"Very old" Glass and chrome cleaning trick

[Floppy]

I used to be in the show car scene for many years with both a 1980 Trans Am Pace Car and a 1970 GTO. Being very young for owning cars that were kept in very nice shape, I was abit of an oddity around the older gentlemen in their gleaming Nomads, T-Birds, and ledsleds.
I had tried about a dozen new age products for cleaning and polishing glass and chrome with minimal success. Finally one saturday morning the gentleman who was parked beside handed me a piece of 0000 steel wool. Make sure it is 0000 (4 aught) steel wood and not general purpose. I've never bought another "Amazing Rag" since. It will get the big clumps of hard dried mud off glass and polish it at the same time, no scratching at all. It will also get through the hazy road oil film layer that is sometimes seemingly impossible to remove, making the glass look like new.He gave me the lowdown on what to use in on and what not to use it on.

Far as a Raptor goes its usefull for the glass only, but thought I'd post here for those with bikes, other vehicles too.
Good on real glass and chrome steel, not clear plastic, chrome coated plastic, or aluminum/painted rims.
Chrome and wheels:
Spray on a medium (wheel cleaner for chrome) and scrub lightly, wipe off with a microfiber towel.
Glass and mirrors:
Spray on medium (no streak glass cleaner), rub with the 0000, wipe off. DO NOT USE on inside of windshield, usually this is a laminate layer to keep glass out and to keep the windshield from exploding in an airbag deployment.

 

[SuperRaptor]

I do professional car detailing as a hobby and no steel wool touches my windows. Ive seen too many windows with hair scratches in them for me to even possibly recommend this. Use a high quality microfiber rag and a good class cleaner and you should be fine. For polishing exhaust pipes it works pretty good though.

 

[Falcon]

My Dad used to work at Stone Motor company detailing cars when he was a kid. He always swore by newsprint... the more ink the better. Used with any glass cleaner... it will polish the glass to an incredible level. Something to do with the ink filling up the pores in the glass. Whatever... it works!

Falcon

 

[Madcowranch]

Don't buy glass cleaner..use vinegar/water solution and wipe/polish with newspaper like Falcon says. Do it for all your glass and you'll never use anything else.

 

[MagicMtnDan]

Don't clean the insides if they're done in aftermarket tint with anything but water. :mrgreen:

It's funny to read the progression of these posts (above). I was going to post, "Don't both cleaning your windows or chrome; let the professional detailer do it" :mrgreen: (Hey, SuperRaptor, you coming down to SoCal anytime soon?!)

 

[Floppy]

0000 steel wool will leave no scratches of any kind on glass or chrome. normal steelwool yes, 0000 no.

 

[FSM06]

My Dad used to work at Stone Motor company detailing cars when he was a kid. He always swore by newsprint... the more ink the better. Used with any glass cleaner... it will polish the glass to an incredible level. Something to do with the ink filling up the pores in the glass. Whatever... it works!

Falcon

I've heard this and also remember grandma always cleaning her windows with newspaper and windex. Worked well

FSM

 

[BigJ]

Don't buy glass cleaner..use vinegar/water solution and wipe/polish with newspaper like Falcon says. Do it for all your glass and you'll never use anything else.

Good advise EXCEPT for tint. Do not use any vinegar based agent on tinted windows. If you do, you'll be replacing the tint soon after.

 

[Madcowranch]

Good advise EXCEPT for tint. Do not use any vinegar based agent on tinted windows. If you do, you'll be replacing the tint soon after.

Oh yeah...forgot that minor detail.:blam:

 

[Floppy]

I use vinegar/water on the mirrors at home, dont like the smell on cars though lol.