Has anybody used glass polishing to recondition their windshield? If so, any comments, pros/cons, recommendations? I saw a glass polishing kit ($32.99) in an Eastwood catalog and was wondering if it's worth it.
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Never used Eastwood's, but I have a similar kit from JC Whitney. The kits contain a bag of cerium ozide grinding media to be mixed with water to make a slurry, and some type of buffing wheel for a drill or other power tool to work the area. As I remember, it worked like they said. You run a fingernail across the damaged area. Any scratches that would not catch your fingernail, will buff out. If your nail catches, some evidence will remain after your best efforts. VERY labor-intensive and unless you make dams or something to catch & reuse the once-used slurry, quite expensive. But it did remove some windshield wiper marks from a valuable windshield for me. Just don't expect miracles....Good luck.
Jack is correct...don't expect miracles. I went to a window polishing place in CA to get a scratch out of my side window (it did catch my nail, as far as depth). It appeared that he had this same kit, and spent about 3-4 hours on the one scratch, with lots of residue falling (be sure you tape good at the bottom!!!). Be aware, this creates tremendous heat, as you have to press hard and heat the glass to get it to work. The bottom line, some of the scratch came out. If you have small wiper scratches I may try it, but something deeper, next time I will get a new window.
Polishing typically works fairly well on windshields if you have the scratches described but does not do well at all on tempered glass like side windows. If you are not careful the heat buildup will shatter tempered glass.