It’s important to keep your glass as clean as possible at this time of year because whenever you drive into the sun, anything stuck to it could be a distraction. Here’s what I do. The whole event should take no more than half an hour for large screen and 15 minutes for MX5s. DO NOT use on plastic rear windows!
Buy yourself some 0000 grade wire wool. It’s the finest grade generally available. Anything else could/will mark your glass.
Buy some car wax. Anything will do.
Buy some vinegar. Sachets from the chippy are perfect.
Screen & Windows
Park the car facing the sun or a bright light so that you can see the little dots of tree sap etc highlighted from the inside.
Lift your wipers out of the way.
Give the windscreen a rinse and wipe down to remove loose gunk. It doesn’t have to be any more than a rinse with water at this stage, as you’ll wash it down again in about 15 minutes. Those of you with detailed cars will want to cover painted surfaces with a blanket or mask them off.
Take a pad/chunk of 0000 grade wire wool and starting from a corner (I tend to start at the top and work down) rub with a firm pressure over a 6" square area of your windscreen. Keep checking from the inside to ensure you have removed the little pinhead sized dots of sap before moving to the next area. I have found that either a circular or straight scrubbing motion works equally well.
When you are happy with the result, rinse the windscreen down again with water to remove any stray residue of wire wool. Take a normal polishing cloth put some wax onto it and work it into a small area of your screen. Allow it to dry to a haze and buff it off. Repeat the waxing/buffing process regularly as this helps to prevent sap from sticking, acts as a water repellant and it allows your wipers to glide over your screen more easily.
Wipers & Window scrapers
Using a clean rag, soak part of it with vinegar. For those of you in Surrey or Berkshire, please use Jamie Oliver’s premium Italian malt vinegar, the rest of you cheapo chippy sachets. Run your wetted cloth along the length of your wipers ensuring you also clean the entire blade. Do this until the black residue stops coming off.
Repeat this weekly, as the more often you do this, the easier it is to deal with.
Now put all your stuff away and go for a nice drive just for the hell of it.
After rinsing and drying the screen I use vinegar applied with newspaper to the screen and wiper blades. I then dry and polish the screen with a second piece of newspaper. It works brilliantly, I found this tip on the Honest John website (very useful site for car reviews).
You may need to do this a couple of times is your screen is very streaky.
I have been using the above for a few years and never had a problem with a streaky screen.
Many car waxes say NOT to use on glass. I once did it, went out on a wet night, switched the wipers on and it was instant fog. I’ve always used Isopropyl Alcohol followed by liquid spray window cleaner put on and removed with a wadge of kitchen towel. I also clean the blades with Iso Alcohol and a wipe over with fairy liquid to keep them pliable.
And what ever you use finish it off with Rainex on the screen and blades, amazing stuff when it rains it smashes the rain into a million trillion bits and vanishes
why make it all so complicated! Autyglym Fastglass, decent microfibre cloth and its sorted. No dead flies, no streaks, nice clean screen… And you can go for a drive a lot sooner…
Hear hear !! . I clean the wiper blades and polish the glass inside and out 2 - 3 times a year. The rest of the time the outside glass gets washed along with the rest of the car.
I know you say rinse well but wouldn’t wire wool leave traces leading to those rust dots. I know it’s happened to me in the past when cleaning pots in a white ceramic sink, I got a right old ear bashing off SWMBO.
I agree with the above, and with anybody who abhors the use of wire wool, or any abrasive on the windscreen. Once you start down that road there’s no stopping! And why would you let the screen get into such a state that it would need that sort of abuse in the first place?
Another nod to the above. Plus 1 extra tool. Solder/attach a Stanley blade on to a flat-head screwdriver .
Then before actual cleaning of the windscreen, use a good spray lube on the windscreen then starting at the top, lay the blade almost parallel with the glass and push down towards the bottom. Difficult to get a better “close shave” than this…gets so much gunk and dead things off.
I always thought that newspaper ink was made from old engine oil and soot.
Anyway, it’s greasy, as illustrated on your hands every time you’ve finished with your newspaper.
I always thought that newspaper ink was made from old engine oil and soot.
Anyway, it’s greasy, as illustrated on your hands every time you’ve finished with your newspaper.