I did a free detail yesterday...well free for me anyhow. I young boy, was severely injured and the parents are going to have a tough time financing the health costs; therefore, we had a fund raiser for them, raffle style. I offered a completely free detail and some detailing products. The raffle winner brought her car yesterday, a black 2008 Pontiac G6. The outside was covered in what looked like overspray or something. The paint actually felt like 2500 grit wet-sanding paper, :yikes: The most difficult of the cleaning was the glass; this woman was a heavy smoker. I got the windshield and door glass clean but the rear glass was TERRIBLE. I tried, Windex and Stoners...all I got was a smeared mess :shead: I tried as a last resort, my professional window cleaning solutions that I use in my commercial cleaning business, Glass Gleam 4. GG4 has more degreasers for use in restaurants. Using GG4 and 0000 steel-wool got the window as clean as I could, but not as well I I wanted. The car was a 2dr and has headrests for the rear seats, making it a real chore to reach the entire glass. I laid a towel on the package shelf, covering the speakers and used my window scrubber to apply the solution, then used the steel-wool and then re-washed with the scrubber and then used a small squeegee to remove the solution. Anyone have an issue like this, what do you recommend to clean the glass?
Thank you for donating your time, labor, and supplies to this effort ! Perhaps a solvent ? Im thinking any solvent will cut that nicotine. It will have to be managed carefully, since you dont want it to run off onto the rear package tray and possibly damage any part of it. Goof Off Professional sold in a little square yellow painted can should have enough solvents in it to break this down. It may take awhile but it should get this off. I've cleaned many smoker cars but guess I have never had the degree of nicotine you described on any of these vehicles.. Good luck with this ! Dan F
Just be aware that even 0000 steel wool can scratch some glass surfaces... You need to use some liquid like a good glass cleaner and keep it wet and be careful, checking frequently until you find the best technique for this.. Dan F
Try a magic eraser with your glass cleaner, and if that doesn't work, try Autosol metal polish in a tube.
She was sooo happy with how the car looked and said the windows looked good. I asked her if she could give me another evening, so I could completely clea n the glass to my liking. She said it wasn't necessary, but she finally agreed and brought it last Tuesday. A friend of mine has a steamer, so I used that with some terry towels wrapped around the brush end. What I did was laid down some thick old bath towels on the rear package shelf and the rear seat. I used Zep Citrous cleaners, 3:1 mix, really heavy duty and sprayed the rear glass. After letting it dwell for 10 minutes, I lightly aggitated with the 0000 steeel wool (since theres no tinting (being very careful with the defroster); then I used the steamer and then regular glass cleaner. I don't know why the rear window was so much worse the the others, unless the wind pushes the smoke to the rear glass or if there was another chain smoker that sits back there. What a job! Thanks for the suggestions!
Been in the same situation before and I actually found that ONR works pretty well on interior glass, wash it at normal strength, keep the towel very wet, and dry like you would the exterior, works better for me than using Stoners.
I have never had to deal with this, but have also heard that straight [or high-concentration] IPA also does well, I do not know... I hope I never have to deal with anything like this.
