Have you de-scummed your glass yet?

[mswlogo]

This is my 3rd Tesla. First was a Model 3P in 2018 and I never felt I could really get the glass clean and never resolved it before I sold it.

Then a year later I traded for a 2019 Model X and noticed the same thing and this time I was gonna figure it out, and I did. See 2019 Model X Polishing

Now on my 3rd Tesla, here it is on delivery day. Looks pretty and all shiny, right? Well the glass is NOT clean.
I cleaned it inside and out with Invisible Glass and it looks and feels fine, surely Tesla doesn't still ship glass like my 2018 and 2019?

Then I drive into the Sun or it rains at night and it just feels like a "clean" 10 year old windshield.

That's because it still had the factory scum in included, at no extra charge.

Scroll down for more.

Here is a really good shot showing the difference between Scum and No Scum. See my link to the Model X above for how I clean it.

I don't like getting too close to the edge with the orbital. You can see exactly how close I got here in the photo below.

The entire glass was covered with the scum. Any standard glass cleaner will not take it off.

There are other ways to get it off. I like using Griots Glass Polish with an orbital and I also use their sealer. Photo is before I put the sealer.

If you had your car PPF'd or something at a good detailer, they might have removed it, might not. I've never seen this on any other brand car.
But it is consistent on every Tesla I've come in contact with. It's hard to tell it's there unless in just the right conditions.
But when it's gone it feels like you have no windshield at all.

 

[Laddcruzer]

Is this “scum” on the inside or outside of the windshield? To me it seems it‘s just on the inside but I can’t really tell.

 

[scrapps]

I have issues getting the outside clean without leaving lint using invisible glass. Maybe this scum is responsible? I'm down for giving it a polish. The rest of my glass is ceramic coated however.

 

[mswlogo]

I have issues getting the outside clean without leaving lint using invisible glass. Maybe this scum is responsible? I'm down for giving it a polish. The rest of my glass is ceramic coated however.

Bingo. That’s exactly one of the symptoms of the scum. The lint sticks to the scum. And a clean cloth does not glide down the glass under its own weight after you clean it.

I’m almost positive the scum is on the roof too. I’ll tackle that later.

 

[mswlogo]

Is this “scum” on the inside or outside of the windshield? To me it seems it‘s just on the inside but I can’t really tell.

Good question. This scum is on the outside.

But there is some contamination on the inside too. One symptom of that is you see the suction cup marks from the robot gripping the glass. When it either fogs up or you clean it. I’d love to polish inside too but too hard to not make a mess. Inside does not seem as bad. I used a magic eraser and invisible glass on the inside of my X. I have not done that extent yet on the inside of the S yet. But I did see suction marks when I cleaned the inside.

 

[Big Dog]

I've used the glass cleaner from Costco and some good old-fashioned elbow grease on the inside glass on both of my Model 3's. Nice and clear. But note, I waited ~6 months to allow the new car offs-gassing to diminish.

 

[mswlogo]

I've used the glass cleaner from Costco and some good old-fashioned elbow grease on the inside glass on both of my Model 3's. Nice and clear. But note, I waited ~6 months to allow the new car offs-gassing to diminish.

I thought I had my model 3 nice and clean 10 times. Tried many products. Didn’t realize how stubborn it was until I polished it off on the next car. I ended up polishing my friends Model 3. I concluded the Model 3 was never really clean.

But VOCs is another issue too.

 

[aerodyne]

My wife's 2019 Benz also has the suction cup marks on the sunroof glass.

Leaving them there so I can explain to the grandkids how German cars were made...

 

[doubleshot]

I agree. It was night and day after my detailer polished and applied ceramic to the glass. He did all of it. Roof and windshield. I couldn't even notice that the windshield was there.

 

[mswlogo]

I agree. It was night and day after my detailer polished and applied ceramic to the glass. He did all of it. Roof and windshield. I couldn't even notice that the windshield was there.

Yeah, partly what prompted me to figure out the Model X is I had a 8 year old VW I was selling private detailed. I could not believe how good the windshield looked when I got it back. Like it had no windshield at all. Then I get my Model X and thought something is wrong here. I preferred the 7 year old VW windshield.

The ceramic coat is a lot like the glass sealer I put on (which is what Griots calls theirs and a lot like RainX). Makes the water bead up and roll off. The stuff I used probably won’t last as long. The glass will never be as scummy as it is from the factory. I think all these hydrophobic coatings started with windshields and moved onto paint surfaces.

After doing the glass myself it convinced be to ceramic coat the Model X.

The polishing of the glass is also a lot of what the “paint correction” is about. They polish the whole car before PPF or ceramic coat. Whole car might be covered in scum. I don’t think it is, but it very well could be.

 

[mswlogo]

BTW I wonder how scummy the windshields were when various headlights were tested over the years

I think they should include a Windshield Quality test.

 

[doubleshot]

Yeah, partly what prompted me to figure out the Model X is I had a 8 year old VW I was selling private detailed. I could not believe how good the windshield looked when I got it back. Like it had no windshield at all. Then I get my Model X and thought something is wrong here. I preferred the 7 year old VW windshield.

