Another Newbie Question

[meandmyprs]

I am a long time reader (lurker) on the board but really have had nothing to contribute to this point. Now that I have my new rig I have a question. There are some spots on the tinted side windows from hard water that dried on them. I have tried to work them off using various chemicals but was curious if anyone has figured out the secret of getting rid of them. I am thinking you need some kind of rubbing compound and a buffer to get after them but I thought I would ask the Pro's. I Look forward to being able to not only continue reading but contribute if I can in the future. This is a great site and it has been a tremendous resource for me as I educate myself on this complex machine.

[Five-O]

Rain X is a good choice. The use of vinegar is another. Also some companies sell products for just this. Tell us about your new bus.http://www.autogeek.net/waterspots.html Here is one company that has a product that might interest you.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

It might be acid rain has etched the windows. Somewhere someone on this forum had a thread on polishing it out.

I have the condition on my windows.

[JIM CHALOUPKA]

I am a long time reader (lurker) on the board but really have had nothing to contribute to this point. Now that I have my new rig I have a question. There are some spots on the tinted side windows from hard water that dried on them. I have tried to work them off using various chemicals but was curious if anyone has figured out the secret of getting rid of them. I am thinking you need some kind of rubbing compound and a buffer to get after them but I thought I would ask the Pro's. I Look forward to being able to not only continue reading but contribute if I can in the future. This is a great site and it has been a tremendous resource for me as I educate myself on this complex machine.

Cerium oxide, a little water on a pad, and a lot elbow grease are what you need.

There are several posts on the subject, but if I remember correctly, no one was perfectly happy with the results.

If you are going to try this I would experiment on a scrap piece of comparable glass. (maybe obtained at an auto recycling yard, or body shop)
Never having tried it, I do think the poor results were due to insufficent pressure and perhaps speed.
The process is bound to be messy, so prepare yourself for that.
Work in a cool shaded area!
When the compound runs down the bus don't let it dry onto the paint. Flush it off with copious amounts of water or you may dull your paint with rubbing.
Cerium oxide is used in the glass and mirror industry for polishing glass, and the optical and jewelry industries for polishing lens and jewels.

The first link tells what cerium is.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerium(IV)_oxide

The second link tells about polishing and follow along in that site for purchasing the product.

http://www.facetingmachines.com/polishing_glass.shtml

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

[truk4u]

Meandmyprs,

Great that you now have a bus and glad your out from behind the weeds. Tell us what you have and how you like it.

Most of us have the same problem your asking about and I haven't found anything that worked.

Keep posting, maybe we'll find a cure..;)

[garyde]

Welcome Me & Myprevo. I posted some time ago the same querry. Never found anything great to use and just moved on. I do clean my glass with the 'wipeout product' and they look good but I have not found a way to remove the spots. If Vinegar & warm water won't do it, consult a autoglass company. Let us know what you turn up.

[jack14r]

welcome me and my prevost,I am a mirror manufacturer and i had this same issue with my first coach.I have tried several products and none of them performed very well.I have found that Duragloss nuglass mixed with a high grade cerium with a slow rpm buffer with a wool pad works very well.it took about 5 hours per window to get rid of the spots on that coach.I will be able to send you some cerium if you pm me.this is a job that takes a lot of muscle with the buffer but the results are worth it.

[VegasDogMan]

Ted Patterson from WipeOut came over to my coach one day and demonstrated the process for removing the spots on my windows.

He did an 8" x 8" area on one window using a polishing compound along with some white 3M type abrasive pads on a buffer. He made the process look easy so I bought the polish, pads, polishing ball and some other stuff from him.

When I got around to doing the windows for myself I found I had poor results, made a mess, had no patience because I saw no significant improvement.

I now have more "stuff" than I need and also still have spots on my windows.

[dalej]

Lee....PRICELESS!

[Jim_Scoggins]

Hell, I guess we just tell everyone it's a special Prevost window.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

I'm glad to see there are other anal folks. When you guys all get done polishing your window glass to get those funny little spots out, I have some slack adjusters that need polishing.

[truk4u]

Hey Lee, I tried Ted's magic potion with the same results, but I didn't buy as much as Sticky, Mango and Jdub.:p

[meandmyprs]

***Water Spot Removal Update***

Not sure why I am obsessed with getting these spots off but it may be because they are the only exterior "blemish"...who knows. My wearhouse bus storage neighbor who is a Liberty owner says he can not see them to begin with. Luckily they are only on a couple of the windows becuase this turned out to be a lot of work. So after reading the input here and surfing the web for hours on this subject I decided to try today what I could get my hands on at the local stores. There are some reccomendation in this thread that I am going to try as well to finish up.

