&$^#@^# water spots

[eds72]

I have some pretty heavy water spotting on the side and rear windows of my 2003 AC. From searching and reading, it seemed to me that 0000 steel wool was the "big gun" to use when all else failed. So rather than messing around, I just tried this as my first option. To evaluate the effectiveness, I dipped the steel wool in a soap & water mixture, then scrubbed a section of a window pretty well. After rinsing and drying, I could not even tell I'd done anything.

Next, i tried soaking a 2" square piece of paper towel in vinegar, then stuck it right to the window. after letting it set for several minutes, I removed the square, scrubbed on that section a bit with the vinegar soaked towel, then rinsed and dried. Again, you couldn't even tell I'd done anything.

Is there something I'm doing wrong? Should I wet the steel wool or should I use it dry? I'm hopeful someone can point out a flaw in my methods, because nothing I've tried thus far has worked - and these spots are annoying the heck out of me.

[kathyricks]

Yes, getting rid of hard water spots is tough. What has worked for me is:

1) Buy a scouring pad from Walmart and use it to rub some Lime Away bathroom tub cleaner onto the glass. Let is sit overnight to help loosen and dissolve the hard water spots. Wear rubber gloves when you do this because the acid in Lime Away is hard on your skin.

2) The following morning use the scouring pad again to rub Turtle Wax Polishing Compound onto the glass. Rub hard and repeatedly. This should be sufficient to do a good job of removing most or all of the hard water spots without scratching the glass.

For ultra stubborn water spots, repeat the steps above.

Disclaimer: Some scouring pads and polishing compounds might scratch glass so test one window first or part of one window before cleaning all of your glass.

[Brandon1]

You may have water etching that is almost impossible to remove.

Try compounding the areas with a hard compound. Turtle Wax compound is ok, but DONT use it on your paint. It's liquid sand in a bottle.

You may have to send it to a deatailer in your area to remove them IMO.

[2kTundra]

I agree with kathyricks. I once used "Softscrub with Bleach" on my shower doors while I was cleaning the shower and it did great, so I tried it on a car window and it was really effective. However, I recall having to use a lot of elbow grease. Good luck!

[racerm]

Try white vinegar. I tried on my old Dodge and worked like a champ

[08TacomaKRV]

I actually bought this product to try at home. I haven't used it yet but imagine it will work much better than having just straight spigot water on the truck.

Spot-Not Spot Free Rinsing System from Universal Water.

[TundraSoul]

I use a similar water softener from autogeek.net.

[eds72]

I tried all the suggestions on here except the lime-away and soft scrub. I didn't have any lime away, and had tried Bon-Ami (forgot to mention this in the original post) which did basically nothing. My process with all these things was to apply smack dab in the center of the window using a moderate to heavy amount of elbow grease, then check the results. In every case, the spots remained pretty much unchanged.

I resorted to googling and found a post (don't even recall where) in which someone in my position said that Duragloss Nu-Glass had solved their problem. I didn't think too much of it at the time, but when I was at CarQuest picking up some AquaWax I saw the bottle of Nu-Glass and figured I'd take a $6 gamble.

Today, I put some Nu-Glass on a regular paper towel and buffed a small area of the window as I had with other products. After buffing clean with a MF towel I was stunned to see that area completely spot free! I quickly grabbed an old buffer (one I wouldn't consider using on the painted surface) and applied some Nu-Glass to the pad. After rubbing it around manually to avoid slinging, I fired up the buffer and spent about 2 minutes buffing the driver's window. Next I buffed clean with MF towel and was blown away with the results. The window was spot free except for a couple small areas I'd missed plus the corners the buffer wouldn't reach. I easily finished those off by hand, then applied some AquaWax to help prevent them from forming in the future.

Honestly, I had figured the spots were etched into the glass and had almost given up trying to remove them. I'm so glad I gave this stuff a try - and encourage anyone with stubborn water spots to do the same.

[Jobe]

Sounds like a set up for a commercial.