I am looking to start a new business. I don't do windshield replacement. And I don't do star break and crack repair. Actually I am a window cleaner looking to get into auto glass surface restoration/preservation/maintenance. I just wanted to discuss some stuff with you guys who are already working with auto glass. Mostly replacement I am supposing. I have done a few jobs already like removing silicate deposits, auto car wash wax that causes wipers to shmear, Rain X removal from the "inside" of a windshield, and hydrophobic sealant application. I was thinking of using detail shops at dealerships as a spring board. The new biz I have called Vehicle Glass Detailing or VGD work. As auto glass gets more and more technical and thus expensive, I see this as an interesting line of work. What do you all think?

Henry Grover Jr.
Glass Tech Services
GTSForums@hotmail.com

this is not meant in a mean spirited way... but I really don't see how you would make money cleaning auto glass

Hi Rich,

I remember a story a dealership told me about a guy who used a product based on a solution of sodiummetasilicate to clean his Caddys vinyl top. The solution dripped on the glass leaving heavy silicate deposits which were quite well bonded. Hard water spots are based on a similar chemistry. Anyhow he had all of the glass replaced at a cost of thousands. I could have easily cleared and sealed all of that glass for four hundred bux in four hours. Saving him at least fifteen hundred. Everyone would have been happy. Granted that was an exceptional situation. Or was it? As I said the chemistry of the silicate deposits are quite similar to that of hard water spots in most areas of the country. Now I know for a fact that the fire trucks and ambulances in three of the towns surrounding me including my own are covered with spots. And no one has a clue how to remove them. Guess whos going after this? Further, whenever I talk to anyone about wiper haze from polymer/wax deposits at automatic car washes, they all agree it is a big problem. Yet no one knows how to remove this stuff! A local Napa store took my first newsletter and put it underneath the plexi sheet on the front counter for everyone to read. The bux are there. I just need to educate and advertise. Thanx for your reply however. I will keep you all informed of my progress.

Henry Grover Jr.
Glass Tech Services
GTSForums@hotmail.com
Specialty Services Are The Way!

Well the only people interested in that sort of thing are the poor and broke trying to not spend the 115.00 from the low price glass co in your town.
Sell the idea to insurance companies and we can all offer it for 45.00 -7.50 per job in Lynx fees to do each job .Bottom line is once you do it so will every other joker with a truck and a yellow page ad and you will make less each year especially if the insurance snakes get wind of it.
Not trying to bash you but we replace glass and anything that does not help us to that is "Gypsy" to me .

good luck with it,,,,,,as soon as you are sucessful watch all the naysayers start to emulate your actions.

See if you can connect with a friendly glass shop in your area.They must get calls on this subject.The ones you can not fix,they get to replace.And visa-versa.The glass shop will also have a lead to product manufactures.Like here; a couple will probably laugh and throw you out the door,but you never know till you try.However i think that you will need to invent a system that that will beat all others.Good luck to ya.

Henry-Several years ago my company was called in to replace all the glass in a fleet of 90 Mack trucks. Seems the mobile wash company used the wrong concentration of truck wash and left the chemical on to long, it stained all the glass and you could not see out of the glass. My point is to contact some fleet maintenance people to offer your services.

Also take a look at commercial buildings where the glass has been stained from the concrete leaching on the glass.

Great idea you have.

Sounds like a pretty good idea to me. If a windshield/glass can be saved, by your method, or any other, I see no harm in that.

Good luck to you!

Henry
You might want to look into this.

This is from glass bytes
Might be a good add on to your biz.

(openPR) - Military to use the same Nanotechnology as local glass company to improve safety and add value.

Phoenix Arizona-December 2005-Diamon-Fusion patented hydrophobic nanotechnology has been tested and approved by US Military (Us Army) contractor,PAS Armored, Inc. While this coating has been used on the US Army military vehicles It has improved safety under the wide range of adverse weathering conditions that these vehicles are known to drive through."Sand pitting and erosion under desert-like weather conditions have a harsh impact on the visibility of military vehicles and Diamon-Fusion significantly improves visibility as tested by the US Army."The same weather conditions are similar to some parts of Arizona.

