Sub-Surface Glass Polishing Class - Friday November 1st at Dr. Beasley's in Stuart Florida - 1964 Corvette Windshield

[Mike Phillips]

Sub-Surface Glass Polishing Class - Friday November 1st at Dr. Beasley's in Stuart Florida - 1964 Corvette Windshield


Here's the 1964 Corvette that will be here for you to learn Sub-Surface Glass Polishing.

For the people taking the Saturday Class November 1st, I will have a 1964 Corvette here for anyone that gets into town early and wants to learn how to do Sub-Surface Glass Polishing.


What is Sub-Surface Glass Polishing?
There are two kinds of glass polishing.

1: Topical Glass Polishing - Simply buffing the SURFACE of the glass to remove baked-on water spots, drizzle stains and traffic film.

2: Sub-Surface Glass Polishing - This is where you use a Rayon Glass Pad, with a glass polish on a rotary polisher to remove defects like wiper scratches that are BELOW the surface.

These are VERY DIFFERENT types of glass polishing and knowing how to do correctly do Sub-Surface Glass Polishing comes in hand when working on classic cars and muscle cars.



TIME: 9:00am to 3:30am

Address
Dr. Beasley's Training Center
7934 SW Jack James Drive
Stuart, Fl 34997


1964 Corvette - Sub-Surface Glass Polishing to Remover Wiper Scratches

There is no extra charge for this class, there's simply no time to cover this topic on Saturday.

Questions: Shoot me a text or give me a call: 760-515-0444


Mike

 

[Mike Phillips]

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Here's 3 reasons to polish glass versus replace glass

1: For some cars, there are no OEM replacement windshields.

2: For some people, they want to keep their car 100% factory original.

3: The owner knows if they remove the windshield, they're going to find rust and even worse, cancer. This turns a windshield replacement into a 5-year, body-off-frame, rotisserie restoration.

For some people, they simply don't want to take the car off the road for this type of issue.


Sub-surface glass polishing is time-consuming, but if the car you're working on fits any of the above 3 reasons to not replace the glass, then it's a great option - if you know how to do it.


Mike

 

[Mike Phillips]

***Update***

The 1964 Corvette has arrived for the glass polishing class this Friday. Below is a short video showing the current condition of the windshield.

I get here at 9:00am each day and I'll have this Corvette all prepped and ready for you to work on.

Dr. Beasley's
7934 SW Jack James Drive
Stuart, FL 34997


Questions? Shoot me a text or give me a call: 760-515-0444


Mike

 

[Mike Phillips]

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Here's videos and pictures from the Sub-Surface Glass Polishing Class held the day before this class.

Removing Wiper Scratches out of the Windshield on a 1964 Corvette Class with Mike Phillips

Process & After Video

Before & After Pictures
Below are the before and after pictures from this glass polishing class here at Dr. Beasley's in Stuart, Florida. This is a FREE/BONUS class that takes place the day BEFORE the actual class. There's simply not enough time to ADD this topic to the full schedule of topics we already cover in our classes. I hold these the day before the for anyone that wants to attend and because MOST of the people that historically taking a class I teach are flying here from other states, or other countries.

For example, in this class, Nelson flew here from Bogota, Columbia and Nicolas flew here from Buenos Airs Argentina. I get the car, I get her prepped, if anyone taking the actual class would like to learn how to take scratches out of glass, then it's up to them to figure out their travel schedule and get here.



BEFORE PICTURES
In the picture below, you can EASILY see the wiper scratches as they form an ARC pattern that mimic the way the wiper blades move over the glass. As I type, this car, and thus this original glass windshield are 62 years old. At some point over the last 62 years, the wipers either became worn-out enough to cause scratching, or some kind of airborne debris, like beach sand, (common to coastal towns and the desert), is blown onto the car. This contamination will land on the top portion of the rubber blade and the next time the wipers are turned on, it rubs any dirt or sand over the glass and overtime, you end up with some pretty bad wiper scratches in the glass of the windshield.

Not only are their wiper scratches in an arc pattern, there's also random scratches throughout the windshield.

Passenger Side
The passenger side actually had some scratches that are deep enough, if you drag your fingernail over the scratch, your fingernail will drop INTO the scratch. If this happens, the scratch is deep enough that the only time-efficient method to remove the scratch 100% is to machine sand the entire windshield and then buff out your sanding scratches. I do NOT recommend this for 99.9% of Earth's population. Too risky.

A better plan
When you have deeper scratches in a classic car windshield or even side or back glass, a safer approach is to lower your expectations, decide you'll LIVE with the deeper scratches and then do you best work to machine polish the glass. A thorough machine polishing using a dedicated glass polish with a rayon pad on a rotary polisher will easily remove the millions of shallow scratches and will clear-up the deeper scratches that polishing along will not remove.

More to come....


Mike

 

[Mike Phillips]

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How to Prep a Car for Glass Polishing
Here's what I do, you can borrow this approach if you like or skip it and pay the price later.

Step 1: Use painter's tape and tape around the trim on the windshield.

Step 2: Cover the car in a plastic car cover or drop cloth.

Step 3: Cut out the plastic around the windshield and then tape the plastic to the tape frame you've already applied to the outside of the windshield. It's faster and easier to tape the plastic to tape already applied to the window frame than it is to try to tape the edge of the plastic to the actual window frame.

More to come...

