Glass cleaner

[Bren]

Anybody recommend a decent glass cleaner?

 

I used some turtle wax stuff but it is shite - after everything has dried it looks like somebody has partaken in a spot of bukkake all over my glass.

 

Are there any household items that can be used?

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Yes, any, my garage mate buys whatever they have in B&M BARGAINS and it always works fine.

[skattrd]

Vinegar

[colnerov]

 Methylated spirits..... Hic

[Chas4545]

winow cleaner spray and newspaper to apply, and more newspaper to polish.

[dollywobbler]

Vinegar is a good call. So is newspaper, though I find kitchen towel good too. I use Rain X cleaner for the side windows, because it makes the water bead nicely so they clear at speed. I don't like to use it on the windscreen though.

[Cavcraft]

Washing up liquid in hot water. Apply with damp sponge, clean off with dry newspaper. There is no better way of doing them with the best results.

[Rusty Pelican]

Use a cream glass polish , much better results 

[Bamboocarman]

Rainex or that UK equivalent you can find in Sainsburys (in the yellow bottle) - good stuff.

[gordonbennet]

The cream cleaners like good old pink Windowlene are best,  modern spray cleaners attract moisture too quickly and the resulting streaked film is just as bad in no time.

 

Lidl's sometimes do their 1:100 bottles of glass cleaner, come in apple and lemon flavours, a squirt of that in a spray bottle topped up with water is as good as any, useful too when you put a capful in the washer bottle for clearing road grease....when its next on sale buy a handful cos i haven't seen it for a good while now and i'm down to about 2 bottles now.

[DS20]

I use the cheapo cheapo Tesco spray-cleaner bought for my glasses.  A little goes a long way, and if used in conjunction with a microfibre cloth, it gets the glass fantastically clean and streak-free.  

[londonm]

Lighter fuel, used carefully, cleans glass perfectly.

[UltraWomble]

 

Whatever these guys use.. Hang on I'll ask them...

 

Oi....

[makum101]

Use a cream glass polish , much better results 

I went out for some Windowlene cream cleaner. All I could find was Windowlene clear liquid spray! I used Tesco value's version of Jif (Cif for the younger generation) in the end.

[overrun]

I cannot clean windows for shit.

They always look a streaky mess, when they mist up!

[Matt]

I've used Autoglym Fast Glass and a good microfiber cloth for three or four years and I have no complaints; easy to apply & wipe off and the cloth gets quite dirty afterwards so it does lift the muck. It's probably a bit expensive for a glass cleaner but I haven't finished any more than three bottles in four years, might only be on my second actually. I don't need it anywhere near as often as I did before treating the exterior glass of my car with rain repellent products, I guess the falling water droplets just take dirt away with them.

[320touring]

At a Scotoshite meet, a well positioned fried egg results in crystal clear windscreen!

[mrcitroen]

What I hate is when you have got all the inside of your windscreen all clean and steak free, your ever so helpful passenger uses their greasy mitt to clear the screen of misting. This results in a nice streaky screen the next time you drive in the dark.

 

Back on topic, some IPA in a spray bottle topped up with distiller water is ace, or if you feel posh the Autoglym cream glass cleaner is good.

[vulgalour]

If you want clean glass that stays clean you want to follow the Vulgalour process,  this process assumes this is the first time in 12 months you've washed the car:

 

- Rinse off the glass with clean water, use a bit of soap if the glass is particularly grimy

- Get a claybar, the Meguiers one is nice, and a squirty bottle with lukewarm tap water and a drop of dish soap in.  Apply the squirty water in place of expensive claybar lubricant and work the claybar over the glass.  This will get loads off, you should only need to do the outside but do the inside too if they're a bit greasy

- Apply regular household window cleaner, ideally in a squirty bottle.  You can use kitchen towel, a dish cloth or a flannel for a respectable result

- Apply Autoglym glass polish, fairly liberally if this is the first time ever, and polish with a microfibre cloth (Wilkinsons and Tesco do them cheap in packs of three) to a sparkly clear finish.  Has to be a microfibre cloth to get the best result, other clothes can leave the finish somewhat lacking.

