LARRY KOSILLA: Today, I'm at FMI, which is the Northeastern
vehicle press fleet management company for GM, BMW, and Mini.
When the press need to review their cars for their
publications, this is where they come to check them out.
Coming up on today's episode, we are going to be talking
about one of my biggest OCD pet peeves, a filthy,
contaminated windshield.
It's all coming up today on this episode of "Drive Clean."
[MUSIC PLAYING]
LARRY KOSILLA: Today, we're working on the 2013 CTS-V
Sport Wagon press vehicle in the limited
edition Stealth Blue.
And this thing is a beast.
And I know it's a beast because it's got bugs all over
the windshield, which I can barely see through.
And as most detailers will tell you, it's a huge pain in
the butt to properly clean glass.
And that's what we're going to talk about today, all the
steps on removing the contaminants and getting that
perfect shine, so when you're driving, there's nothing that
you're looking through.
Today, we're going to do just that.
There are a couple benefits to having a clean windshield.
Well, obviously, in perfect weather, you're going to have
a great looking windshield, and you can see right through
it, no problems.
But the big one is during bad weather.
You want to prepare for that.
And the one thing is when those little things that are
embedded and jammed in your glass, they're going to catch
the water, and it's going to stay on your windshield a
little bit longer.
So when you have a nice clean surface, it's going to fly
right off, making it safer when you're driving.
And another benefit is it actually saves wear and tear
on your windshield wipers, because if you have those
things sticking up, biting at the windshield wiper, you're
going to go through them much faster, and you're going to
have reduced visibility.
Before we can get started with cleaning the glass, it's
important to understand the towels that you're using.
And we have four of them here.
Well, this is a waffle towel.
And it's really great at scraping off the bugs.
I call this my all-in-one.
And it's a waffle towel because it
looks like a waffle.
Then we have our three other ones.
We have a high pile microfiber towel, we have a low pile
microfiber towel, and we have a medium pile microfiber
towel, each of which has different uses when
cleaning the glass.
All right.
The next thing you want to do is pull up the windshield
wipers to get them off the glass.
Then you're going to take your glass cleaner.
This happens to be Invisible Glass by Stoner.
And what you're going to do is give a few squirts.
And right now, you're using that as lubrication.
So what I like to do is just spread it in
just a little bit.
So you're not actually cleaning anything right now.
You're just getting some lubrication, because your next
step is going to be your long reach razor blade.
And what's important about this is your angle.
So we're going to make sure that it's not too
high and not too low.
What this is going to do is it's actually going to shave
the glass down.
And anything that's sticking up, kind of like your whiskers
here, it's going to shave everything off.
And it's going to get the closest clean that you
possibly can do.
See, there's a bug right there.
And if you'll notice, going in short little strokes, you can
see not too far down and not too far up.
Right in the middle there.
If you notice, all this little water that's dripping down
here is full of contamination and bugs.
So you're just going to keep moving along, kind of like
you're plowing the glass, if you will.
Sorry, guys.
This is taking-- it's a big piece of glass.
Now that you've razor bladed the glass, take your short
pile microfiber towel and just clean it up real quick just to
get all the gunk off.
Look at that.
So that's a clean piece of glass.
Put this to the side.
You're going to add your glass cleaner, once again, as
lubrication.
Get that in there.
I like to spread it around just a little bit.
And you're going to take your clay, lubricate the clay, and
now you're going to put a little bit of pressure.
Normally on paint, you don't use pressure.
It's all about friction.
But because glass is very hard, you still want to use
some friction, but you can also put just a little bit
more pressure than you would with paint.
Now, what this is doing is kind of like when you have a
pimple on your face, you're going to pull
it out of the skin.
We shaved it with the razor blade, and now you're just
getting anything that you didn't get with the razor.
So you're going to have really clean and fresh glass.
Let's take a look.
Yeah, there's a bunch of gunk right in there.
All right, you're going to take your short pile once
again and clean up the mess.
On to the next step.
Now, if you were going out for a drive, this might be good
enough for just going out and having a Sunday drive.
But if you want to go the full steps, this is
what you would do.
So this, to remind you, is a regular
microfiber cutting pad.
This is a little bit thinner microfiber cutting pad.
This is a glass polishing pad.
As you can see, it's much thinner.
And the reason why is glass is much harder.
So you're not going to need a backing plate to absorb any of
that pressure.
You want it all to go to the glass so that you can polish
it properly.
So what we're going to do is grab a machine, put some
product on there, and start polishing.
So now we've got a little bit of glass polish on our glass
polishing pad.
Rub it in with our finger.
And much like polishing the paint, throw the cord over
your shoulder.
You're going to work a 2 by 2 area, which is basically we're
going to go a little bit more than half here.
So tap, tap, tap.
Just a little tap.
And now you're going to turn it on 2 and spread it in.
Turn it off.
Now boost it all the way up to 6 on your DA polisher.
You're going to put some pressure down and just work it
in like you would paint.
Here, I'm using glass polish and a glass polishing pad from
Griot's Garage.
Also, notice that I'm using a Porter Cable DA polisher along
with a backing plate with no cushion and a glass polishing
pad with no cushion either.
The combination of no-foam cushions increases the power
applied to the glass from the machine and subsequently
allows me to use what's regarded as a less powerful
polisher according to today's standards.
Once you're done polishing the glass, there's going to be a
bit of residue.
So that's when you take your high pile microfiber towel,
and you're just going to scoop all this off, like this.
Flip it over a few times.
There's a nice shine on this, but we've got a few more steps
to go through.
So now that I picked off all that residue that's in there,
you're going to go back to your low
pile microfiber towel.
Now we're just going to clean off all the edges and make
sure that it's still looking good.