Mike

 

[Mike Phillips]

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It's Go TIME!

Up first are Eugene and Doug. Eugene is using the RUPES rotary polisher while Gene is using the FLEX rotary polisher.

See the Nr. 00002 on the sticker?
This is the Number #2 FLEX PE-150 corded rotary polisher given to me by Bob Eichelberg, formerly with FLEX, retired now. Thanks Bob!

What Kind of Polish?
In order to remove scratches out of glass you need a dedicated glass polish. A dedicated glass polish is a polish specifically formulated to abrade or chemically melt glass. There are two types of glass polishes that I've used that actually work. There are cerium oxide glass polishes and there's Dr. Beasley's GL Glass Polish that does NOT use cerium oxide but instead uses a unique ultra-hard nanoparticle abrasive technology.

From the Dr. Beasley's website

NSP GL Glass Polish
PATENTED NANOPARTICLE ABRASIVES FOR A FASTER, MORE EFFICIENT CUT
After rigorously testing multiple abrasive types, Jim sourced a unique, ultra-hard nanoparticle abrasive with diverse applications. This patented technology is used by the Air Force to polish F-35 fighter jet canopies for crystal clear in-flight visibility. Through careful engineering, Jim adapted the technology for automotive glass. Testing the technologies side-by-side, he found the patented nanoparticle abrasive to be superior to cerium oxide in speed, efficiency and clarity.

Urban Legends
I've been doing sub-surface and topical glass polishing for DECADES. Anytime I share any glass polishing project on any social media platforms, like Facebook, Instagram and YouTube, there's always an expert that states

Any compound will work

Of course, this is NOT true and of course, the expert NEVER backs up what they state by showing their process in any way, shape or form. It's always the same thing, lots of talk, no walk.



Lead by example
I never aske my class to do anything I'm not willing to do myself. Sub-surface glass polishing requires some muscle, tenacity and time. I'm willing to take on these types of projects and after taking this class, I'm confident the students taking our classes will know what to do and how to do and just as important, they'll know how much time is involved as well as physical work.

Here's Eugene, still working on the passenger side, while Nelson, who travelled all the way from Bogota, Columbia to take this class has now joined us and is working on the driver's side.

Switch Sides
You can see Nelson and Eugene have switched sides. Running a rotary polisher on an glass windshield at an ANGLE - stresses your deltoid muscles as you use your arm to press the rotary against the glass. A trick I use and teach is to switch sides and use the other arm for a while and if you feel your muscles getting tired, switch again. When I work by myself, I do this same thing with two workstations set up on each side. This way I can simply move from side-to-side without having to drag my tools, pads and towels from side to side.

Juan has joined us next. Juan came all the way from Kentucky to take this class.

Time to de-tape and check out the results
It's now late in the afternoon and time to wrap-up the glass polishing class.

Mike

 

[Mike Phillips]

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Here are the final results!

Accurate Photography
Here's before and after with the car parked in the exact same spot so the overhead LED light shines onto the windshield in the exact same spot.


Before

After

Here's the supplies you'll need...

• Dr. Beasley's NSP GL
• Rotary polisher
• Foam interface pad
• Rayon glass polishing discs
• Glass cleaner and lots of microfiber towels

My comments
First, let's put this project in context. I think it's accurate to say, this is the first time for all of these people to do Sub-Surface Glass Polishing. Polishing scratches out of glass is nothing like polishing scratches out of car paint. Glass is super hard, and it doesn't abrade or polish like car paint. Due to the hardness of the glass, polishing a windshield out in the condition this windshield was in before we started will take both time and perspirations. But with enough time, you can remove the bulk of the swirls and scratches. The only defects left behind are the deeper scratches and this should be expected.

My opinion is, knowing this was each person's first time doing this type of work, they did GREAT! And more important, when they leave this class, they'll possess a brand-new skill that can help them moving forward anytime they are asked if they can remove scratches out of the glass on classic cars, muscle cars and streetrods.


Thanks everyone!

Mike

 

[Mike Phillips]

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Here's a very in-depth how-to article that covers this topic thoroughly.

Removing Windshield Swirls Scratches Wiper Marks on a 1969 GTO with Dr. Beasleys NSP GL by Mike Phillips

Before

Before and After

Final Results

Here's the victim - 1969 Pontiac GTO Ramair III Convertible

Kind of a rare muscle car...

Mike

 

[Mike Phillips]

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Here's an EXTREME example for saving the back window on an ALL ORIGINAL 426 Hemi Plymouth Superbird.

1970 Plymouth Superbird Part 2 - Machine Sanding and Polishing Rare Back Window with NSP GL by Mike Phillips


Most people shouldn't be MACHINE SANDING glass using a Rotary Polisher. But the polishing steps I share would be the same if you sanded or not.

Machine Sanding

Machine Polishing

Before

After

Cool project - very rare muscle car

Factory Original 426 Hemi
The tell-tell sign of a true hemi engine is the location of the spark plug wires.

Mike

 

[Mike Phillips]

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Here are examples from the September class for Sub-Surface Glass Polishing

See all the pictures from the above class here,

Pictures - 2-Day September 2025 Car Detailing Class - 8 Cars Detailed! - No Chairs! - ALL Hands-on!

More topics. More tools. No chairs. ZERO SITTING!
Try to find any other class that can document what their classes look like BEFORE you pay to sign-up.


Mike