If you’ve exhausted all options, including vinegar, lemon juice, baking soda, dish soap, denatured alcohol, CLR, etc. And have even made it to professional hard water removal products like Diamond Magic, Titan-A1, etc. and you still have not made a dent.. your glass is all but surely etched. Glass etching can be caused by a variety of things.. in this case, hard water left on the glass for too long. Minerals in the hard water can corrode and if mineral deposits are left on the glass they can slowly eat away the glass on your shower door. This kind of surface level etching can also be caused by hydrofluoric acid-based chemical cleaners or rust removal products commonly used in the pressure washing industry like F9 BARC.
All hope is not lost! Don’t order new shower doors. Try Cerium Oxide. Cerium Oxide is a very cheap and easily available compound that you can order on Amazon.
You will need:
- An 8oz bag of Cerium Oxide
- An electric drill
- Plastic spray bottle
- Water
- 100% Wool polishing wheel
- Disposable Plastic Cup or tray
Steps:
- Make sure you’ve cleaned the area thoroughly you’re treating before you start this process. Any residue left on the glass can result in further etching once you start this process.
- Attach the Polishing Wheel to your electric drill.
- Fill your plastic spray bottle with water
- In the plastic cup/tray, mix a few tbsp. of Cerium Oxide with the amount of water it takes to make a runny, paste-like mixture. Almost like the same consistency of a very thin pancake batter.
- Dip the polishing wheel in the cerium oxide-water mixture.
- Place the polishing wheel FLUSH with the surface area you’re treating and start buffing in an up and down circular motion. You should re-dip your polishing wheel and/or spray the area you’re treating with water to make sure that the compound does not dry up during buffing (this can cause the area to potentially overheat which could lead to cracking the glass).
This process is fairly straight-forward but can take some time and multiple sessions. It is a tried and true method that is used frequently to treat hard water spotting, etching vandalism, etc. in the window cleaning industry but I don’t see it recommended enough in DIY or home improvement forums/blog posts.
Please note: Cerium Oxide is not a viable method for deep scratching or etching.
To prevent future build up and having to repeat this process, keep a squeegee in the shower. You can get one with a hooked handle, and a suction cup hook to hang to the side of the shower. After every shower, squeegee off as much water as possible from the shower doors.