There's no leftover polish.
And you can actually feel the difference.
It's very smooth right now compared to when I started.
So now that we're done with the polishing, we're going to
do one more quick clean to remove any of the polish.
You're going to take your low pile microfiber towel and work
it in again.
And one of the big questions I get is about ammonia in the
glass cleaner.
Ammonia is typically a home-based glass cleaning
product, because there's lots of grime on your house windows
and things like that.
And ammonia is a great degreaser.
But in the automotive industry, you
don't really need it.
And there's kind of a concern when you have window tints,
because sometimes it adversely affects the window tint.
So we don't really need ammonia.
And Invisible Glass by Stoner is a perfect
solution for that.
So here we go.
Looks pretty good.
Now we're on to putting a really strong coating on this
glass, and we'll move to the interior.
My next step is to add a hydrophobic
coating to the glass.
Now, most people know Rain-X. But there's tons of other
longer-lasting products out there.
So what you do is you add a few squirts to a foam
applicator pad, or this little piece of
foam that I have here.
What you're going to do is you're going to use small
circular motions.
I think by now most of you know I'm
not crazy about circles.
But on glass, because you're trying to penetrate the top
layer of that glass, circles is a good option.
Short, overlapping motions.
And you're just going to work the--
Here, I demonstrated using Rain-X because it's the
cheapest, easiest, and quite frankly, the most
familiar one out there.
Nowadays, there are dozens of other coatings, so pick the
brand you're most comfortable with.
However, the application process is basically the same.
A few more squirts.
And now the product is dry.
What you want to do is give just a few little squirts of
your glass cleaner.
And you want to take off the top layer of
this hydrophobic product.
And you'll see it just comes right off.
But sometimes it's nice to add a little bit of glass cleaner,
because this can dry to a little bit of a hard haze, I
like to say.
Now you want to go, add a few more squirts now that it's
off, and really clean the windshield nicely.
Now, my last little step I like to do is I use the high
microfiber towel, I flip it over, do one
quick little squirt.
And this will get off any little streaks.
The idea is to move your head and catch the light and see if
you see any odd streaks, because there's nothing worse
than driving down the street and seeing
one line going across.
It's super annoying.
And the microfiber towel is really good at getting those
little spots.
This looks good to me.
The last thing you want to do is pull up
your windshield wipers.
Now, my medium pile microfiber towel, I'll take a little bit
of glass cleaner, and I'll squirt it in a straight line
just like that.
And I'm going to take my fingers and pinch the rubber
just like that.
So take it inside of the microfiber towel, hold this
end, pinch, and wipe all the way down.
And now you're getting off all the junk that's
accumulated on there.
So now that your windshield is clean, now your wipers can be
clean, too.
Now that we cleaned the outside of the glass, it's
important to focus on the inside of the glass.
One of the big problems that I see a lot of people run into
is they come from the driver's side seat.
So if you're sitting in here and you want to reach these
areas, you have to kind of battle or fight the steering
wheel, which is not a great option.
So what you need to do is come from the passenger-side seat.
What you want to do is put your left knee right in the
middle of the seat.
And eventually, you're going to put your
left hand right here.
But before you do that, you're going to take your cleaner,
two squirts on a rag.
And what you're going to do is take your glass cleaning towel
and get all the way in the corner.
And go up and down, and then go
horizontally to get in there.
And if you notice, I put my right hand here.
And as I go and clean that corner, I flip it upside down
and put my left hand so that I can get stable before I get
all the way to the edge.
Now, if you're working before from the seat, you just
wouldn't be able to reach it.
One of the big things that I get a lot in emails is, how
come I don't spray the glass just like this?
And the answer is when you spray the glass, there's mist
that comes down on the dashboard.
And because we're all OCD watching these videos, is you
want to go, and you wipe the dashboard.
But the big thing is we're going to
have it nice and clean.
There's going to be dressings on there sometimes.
And the plastic itself does what we call gassing out, so
it's going to release all these plasticizers.
What you do is when you wipe it and you put it back on the
glass, it's going to smear everywhere.
And basically, you're going to be what we
call chasing the glass.
It's going to keep pushing it around and never get it clean.
Two squirts.
Put it in your right hand Take your right hand, flip it
upside down, and get into the corners.
That's what's going to allow you to clean the glass
properly without blowing out your back.
Cleaning the inside of the windshield is pretty
hard on your body.
And these little tools actually make
it easier for you.
This is, I don't know, $5 or $10.
What you do is you can just slide it down the glass, and
it'll reach the far areas that some people can't reach.
And they actually work pretty good.
Just get a microfiber, one or two squirts, reach it down
there, and now that's all you have to focus on is the top
part of the glass, not the lower part.
This will save your back.
Now, if your car has a door frame like this one, all the
way to the top, you're going to put the window down a few
inches, take your towel, pinch it, and just get the top of
the window before you put it back up.
So we got all the junk off that.
Pull it back up.
And then you're going to do a few squirts here, a few
squirts there.
And you're going to work the edges first.
One edge to one edge, up all the way around.
And you're going to go right in the middle.
One, two, three, like this.
And then go back the opposite direction.
Flip it over, dry side.
And now you've got a nice, clean piece of glass.
Repeat that process for the rest of the car, and you'll be
looking good.
Although it can be time consuming and hard work,
regularly cleaning your glass will minimize buildup and
maximize visibility.
For a step-by-step PDF of how to clean your glass, visit
ammonyc.com That's it for me, guys.
Thanks for watching another episode of "Drive Clean" right
here on the Drive Network.
-Yeah.
Here we go.
All right.
[INAUDIBLE].
Just waiting to hear, like [CRUNCH].
[LAUGHTER]