Get Super-Slick, Rain-Repellent Glass With Glaco

Having thoroughly protected the sun-scorched paintwork of my CR-Z with an assortment of Soft 99 spring paste waxes a while back, thought it was only right I went on to treat the surrounding glass to much of the same. So join me as I get to grips with some of their dedicated Glaco products on the surprisingly varied amount of glass that this little Honda houses. So because May's spring wax video didn't get as many views for Soft 99 as I would have liked, said I'd be willing to give the brand a bit more exposure without the need for big sponsorship books. So here we are three months on with a complimentary collection of Glaco glass prep, protection and maintenance products, which I thought would be good to put to use on the CR-Z, mainly because it sits outside exposed to the elements, but also because its glass roof, raked rear screen and quirky glass hatch would provide plenty of interest in subject matter. Prior to putting any of the Glaco products to the test, I had to ensure that everything was free from loose and semi-ingrained dirt, so treated the car to its first thorough contact wash in four long weeks, specifically using Soft 99's creamy shampoo product, as its pH neutral formula won't degrade the previously applied protection on the surrounding paintwork, but more importantly here won't leave anything behind on the glass either. So went ahead and washed everything down in a bit more of a heavy handed non-maintenance manner than I usually would, paying particular attention to the windows and the wipers, which if left over look can quickly become swipers of smut. Then once washed, thoroughly pressure rinsed away the suds so I could move on to a more targeted deeper clean and strip back of the glass, as despite it not having been treated to anything specific, the routine use of various maintenance sprays had left it extremely hydrophobic, and if I wanted the dedicated protectant to do its thing in a hopefully more effective and long term fashion, the superficial repellency, as nice as it might look, had to go. So to strip back your glass prior to protecting it, Soft 99's Glaco Glass Kit comes with a handy roll-on compound which can be used either wet or dry, and once the felt pad on the base of the bottle has been sufficiently primed with product, the idea is to thoroughly work it over the surface every which way until any spots of repellency diminish and the product spreads in a Now I'm not sure whether it's abrasive, chemical based or a combination of both, but with a light bit of elbow grease seemed to knock back the previously applied superficial protection a treat, as well I assume as any deeply ingrained dirt, as could clearly be seen by the now hydrophilic or non-repellent nature of the pressurised rinse water once its residue was One or two quick squeezes of the bottle seemed to dispense enough compound to adequately strip a section, and I found that it was better to hold onto the base or the spreader itself in order to prevent any excess from being unnecessarily released while sloshing it back and forth, and doing this meant that despite me thoroughly tending to all of the CRZ's glass, I was still left with a good half a bottle once finished, so even if you have a vehicle twice the of this compact coupe, one bottle should still realistically be more than enough to fully strip its glass back, and if you only want to treat your windscreen with the liquid wiper product, then you'll have more than enough compound here to prepare it and many other screens for just that When working wet like I was here, it can get a bit messy so wouldn't recommend stripping your glass while wearing your Sunday best, but to be fair that goes for any heavy cleaning or decontamination product, however with this being water-based, doubt it would stain either your threads or your surrounding trim, so wouldn't worry about cack-handed cross-contamination and splatter too much, and instead just focus on getting all of your glass thoroughly exfoliated Now when it comes to rinsing the compound off, I'd recommend using a pressure washer to do so as it'll make light work of the residue even if it's been left to dry, but being water soluble, I'm sure a semi-pressurised hose rinse would also work just fine, but either way the two main things that you need to remain conscious of before moving on from this stage is that your glass is free from both milky residue and any kind of transparent hydrophobic repellency, which as you can see here, this glass now was. Once cleaned, compounded and rinsed then, the glass obviously needed to be dried off prior to being protected, so ran a big twist loop towel over the freshly re-rinsed car to ensure it was completely free from water as even one small trickle could jeopardise the application of the sealant, and while a blow-dry would have been good for driving water out from the nooks and crannies, chose a towel here just to make sure that any remaining stubborn spots of residue that the pressure rinse may have missed were physically wiped away, but I know the car quite well now and the weather was nice and warm, so it was confident that by the time I'd finished up with the towel in, most of which was done off camera as it wasn't a dedicated wash and dry type of video, there'd be very little if any rinse water left lurking behind. So after a quick lunch break, it was then time to get to grips with the main Glaco DX glass sealant, which comes in the same form factor as the compound and so needs a quick initial squeeze to prime its integrated felt applicator before being uniformly spread over the surface, ideally in a crosshatch manner to ensure even and adequate coverage. Now thanks to its soft or strong adhesion rapid finish technology, the protectant only needs five minutes to properly adhere, which was great for me as I'm always against the clock when cleaning on camera, and once it has, Soft 99 recommends you first run a damp towel over the surface to knock back the bulk of the filmy