Now for the list of what I purchased (or tried to purchase) and tried....

Eagle One Window Polish
Rain X Glass Polish
Corn Starch and Water
Mothers Wax Clay Bar
Vinegar and Water
Bar Keepers Friend (powder)
Turtle Wax Bug and Tar Remover
Bring - It - On (could not find this one)
Griots Garage Stuff (could not find this one)
Oxyclean (did not use)
CLR (calcium lime remover...got this at Wal Mart)
Lime Away

So I tried all but 3 on this list. The only thing that I was able to remove them with was the CLR. I mixed 50% water and 50% CLR using a #00 synthetic steel wool and slowly worked MOST of them out but it took a lot of scrubbing. Before going large scale I tried all of these on small areas that would not be too obvious if it created a problem. There are some left over spots that are barely noticable for the most part that I need to use a buffer of some sort on with some of the compounds mentioned earlier in this thread.

Just thought I would share.

[MangoMike]

This is great!

POG has all these NOOB's, and like Me-and-my-bus, they are out there trying and learning. And taking the time to pass on this knowledge to the group. Collectively we are gaining mass at an incredible rate and soon there won't be a single Prevo issue we can't answer.

Good work troops.

Mike

[0533]

As long as we are talking about polishing things on buses, who knows what cleaning products and equipment are needed to bring back the ACRYLIC PROTECTIVE SHIELD ON THE FOR FRONT OF THE COACH ????

[Joe Cannarozzi]

Try a product for bringing back yellowed headlight bezels I've seen that on part store shelves.

[0533]

Try a product for bringing back yellowed headlight bezels I've seen that on part store shelves.
Great Lead Joe. Here is what I have found: Your key word yellowed headlight bezels made it easy.

Brazilian #1 yellow carnauba for superior. shine and protection. .

Link: http://www.gtglass.com/product_detail/6.html

Link: http://www.autogeek.net/headlight-lens.html?gclid=CK-ykezQ7pECFQSqlgod3B61yQ

Link: http://www.mdwholesale.com/

Again thanks for the help.

Bruce

[meandmyprs]

I was at Pep Boys picking up my "stuff" for the windows and I saw two kinds of polish for restoring headlight lenses and taking the yellow out. I do not remember the names of them.

On another note I used 3M high performance wash and clean wax on the front rock protector and it shined it right up. I picked that up at Autozone I believe. It was about $16 if I remember correctly. I applied it using one of the red Mother's foam power ball things you can attach to your drill. Also available at WalMart or Autozone. Cheaper at Walmart.

[dale farley]

Bruce,

Jim Keller had a shield that was sitting in the garage for a few years and looked bad. He polished the shield and it looks like new. I can't remember what he told me he used, but he will probably be back on the forum on Monday morning, or you can send him a private message.

[0533]

Bruce,

Jim Keller had a shield that was sitting in the garage for a few years and looked bad. He polished the shield and it looks like new. I can't remember what he told me he used, but he will probably be back on the forum on Monday morning, or you can send him a private message.
Thanks Dale, I would love to know. My shield looks brand new, but it is faded, has no cracks, nothing. It would really make a big visual improvement to get it cleaned up.

Bruce

[0533]

I was at Pep Boys picking up my "stuff" for the windows and I saw two kinds of polish for restoring headlight lenses and taking the yellow out. I do not remember the names of them.

On another note I used 3M high performance wash and clean wax on the front rock protector and it shined it right up. I picked that up at Autozone I believe. It was about $16 if I remember correctly. I applied it using one of the red Mother's foam power ball things you can attach to your drill. Also available at WalMart or Autozone. Cheaper at Walmart.
Thanks. I'll give this a look.

Bruce

[dale farley]

Jim K., Did you see the question on this thread that Bruce had about cleaning the shield on the front of his bus? I know you had great success in restoring yours to its original appearance.

[tdelorme]

Try this product for polishing any type of plastic or acrylic. If there are no scratches, the #2 and #3 will do wonders. Buy it on eBay and save a few bucks.

http://detailing4less.com/novus-plastic-polishes.html?gclid=CMbmtvPG8ZECFRkGagodMGBmwA

[JIM KELLER]

Bruce, The Novus product Ted has recommended is what I used to buff out the Plastic shield on the front of our Country Coach. This product with a low rpm buffer brought it back to life !