Cleaning glass.

Hi All,

This seems to be a common question. What is the best product/method for cleaning the inside of your vehicles windscreen? I've tried all of the products in my local supermarket and the large car accessories retailer, but none work as promised. They all claim "crystal clear vision", "smear free", " added vinegar", "easy to use", etc.

I did find an old bottle of mauve Windowlene, and it worked beautifully, but the powdery residue everywhere wasn't worth it.

Has anyone found the wonder product or method?

The best product that I have found is Auto Glym Fast Glass. - spray on and wipe off with a clean micro-fibre cloth.

the method I was shown years ago was to put a spot of vinegar in a bucket of tepid water. Use a sponge to wash the glass, wipe with a chamois leather and finish with a sheet of screwed up newspaper. This leaves a streak free finish. Don't wet the sponge too much or the water will run everywhere.

I use Autoglym Car Glass Polish, a sort of up-market Windowlene. It gives very good results and is the best glass cleaner I've used. The biggest problem I've found with window cleaning products is that they leave the glass slightly smeary; Autoglym leaves very few smears.

I just use my wife's 'Mr muscle' window stuff..works fine.
I have used dilute vinegar then polish with old newspaper before but the smell is off-putting albeit the results are great.
For really dirty house windows my best results are with sugar soap solution rinsed off with clean water using a decorators cloth.

pgk

I have some Autoglym Glass Polish as well. I gave one of our sliding doors the Autoglym treatment and not the other half. Now when it rains on the door that was polished the rain runs off but the other half looks very smeary and wet. I need to polish the rest at some point.

Martin C

My wife swears by Nilglass...

Watch what you're doing. "Rod for your own back" and all that.

Maybe it has some hydrophilic constituent, although most polishes seem to do that for a while.

I just use warm water and splash of washing up liquid and clean off with newspaper, cleans my mirrors and windows

Mick

Astonish or Simoniz Glass cleaner . With a Micro Fibre Cloth Or a Paper Towel , T he best i found to date

Regards Bee.M

Astonish or Simoniz Glass cleaner . With a Micro Fibre Cloth Or a Paper Towel , T he best i found to date

Regards Bee.M

I use neat screen wash concentrate (not the ready to use variety) on kitchen roll.

The inside of the windscreen and other windows can get covered by a film of condensed plasticiser which leaches from the dashboard in very hot weather and to which air-borne dirt particles adhere. It is usually transparent and unnoticed until water vapour condenses on it, turning it opaque and so difficult to see through, especially when the low sun is directly ahead.

I have had some success with various solutions to try to shift it, ranging from vinegar,etc. as mentioned above and including methylated spirits, cellulose thinners & ethyl alcohol - all with the car doors opened, of course!

There has been no easy way to rid the screen of this tenacious layer - everything I have tried needed a lot of elbow grease to make an impression. The thing is, it is not oily or greasy, but I suspect is deposited plasticiser and so may need a very specialised chemical to shift it - such as the polish they used on the Apollo rocket nose cone ?

Good luck with your endeavour and more power to your elbow(s).

Edited By brian roberts 2 on 15/10/2021 18:55:59

And, of course, the inside of a car windscreen is one of the most difficult parts of the vehicle to access - unless you have arms long enough to drag on the floor when you stand upright.

Considering the phenomenon of plasticisers migrating when the interior of the car is exposed to the heat of the sun, I am one of a minority of owners who always keep their vehicles in a garage - in fact, due to my current low annual mileage my car seldom or never stands in hot sun - but the inside of the screen still gets that plastic film that's so difficult to shift. Why is this? I confess that I don't know.

I blame the deposited film on the cars ventilation system drawing in road fumes which have microscopic particles of oil and rubber from the cars travelling in front which then adhere to the glass, and yes the bottom of the windscreen must be one of the most difficult areas to reach without dislocating something very painful. Dave W

The exterior of the windscreen is also a problem if you use a car wash, the screen gets waxed as well and the wipers do not like it.

Mike

The Rumanian guys at our local car wash do a brilliant job, inside & out. Fast as well.

I have not cleaned my own car myself for years.

Now my boat!-- that is a different story-- shines like the proverbial shilling up -- well you know what I mean

Tim - you have an interesting point regarding garaged cars still being affected. Perhaps plasticisers are leaching continuously, but are accelerated by hotter conditions. I wonder how they fare in hot countries when winter eventually arrives?

I also pondered if the shallow slope of the windscreen lent itself to getting more contaminated from the dash-panel below compared to more vertical, windows, because I've found that the rear and side windows don't seem to need so much cleaning.

More questions than answers, I'm afraid.

I always assumed it was people-cr@p on the screen - since driver and passengers face forwards and breath and then general airflow, condensation etc evening the deposit out. It’s more obvious on a 'puter screen where one sits closer and droplets form?
Perhaps someone would fancy doing half the screen with typical cleaners and half with a biological soap?

pgk

Thanks guys,

VOC's are certainly a problem, and yes, "more questions than answers".