Windscreen cleaner

Nov 11, 2009
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With the low autumn sun I’ve noticed how quickly the cars’ windscreens seem to develop a film inside. I use Autoglym Fastglass, going over the screen 2-3 times but it doesn’t seem to remove it all. I have used Autoglym Screen Polish but the white powdery residue can get messy. I use microfibre cloths to remove the cleaning medium.

Domestic window cleaners with vinegar aren’t recommended as they can damage the glass, so some say. What screen cleaners do Forumites use?
 
Nov 6, 2005
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With the low autumn sun I’ve noticed how quickly the cars’ windscreens seem to develop a film inside. I use Autoglym Fastglass, going over the screen 2-3 times but it doesn’t seem to remove it all. I have used Autoglym Screen Polish but the white powdery residue can get messy. I use microfibre cloths to remove the cleaning medium.

Domestic window cleaners with vinegar aren’t recommended as they can damage the glass, so some say. What screen cleaners do Forumites use?
At the risk of stating the obvious, check that the cabin pollen filter is in good shape, indeed that they've bothered to refit one at the last service.

I use generic glass cleaner.
 
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Nov 11, 2009
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At the risk of stating the obvious, check that the cabin pollen filter is in good shape, indeed that they've bothered to refit one at the last service.

I use generic glass cleaner.
Pollen filter was replaced in August, so that shouldn’t be a concern. They showed the old one at the time. Assuming of course it was out of my car😱
 
Nov 11, 2009
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Reading a website from a detailing company they recommend spraying the cleaning fluid on to the cloth, doing the outside first using vertical wiping action. Then the inside using horizontal wiping action. This makes it easier to spot missed or smudged areas. But in terms of fluids some advocate not using vinegar or ammonia based fluids. Others use them. My old dad used Squeezy and old newspapers, finishing off with Mum’s duster.
 

Sam Vimes

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I was just about to ask the same question.

This never used to be a problem with my older cars. It used to be called Traffic Film and the old cars never had pollen or cabin filters nor air conditioning. Most notably they had far less synthetic materials in side. Everything seems to be made of plastic these days - to use the generic term.

At the risk of escalting things there was also far less attention to environmental issues - meaning materials have had to change to produce less polution - except on your windscreen. Have we traded one issue for another.

In the old days you could just wait until the windscreen got condensed up and wipe it with a chamois cloth. And yes my father-in-law recommended newspaper and toothpaste - total disaster in my opinion and luckily I only tried it on the outside once.

I've tried all of the above, except the Crystal Blue stuff and none of them are 100 % affect in just one go.

Strangely my house windows, this year, have had the same problem. Las time I did them I went over them four times with a different approach and just about managed to get the smears removed.

OC - is this perhaps a phenomena of your new glasses. I'm about to collect mine and I expect that my windscreen will appear worse :)
 
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Jun 20, 2005
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The Crystal Blue is very similar to Fast Glass. Both say use paper towel for best results . Must be some relevance?
 
Nov 11, 2009
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50,935
I was just about to ask the same question.

This never used to be a problem with my older cars. It used to be called Traffic Film and the old cars never had pollen or cabin filters nor air conditioning. Most notably they had far less synthetic materials in side. Everything seems to be made of plastic these days - to use the generic term.

At the risk of escalting things there was also far less attention to environmental issues - meaning materials have had to change to produce less polution - except on your windscreen. Have we traded one issue for another.

In the old days you could just wait until the windscreen got condensed up and wipe it with a chamois cloth. And yes my father-in-law recommended newspaper and toothpaste - total disaster in my opinion and luckily I only tried it on the outside once.

I've tried all of the above, except the Crystal Blue stuff and none of them are 100 % affect in just one go.

Strangely my house windows, this year, have had the same problem. Las time I did them I went over them four times with a different approach and just about managed to get the smears removed.

OC - is this perhaps a phenomena of your new glasses. I'm about to collect mine and I expect that my windscreen will appear worse :)
Like you our double glazed windows (3years old) seem more resistant to cleaning than the old ones. But I can’t blame the new specs as I’ve not been able to get a smear free windscreen for a while. I do suspect proprietary cleaners lack the muscle.
 

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