Carwash Safe Glass

[The Car Wash Guru]

I have a question. I manage a Self-Serve Carwash that has Glass between the bays. When we first opened you used to be able to see from one bay all the way into the dog wash. It was what we were known for. Made everything seem open. We loved it. Every day it was the attendant's job to rinse off the windows thoroughly. This kept them clean and in great condition. over the years attendants came and went and the windows were not cleaned as they should have been and gunk and lime built up. We had a attendant who out of good intentions took it upon his self to try and clean them up using a corrosive chemical. This caused etching and now you can no longer see thru them and as a result the previous owner gave up on cleaning them daily. Now etched and lime built up they look horrible. Dose anyone know of a type of glass that is car wash safe from chemical and lime build up and breakage resistant. I would like to convince the new owner to replace the glass with better windows. He's thinking of either leaving them the way they are or covering them up which I hate and think would look tacky. Any suggestions?

 

[Buckeye Hydro]

I think all you need is tempered glass. Scale will build up on anything if your water is hard. Do you not have a functioning softener?

 

[washnshine]

I’ve seen IBA’s use a spray manifold with spot free rinse water at the top of the window glass that is set to activate after a wash is completed. It rinses any residual chemicals off and since it is spot free, it prevents any build up when it dries. You could probably time it in a self serve bay to activate every hour or whatever you want.

 

[Greg Pack]

I don't think there's good solution. Hydroflouric acid will indeed clean the scale but HF acid in higher concentrations is the chemical that is actually used by glass etching plants. Lexan and plexiglass scratch way too easy and will look like crap in short order. You could try some weak solutions of HF but if it's etched it's not coming back and tempered glass is very expensive these days, probably $10/sq ft. . There are some non corrosive products you could try to clean it such as Quest's SAW or Arcadian's C3.

I'd be tempted to try to glue extrutech panels on the glass as a relatively economical solution

 

[The Car Wash Guru]

I think all you need is tempered glass. Scale will build up on anything if your water is hard. Do you not have a functioning softener?

We do have a water softener for our spot free but that is it. We use regular city water for all the other functions. The issue is the hard water plus chemicals getting on the windows.

 

[The Car Wash Guru]

I’ve seen IBA’s use a spray manifold with spot free rinse water at the top of the window glass that is set to activate after a wash is completed. It rinses any residual chemicals off and since it is spot free, it prevents any build up when it dries. You could probably time it in a self serve bay to activate every hour or whatever you want.

Yeah That is a option I have heard of but I do not know if the owner will go for it. It will one be costly to replace the windows as it is then 2 add the cost of that on top, he may not go for it. I will run it by him though.

 

[MEP001]

For safety reasons, you might need some form of safety glass, either multi-layer with vinyl sandwiched between or reinforced with wire. That will be expensive. It would be best to replace it with the same type that's there, then do proper maintenance. Rinsing it daily with spot free water, and possibly coating it with something like RainX to have a layer to help water run off and to make it easier to clean without chemicals.

If there's a softener, check to see if it's working.

 

[washnshine]

Yeah That is a option I have heard of but I do not know if the owner will go for it. It will one be costly to replace the windows as it is then 2 add the cost of that on top, he may not go for it. I will run it by him though.

Yes - the big problem with the cost is your current windows may not able to be salvaged.

 

[MEP001]

It wouldn't hurt to try some jeweler's rouge to see if the etching can be polished out. That would be slow work, but very low cost.

 

[The Car Wash Guru]

For safety reasons, you might need some form of safety glass, either multi-layer with vinyl sandwiched between or reinforced with wire. That will be expensive. It would be best to replace it with the same type that's there, then do proper maintenance. Rinsing it daily with spot free water, and possibly coating it with something like RainX to have a layer to help water run off and to make it easier to clean without chemicals.

If there's a softener, check to see if it's working.

The softener has nothing to do with it. The water softener is only for our spot free function. our normal rinse is city water untreated

 

[OurTown]

our normal rinse is city water untreated

I'm sure this is the main issue. What is the hardness?

 

[MEP001]

The softener has nothing to do with it. The water softener is only for our spot free function. our normal rinse is city water untreated

Okay, so hard water build up is the issue.

 

[I.B. Washincars]

I had an idea once, that I thought would be a good solution. I was going to replace the glass with new, and then cover them with the windshield tear-off material used in NASCAR, then just replace it as needed. I bought some of the material, left it in my garage for years, and eventually gave it away after selling my washes.

 

[8th Street Car Wash]

Weird thought here. What if you cleaned the glass the best you can, then sprayed the glass with frosted glass coating. Then installed LED's around the edges of the glass so that it glowed and changed colors. That would be a pretty rad setup with each panel glowing and color changing. Might be cost prohibitive though depending on how much you can do yourself.
Also a large buffer, microfiber pads, and some 3M rubbing compound will probably be the fastest way to remove the current build up and polish out everything that will come off.

 

[MEP001]

I wouldn't use rubbing compound on glass. Jeweler's rouge will polish it without scratches.

 

[8th Street Car Wash]

Ok let me be more specific as @MEP001 brings up a good point about the variety of rubbing compounds cutting power and ability to scratch. Use a single stage lighter-cutting rubbing compound such as "3M Perfect-IT 36060". I use this on glass (both in my bay and my fleet of rental cars), polycarbonate, vehicle paint, even the lenses to my Lorex bullet cameras. It will polish out everything without leaving any scratches or swirls. You also have to change the pads on your buffer as soon as they start to become discolored, so with a project like yours make sure you have plenty of spare pads. Jewelers rouge will definitely work also, but will take a bit longer, as the lubricating properties of the rubbing compound will give you more surface working time.