My company was having an outing at a local convention center and a concrete crew was working on on slab nearby (and upwind). They were spraying sealant and it coated the 4runner which was parked downwind.

When the sun is low, it looks like 100's of diamonds on the windshield. Very dangerous. The hood feels like sandpaper.

Autobody shop says they have to wet sand the entire thing and they'll razor blade the glass.

Q1) I already have a little rust and some clearcoat damage on the hood...is wet-sanding going to reduce what little clear coat I have left by 1/2 or so?

Q2) Is it possible to buff glass? Having all of the little pits disappear would be great.

The good news: The contractor will take care of it to a tune of $650.

Thanks folks,

-Leaf

94' SR5, 165K, prerunner bar, Hellas, etc.

 

Wet sanding will pretty much eliminate any clear coat you have. I'd demand that it be reapplied (at the contractor's expense).
Small areas of glass can be buffed, but something as large as a windshield will never come out even. Have it scraped and cleaned. If it's still bad, get it replaced (hopefully at the contractor's expense).
Good luck (& welcome to YotaTech!).

 

we used steel wool to clean the glass when i worked at the body shop.

 

Have them try clay first. Razor blades and steel wool on glass is'nt too good. It may remove the ˟˟˟˟, but your glass will be permanantly damaged...I see a lot of cars with razor scrape. Auction/dealer white paint wording on the windshield and side glass is always scraped off and it's ugly. I've seen glass buffing pads, about 3" diameter and a special paste is used to cut. You gotta know what you're doing with glass. If the clay does'ny remove the overspray, wet sanding is the only way. You'll lose some of your clearcoat, check all ridges, edges, high spots for sand through...real easy to cut through the clearcoat, you'll see it look duller when you get close and compare it to the flat areas...if the clearcoat is cut through...gotta have it redone. Sounds like a big job, hope those guys know what they are doing.

 

First of all, on the windshield - save the money that you'd pay the body shop and do it yourself with either a razor or steel wool. You won't hurt the glass as long as you are patient and take your time. Better yet, if you contact a windshield company and tell them you need a replacement - no insurance and will pay cash, then they will cut the price way down. You should be able to get one in the neighborhood of $125-$150.

Second - You can't just sand the hood and then reapply clear. Clear coats ahve to be sprayed within 2-3 hours (preferrably 30 min or less in warm weather) of of the final coat of color. This allows the clear to chemically bond to the paint. You can simply re-spray clear on old paint, and it will look good for about 12-18 months. It will then start to separate from the paint and chip off.

If the body shop sands through the clear, then they have to REPAINT with at least 2 coats (1 base for sanding smooth and one thin finish coat) before covering with clear.