasives on glass and scratch or cloud them.
Hey Keith tooth paste and the 3m paste doesn’t work on glass.
The 3m paste your talking about will have little affect on hardwater staining on glass, it is designed for headlights covers, and they are made of polycarbonate a totally different animal then glass.
Check out the wcr store that have many chemicals and systems that work great on Hard water stain removal on glass.
I was doing hardwater stain removal at a smoke shop retail store, the stains were there from the sprinklers and from years of neglect. It was the toughest stains I encountered and took me some time on one pane to get it all clear. I used the orbital with steel wool and cerium oxide.
after about two hours on the first pane (6x4) moving to the second pane, a fat lady and her daughter walk out of the smoke shop saying “hi the clerk in there said you been working all day at those stains…I know a secret polish that takes those stains right off…I own an automobile head-light restoration business and I take those things out all the time in a matter of minutes, the secret is the polish, Im the only one in town that uses it…”
I about barfed in my mouth while trying to stop from laughing.
But has anyone tried it? If it helps in removing nasty oxidation from plastics, it’s obviously an abrasive. I was thinking that it may jump into the pores of the glass with it’s fine texture and pull the stains out. I don’t see it as a ridiculous idea… I suppose if it scratches the glass, it may be less than viable as an alternative. I just happen to have a bunch of it, but don’t know where to try it out. Maybe one of the basement windows I toss in for free.
