Hi,
What product or home DIY solution will remove water spots from car window? Alchol, Vinegar do not remove those round spots. Windex, BonAmi "Glass and Window Cleaner" do not. These are the spot where the lawn sprinkler water hits the window glass.
Thank you, Dave_s
Zud, it is like comet and sold in the same area , good for restoring old glass that is semi etched.
The vinegar will w/ effort...it's "hard" water spotting which is mostly Ca salts left behind when the water evaporates...you need a weak acid to re-dissolve the salts and then dry.
Zud is different than Comet ,it even says it is for glass, I believe it has a mild acid in it.
I've never seen Zud, but Comet scratched my windshield.
Perce
On 04/20/05 09:26 am m Ransley tossed the following ingredients into the ever-growing pot of cybersoup:
-> Hi,
->
-> What product or home DIY solution will remove water spots from car
-> window?
-> Alchol, Vinegar do not remove those round spots.
-> Windex, BonAmi "Glass and Window Cleaner" do not. These are the spot
-> where the
-> lawn sprinkler water hits the window glass.
->
-> Thank you, Dave_s
You're talking about calcium and lime from the city water. I'd try CLR or Lime Away, but I'd be very careful not to get it on the car's finish.
Dave,
Here is a "reprint" of a reply I posted recently on an auto newsgroup:
There is only one thing needed for removing water spots caused by hard water - vinegar. It works equally well and safely on auto paint and is the only smart way to remove water spots before waxing a vehicle. FYI - the moderately acidic content of rain water will also remove water spots over time, but it is a painfully long process.
The spots that you get from home water on your car are caused by the calcium and magnesium deposits from the water. These should be easily removed by any weak acid. Stronger acids work faster, but shouldn't be necessary and are obviously dangerous. White vinegar is preferred, but any vinegar will work. Do not dilute the vinegar.
Extremely fine steel wool can speed up the process but shouldn't be necessary. A plastic scrubber such as the type used on Teflon pans or the type used to speed up bug & tar removal on auto finishes is a better option on auto glass.
Soft Scrub is moderately safe and works on problems other than water spots. But I wouldn't use such an abrasive if vinegar alone solves the problem. I've used Soft Scrub on home windows and been happy with the results, but extremely fine scratching on a car windshield can be much more noticable. I would contact the manufacturer or test the Soft Scrub before using it on a windshield.
(To test the Soft Scrub, try it on a scrap piece of very clean glass. Use a power polisher with a very clean buffing bonnet. Continually re-hydrate the Soft Scrub while doing a lot of polishing in one spot on the glass. Wash and rinse well and observe the glass for fine scratches under a variety of angles and a variety of lighting. If no scratches are observed then the Soft Scrub should be safe, assuming that the auto glass is equally hard. Don't use the power buffer on the auto glass!)
Once again, if vinegar doesn't remove the spots fairly easily, then the spots are not hard water spots. And remember to wash and rinse glass well before rubbing hard to remove anything from the glass. Glass is commonly scratched by the abrasive action of the dirt which is being rubbed off. Towel dry the glass before applying the vinegar so that you are not diluting the vinegar with the rinse water left on the glass.
If you can't remove the spots with pure, undiluted white vinegar, then you can test a very small area on the windshied with "Lime Away". This stronger concentration of acid should definitely remove water spots quickly, although I can't vouch its safety around auto finishes, etc. I would use a plastic scrubber or superfine "OOOO" grade steel wool before resorting to a stronger acid.
Even with vinegar, rinse well and moderately long when done. The acid from the glass will run down between body panels when you rinse and you want to flush out all of it.
Good luck, Gideon
On Wed 20 Apr 2005 05:46:45a, Dave_s wrote in alt.home.repair:
Rain-X?
What is the source of your sprinkler water? If it's the same as your drinking water, then some of the methods suggested here may be the answer. But if you're tied into a "non-potable" line, those spots are likely etched into the glass.
In many areas today runoff and sewage treatment plant effluent are reclaimed for irrigation use. I can tell you from firsthand experience that it will etch glass and considerable polishing is needed to remove the spots. Keeping the sprinklers from hitting the windows was the final solution.
Don't laugh until you try this.............. Cut a potato in half, and use the flat side to rub your window. The "mild" acid or alkali in the potato will do wonders and for almost nothing money wise. Like I said,.............Don;t laugh until you try it.
I have no idea where I got this from. But I have done it and it worked for me. I suppose it's one of those Marth Stewart Things.
Remove "YOURPANTIES" to reply
MUADIB®
The potato should work reasonably well, although I'd prefer to not get the potato starch all over the windows. The potato contains a few mild acids, including phosphoric acid. Phosphoric acid is a commonly used mild acid for lime removal and was once the main ingredient in "Lime Away".
Isn't there an old grade school experiment in which a "battery" (actually a "cell") is constructed using a potato?
I would imagine that a lemon, orange or grapefruit cut in half would also work. The acid content should be higher and the acid juice should be more "mobile."
Gideon
================================
I have no idea where I got this from. But I have done it and it worked for me. I suppose it's one of those Marth Stewart Things.
Remove "YOURPANTIES" to reply
MUADIB®
Sounds like that might be good for a windshield that was lightly scratched by a neglected wiper blade.
Try Coca Cola! Just don't get it on the paint. Works great.
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