 

In future, you only need to do the last two steps and use less glass polish.  You should find water just scooshes off, the interior fogs up less and the wipers don't need to be used as much.  If you do this weekly, you'll find you eventually don't even need to do it weekly and can sometimes leave it a month between cleans!

 

It is best to clay the windows once a year anyway, especially the windscreen, as it gets a lot of the really stubborn muck off like nothing else I've used.  It can also remove the residue of stickers and tax disc holders.

[Matt]

- Get a claybar, the Meguiers one is nice, and a squirty bottle with lukewarm tap water and a drop of dish soap in.

 

I can't recommend this as some dish soaps will completely murder some clay bars; they dry out and break apart, ask me how I know. What I can recommend for use with Meguiars clay however is Windolene spray, the blue stuff as they get along perfectly and the lubrication is adequate for glass use. Just be fairly liberal with the Windolene and everything will be dandy. If you run clay over a dry or dry-ish patch of class you'll leave a film of clay on the glass but that is easily sorted though, just spray the offending area and wipe over with the clay bar.

[vulgalour]

Didn't know dish soaps were capable of doing that, never had an issue myself and been using Stardrops and shops own brand dish soaps for a couple of years with the claybar now.  Perhaps cheapness is key here?

[Matt]

Didn't know dish soaps were capable of doing that, never had an issue myself and been using Stardrops and shops own brand dish soaps for a couple of years with the claybar now.  Perhaps cheapness is key here?

 

It could be any number of things really, I've never had a clay bar breakdown like it did when I used dish soap though, I think it was 'Daisy' branded stuff that killed my Meguiars clay.

 

Goddamn, all this detailing talk just reminds me how long it's been since I actually washed my car, too long. Need to finish waxing it too.

[kinkersaab]

Autoshitter way =half tatie

 

http://m.wikihow.com/Keep-Car-Windows-Fog-Free-Using-a-Potato

[DSdriver]

What I hate is when you have got all the inside of your windscreen all clean and steak free, your ever so helpful passenger uses their greasy mitt to clear the screen of misting. This results in a nice streaky screen the next time you drive in the dark.

 

Back on topic, some IPA in a spray bottle topped up with distiller water is ace, or if you feel posh the Autoglym cream glass cleaner is good.

 

Is that IPA as in India Pale Ale?

[Pete-M]

Never use a cloth to clean windows. Blue roll and whichever cheap Blue glass cleaner the motor factors sell is the way forward. Don't use scrunched up bits of it either, spread your hand out and wipe with the largest surface area you can. Change the paper before it gets damp. Don't scrimp on roll. Don't let the glass cleaner dry on the windows. Wipe on, wipe off. Do the outside first,

[oldcars]

I swear by the 3M glass cleaner, it sprays on like a foam. Its the only cleaner that i can get to work, rest look like Stevie Wonder has cleaned the glass.

[martc]

Vinegar is a good call. So is newspaper, though I find kitchen towel good too. I use Rain X cleaner for the side windows, because it makes the water bead nicely so they clear at speed. I don't like to use it on the windscreen though.

I was thinking of getting some Rain X specifically for the front window - why don't you like to use it?

 

The rear wiper scuds about on the rear window as it seems too efficient at removing water whilst there is a couple of wipes left. Can you still by wiper lubricant which was added to the washer water? Would rain X help?

[dave21478]

Clean the insides with horizontal strokes and the outside with vertical strokes so that if you get a streak, you know if its on the inside or the outside.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

These days I find The best way of cleaning glass is to use Romanians, you'll never have enough hands to compete with the 7 blokes with bits of microfibre method.

Many years ago I went to the Chauffeurs Training School at the company that made Panhard's car. A full three days were spent on washing and polishing , woe betide any student who used his window leather on paintwork or his below waistline one on the bonnet. Anyway they espoused the use of window cleaners scrim, I don't even know if it's still made.

As for vinegar, I once got so pissed off with the greasey screen on an XJ40 once, I poured a bottle of Sarsons over it with the wiper on full, fucking thing smelt like a chip shop for weeks.

[oldcars]

Autoshitter way =half tatie

 

http://m.wikihow.com/Keep-Car-Windows-Fog-Free-Using-a-Potato

Be careful. i did this and got a big chip in the windscreen.......................................