residue before going on to buff things off with a dry one to leave a super slick feeling streak-free finish, which the product damp procedure seemed to do perfectly on this initial test section. If applied correctly and given some time to fully cure before being exposed to water, the sealant should provide up to four months worth of windscreen wiperless protection, which would carry this particular glass through to the end of the year and the frosty weather that will bring with it. However, with the routine use of Soft 99's protectant infused glaco de cleaner, which I'll be showcasing in a bit, you should be able to extend that durability all on a car that doesn't live outside exposed to the elements, maybe even keep it ticking over indefinitely. And while it's not absolutely essential that you apply the product in a strict crosshatch manner, as you could likely achieve similar results by slapping it on in circles if you really wanted, the methodology behind it just helps to minimise the likelihood of any spots being missed which, after all that dedicated prep work, is the last thing you want. Now, despite primarily being intended for use on windscreens to reduce or even eliminate the need for mechanical wet weather wiping, I wanted to treat all of my 10 year old glass here, mostly just to get a good feel for the product before going on to put this video together as I've never used it before, but also because it's not just the windscreen that gets regularly rained on, so any chemical assistance in shedding water from the rest of the glass was more than welcome. And while it might look like I'm excessively working the product over here and exhaustively buffing it off afterwards, I wasn't. I just like to ensure that with anything I'm filming with after shots in mind, that enough product is used and that there's none of it left behind afterwards. But assuming your glass has been properly prepped and you're not working in extreme direct heat, then the reality is that the Glaco DX will only require a minimal amount of elbow grease to both apply and remove. So I quite enjoyed the process of both preparing and protecting the CRZ's windows with the Glaco Duo here, which was a welcome change as the logistical and situational nightmare of trying to get things adequately done to a satisfactory standard with stuff you've never used before on camera usually saps the joy out of it. But for whatever reason here, these products really help to dispel the usual ball ache. Now much like the compound, once I'd finished up with the sealant here, we're still left with about half a bottle despite having done the windscreen twice to ensure I got the shots I thought I'd need. And as Soft99 says, you should get about 10 windscreens worth out of one. If I was to continue to treat all of this car's glass, could probably do it all again twice, which when you consider the cost of the product, whether that be separately or as part of this kit, I think represents pretty decent bang for buck. Now that all the exterior glass was thoroughly cleaned, stripped and protected, I wanted to give the Glaco DeClean a product which is designed to clean and boost previously protected surfaces so spritzed a bit of it over a few of the side windows just to get a quick under towel feel for it as there wasn't much cleaning it could actually do here. But now I have it in my possession, we'll be using it following future maintenance washes to hopefully keep things water spot free and as freshly repellent as possible. Despite being a protective cleaner, it isn't an exterior only product and can safely be used on the interior of your glass too. So thoroughly treated the inside of the windscreen with it here to ensure that there wasn't any sneeze splatter or bogey smears that might spoil the crystal clear finish that the sealant had achieved on the outside of it and the fact it contains protective ingredients actually helped when it came to the final dry wipe down here as it left the surface feeling super slick and so reduced the need for strenuous buffing so think I'll definitely be defaulting to this for the foreseeable. So with the glass now looking about as good as glass realistically could all that was left to do was thoroughly wet it down to see just how hydrophobic the stuff had left it. So a few days after the initial application to give it time to thoroughly cure, whipped the washer out again much to the neighbour's dismay but there was satisfying end of video shots to capture showing the freshly sealed glass aggressively waving goodbye to whatever water was thrown at it so neighbourly considerations understandably had to go out the hydrophobic window and it's not just rinsing that becomes easier and more satisfying with the treatment of a product like this as drying and especially blow drying it becomes a breeze too as water is driven off the surface in an instant saving you precious time to then go on to perhaps spritz some protective cleaner over or even polish up your poo shoots. With it apparently being one of the wettest Julys on dodgy record there was plenty of opportunity to take the freshly sealed glass for a spin and although I only managed to secure some dash cam footage as the glitchy GoPro failed to record as it often does you can still clearly see why Soft 99 refer to this product as a liquid wiper and while the raindrops start to shift from about 30 miles an hour really get a move on at 40 miles an hour plus allowing you to confidently pass any windscreen wiping peasants while yours remain neatly tucked away so for that flex alone would highly recommend giving this stuff a go. So let me know if you've ever seen 10 year old glass this ridiculously glossy before and or if you're familiar with the Glaco family and if you haven't already do check out my previous Soft 99 spring paste wax vid as the carnauba applied in that is still turning heads three months on but before you do and to keep you smiling until next time we'll leave you with a quick comedy dash cam composish for the road