Polishing shower glass

[Temp]

Our shower glass has been etched by descaler over the years. Has anyone tried polishing/mopping out the frosting it produces?

 

Have slow speed angle grinder/mop.

[Nickfromwales]

On 27/02/2026 at 18:59, Temp said:

Our shower glass has been etched by descaler over the years. Has anyone tried polishing/mopping out the frosting it produces?

 

Have slow speed angle grinder/mop.

A PITA, but if the glass IS actually etched, then maybe try mopping it with some G3 or G10 compound LINK as this is what I used to polish with cars back in the day when I worked for a high-end car sales as a detailer (when I had more hair and less creaky joints).

[Onoff]

Jewellers rouge aka cerium oxide works a treat to bring up scaled glass. We used to use it to get cement stains off glass.

 

It comes in different grit sizes. We once used coarse to fine getting burn marks out of glass that some lad had caused with angle grinder sparks. 

[Onoff]

Try this before cerium oxide:

 

https://www.ungerglobal.com/uk/products/rub-out

[Temp]

11 hours ago, Onoff said:

Try this before cerium oxide:

 

https://www.ungerglobal.com/uk/products/rub-out

 

Thanks but it's been cleaned within an of an inch of its life. Definitely etched.

[Temp]

11 hours ago, Onoff said:

Jewellers rouge aka cerium oxide works a treat to bring up scaled glass. We used to use it to get cement stains off glass.

 

It comes in different grit sizes. We once used coarse to fine getting burn marks out of glass that some lad had caused with angle grinder sparks. 

 

I have some 2.5 micron on the way. Will see how that goes.

[jack]

Be gentle. Toughened glass is already under a lot of tension, and etched toughened glass has an increased chance of shattering. 

I'd personally be tempted to start with some sort of windscreen treatment like Rain X and see whether that reduces the appearance of etching. If it works, you'd need to re-apply it every few months, but you'd need to clean it far less often, as water won't stick to it.

 

If that doesn't work you can always move on to something more aggressive.

[Temp]

I gave it a good thrashing with the cerium oxide on a slow angle grinder/fast mop going over it about a dozen times in different directions... worked up a good sweat.. and it's only reduced it slightly. Oh well.it will have to do.