The ceramic coat is a lot like the glass sealer I put on (which is what Griots calls theirs and a lot like RainX). Makes the water bead up and roll off. The stuff I used probably won’t last as long. The glass will never be as scummy as it is from the factory. I think all these hydrophobic coatings started with windshields and moved onto paint surfaces.

After doing the glass myself it convinced be to ceramic coat the Model X.

The polishing of the glass is also a lot of what the “paint correction” is about. They polish the whole car before PPF or ceramic coat. Whole car might be covered in scum. I don’t think it is, but it very well could be.

Definitely. Night and day. I remember when I first got in and was like damn. Is the glass still there. Lol

 

[scrapps]

Polish, pads and sealant arrive tomorrow. Will get it done this weekend!

 

[scrapps]

Polish, pads and sealant arrive tomorrow. Will get it done this weekend!

So I just spent an hour and a bit doing the following: Handwashed the whole car. Squeegeed the windscreen. Polished the car using Griot's glass polish and pads, and an optical polishing machine attached to my little B&D cordless drill. I bought 6" pads which I cut down to 3" to match my machine. I wish I'd had a 6" machine, would have been quicker. Once polished I gave it a quick clean using invisible glass. Then I applied Griot's glass sealant.

I'm super happy with the result. I can now wipe down the glass leaving no lint from the cloth. It's super smooth and clear. Noticeably better from the inside too. If I'm not too lazy I might try and do the roof, although that's going to be a harder job. Thanks so much for the tip @mswlogo, everyone should know about this!

Here's a before and after, although it's hard to see. I still need to clean up some of the polish that got in the edges of the glass.

Before:

After:

 

[mswlogo]

So I just spent an hour and a bit doing the following: Handwashed the whole car. Squeegeed the windscreen. Polished the car using Griot's glass polish and pads, and an optical polishing machine attached to my little B&D cordless drill. I bought 6" pads which I cut down to 3" to match my machine. I wish I'd had a 6" machine, would have been quicker. Once polished I gave it a quick clean using invisible glass. Then I applied Griot's glass sealant.

I'm super happy with the result. I can now wipe down the glass leaving no lint from the cloth. It's super smooth and clear. Noticeably better from the inside too. If I'm not too lazy I might try and do the roof, although that's going to be a harder job. Thanks so much for the tip @mswlogo, everyone should know about this!

Here's a before and after, although it's hard to see. I still need to clean up some of the polish that got in the edges of the glass.

Before:
View attachment 785828
After:
View attachment 785830

Awesome. Imagine how many Teslas are out there with this scum on them.

I wanna to do my roof and hatch too, not as critical.

I’d love to do the inside but that would be really hard without making a mess. Even if I did it by hand.

 

[mswlogo]

Phase two

I didn't want to admit to myself but the inside had scum too. Nothing like the outside, but I could see it and it drove me nuts.

Another confirmation that the inside was not clean, as someone mentioned, the micro fibers stick to the glass as it dries, like it was made of rubber.
I tried Magic Eraser first soaked with Invisible Glass and it didn't touch it.

So I hand polished the inside. I did not not seal it. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.
If anything the microfibers no longer stick to the glass, which makes a mess.

Hardest part of most jobs is prep. I covered everything. Tucked microfibers cloths along the pillars.

I also polished the roof. Not nearly as bad as the windshield was.

Not sure if this is a useful pic. But this is taken through the windshield. And that's on low beam.
I'll know better when I run it through different conditions, rain - day, rain - night, low sun etc. It feels promising.

 

[pengy]

You might be blinding other cars if your headlights hit the stop sign
Looks promising though. I had my windshield replaced due to a crack upon delivery and it was noticeably clearer than the original. Maybe its an issue with something at the factory. I'll try polishing half of it and see what happens.

 

[mswlogo]

You might be blinding other cars if your headlights hit the stop sign
Looks promising though. I had my windshield replaced due to a crack upon delivery and it was noticeably clearer than the original. Maybe its an issue with something at the factory. I'll try polishing half of it and see what happens.

That was way backed up and camera way zoomed in. I purposely did it because the stop sign was so vivid and I wanted to capture it. So the photo is a little misleading that way.

A replacement windshield is the ultimate way to deal with it
You might not need it, it's sneaky though, you think you have it clean and then you don't.

 

[tibook]

You might be blinding other cars if your headlights hit the stop sign
Looks promising though. I had my windshield replaced due to a crack upon delivery and it was noticeably clearer than the original. Maybe its an issue with something at the factory. I'll try polishing half of it and see what happens.

I would wonder if the new windshield is lacking an IR reflective coating in it.

 

[mswlogo]

I would wonder if the new windshield is lacking an IR reflective coating in it.

There is no IR coating on Tesla windshields. The IR protection is the vinyl layer in the middle that blocks it. Which is thicker with acoustic glass. His new windshield just didn’t come with the OEM scum.