I don't have any experience getting grape jelly off mirrors,
but here's my advice:
First figure out what coating you've got. Bare aluminum
coatings needed to age befor cleaning -- the purpose was to
allow the surface to oxidize and form a layer of aluminum
oxide, which is much harder than aluminum. But it is very rare
to have bare aluminum coatings these days. Modern coatings will
usually have some hard coating applied on top of the aluminum,
so there is much less to worry about.
I would probably try to get the stuff off of there sooner
rather than later. What I would do is first make some tests on
a small spot, and figure out what will safely remove the stuff.
Get some qtips and distilled water, and gently work one
of the typical spots and see if that removes it. Work the spot
and then rinse the entire mirror with distilled water, and
inspect it. If that doesn't do anything, try a mixture of
1 part distilled water, 1 part rubbing alcohol, and a tiny drop
of dish soap, and again work the spot with that, and then rinse the
entire mirror with distilled water. See if the spot was removed
or improved, and check for any damage or sleeks in the area you
were working. Shine a light through the back of the mirror and
see if there is anything odd about the area you were just cleaning
-- like extra light coming through the coating. If still there is
no improvement, try straight rubbing alcohol (no dilution).
Once you figure out how to safely remove one spot, go on to do the
entire affected area. Maybe use cotton balls (larger) instead of q-tips.
It is also possible the junk you see on the mirror is coming from
the cotton balls you are using. Try to get some different ones,
or preferably the sterile kind. I've sometimes run into this where
there is some oily junk on the cotton balls (or qtips), and
continued cleaning makes a big mess. The factory may have sprayed oil
or lotion on them to make them feel softer, etc.
Sometimes I've used "spring water" to clean mirrors in an emergency
when distilled was not available, and saw no problems. I don't recommend
it, but I've never seen anything like what you have there.
I'm not sure what to make of the gold color of the spots. It seems
like an important clue.
but here's my advice:
First figure out what coating you've got. Bare aluminum
coatings needed to age befor cleaning -- the purpose was to
allow the surface to oxidize and form a layer of aluminum
oxide, which is much harder than aluminum. But it is very rare
to have bare aluminum coatings these days. Modern coatings will
usually have some hard coating applied on top of the aluminum,
so there is much less to worry about.
I would probably try to get the stuff off of there sooner
rather than later. What I would do is first make some tests on
a small spot, and figure out what will safely remove the stuff.
Get some qtips and distilled water, and gently work one
of the typical spots and see if that removes it. Work the spot
and then rinse the entire mirror with distilled water, and
inspect it. If that doesn't do anything, try a mixture of
1 part distilled water, 1 part rubbing alcohol, and a tiny drop
of dish soap, and again work the spot with that, and then rinse the
entire mirror with distilled water. See if the spot was removed
or improved, and check for any damage or sleeks in the area you
were working. Shine a light through the back of the mirror and
see if there is anything odd about the area you were just cleaning
-- like extra light coming through the coating. If still there is
no improvement, try straight rubbing alcohol (no dilution).
Once you figure out how to safely remove one spot, go on to do the
entire affected area. Maybe use cotton balls (larger) instead of q-tips.
It is also possible the junk you see on the mirror is coming from
the cotton balls you are using. Try to get some different ones,
or preferably the sterile kind. I've sometimes run into this where
there is some oily junk on the cotton balls (or qtips), and
continued cleaning makes a big mess. The factory may have sprayed oil
or lotion on them to make them feel softer, etc.
Sometimes I've used "spring water" to clean mirrors in an emergency
when distilled was not available, and saw no problems. I don't recommend
it, but I've never seen anything like what you have there.
I'm not sure what to make of the gold color of the spots. It seems
like an important clue.