A DFI Treated windshield will be able to prevent Sand pitting, erosion and will be able to deflect small impacts that typically would dent or crack an untreated windshield,due to it's impact resistance properties as tested by William La Course. It has been proven by independent studies that a hydrophobic coating such as Diamon Fusion applied on the automobiles windshield will improve the visibility during rainy conditions over 30%, giving an additional second of reaction time which results in an extra 58 feet in distance traveling at 40 mph. Visit http://www.desertbreezeglass.com for photos.

To the more positive people on this forum I thank you. These are some very helpful suggestions. And yes, I do know about Diamon fusion. Thank you for that very informative post. It is a great product. I have had talks with Adam. The application of thin diamond films on glass by a room temperature chemical vapor deposition process is a very interesting technology. I could write a letter on this. The bottom line however is independant side by side testing of products. Which I am looking into. Thanx again. I will keep everyone updated. Oh yes. Regarding building glass. This is another excellent suggestion! Actually a long time ago (about ten years) I gave a couple of seminars for the International Window Cleaning Association (IWCA) on glass stain identification and removal techniques, have written many articles for a trade publication, have traveled on consulting jobs and looked at some very famous buildings, and even had a contract once with a multimillion dollar company to develop chemical products for our industry.

Henry Grover Jr.
Glass Tech Services
GTSForums@hotmail.com
Specialty Services Are The Way To Go!

henry. i have had boat owners ask me about removing salt water stains from there boat windows. would your system work for this? thanx mark k

Yes it would. Depending on what coast you are on, the spots can be worse or not so bad. I do not use acids such as glass etchants. It is a polishing system based on different optical grade micron powders.

Henry Grover Jr.
Glass Tech Services
GTSForums@hotmail.com
Specialty Services Are The Way!

How does you product compare to the self cleaning glass by PPG and Pilkington, and others?

Good luck with your idea Henry.

It is very refreshing to see such passion and feel your enthusiasm for what you want to do with your product/service.

Be sure to keep all of us updated.

The Self Cleaning glass mentioned is glass treated with a titanium dioxide thin film. It is supposed to be both hydrophylic (water loving), and photocatalytic (uv activated). I think the only application for this technology thus far is architectural glass. Not auto. Also I have heard mixed reports on its effectiveness. Have tried to get samples for testing, but I have found it VERY difficult. Anyhow, the custom products I have mentioned are for hard water spot removal. This is a totally different field. Except when the SC technology hits cars, and we need to find a way to remove mineral deposits without damaging the thin films. There will also be a problem when the brainiacs find a way to apply hydrophobic self assembling monolayers to car glass so they last more than a few months;...and the VGD experts must remove spots without doing damage to this type of surface. By the way the chemical vapor deposition of thin diamond films on auto glass seams to be on the move. How easy is it to damage these surfaces? I smell an experiment!

Henry Grover Jr.
Glass Tech Services
GTSForums@hotmail.com
Specialty Services Are The Way!

That is interesting. My other question would be do you consider it a low, moderate, or high risk to do this since it sounds like to amount of testing may be limited and the unforseens could get expensive quickly with the wrong customer.
In other words, you do the process, and the customer claims worsened the situation or damaged their glass. I know this is very general, but I think you get the idea. What do you think the likelyhood of some kind of damage being blamed on you doing this?

Actually I had that question myself. The hydrophobes are all invisible. They just repel water. And by doing so they improve vision. When scratches or hard water stains are removed, this also would improve vision, and thereby improve safety as well. I am expecting this type of work should be covered by the same type of insurance that covers windshield repair and or replacement. Maybe you guys could help me out with the name of a company. Then I could check it out. Thanx for all the replys to this thread!

Henry Grover Jr.
Glass Tech Services
GTSForums@hotmail.com
Specialty Services Are The Way!