windscreen cleaning

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Aug 26, 2009
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I have tried without success to clean the windscreen exterior which is covered with dry rain pattern.
This shows up when the glass is wet.
Running my finger on it the glass surface feels rough. The dried rain pattern and road grim must have engrained themselves into the surface of the glass.
I have tried few normal glass cleaner spray, cream, etc... but the rain pattern is not shifting.

Any idea what product I can try that does not scratch the glass?
 
Not sure if available in the UK, but another product to try is Gel-Gloss Glass Wax Cleaner. Here in the US it's available at Ace Hardware stores.
 
Some my find this to be crude, but I use waterless hand cleaner as the first pass when cleaning a windshield. The kind with the abrasive in it.

Small amount on glass, scrub with bare hand. When I can't feel anything sticking, I rinse with water, then follow with Invisible Glass or similar. Takes off tree sap, bugs and any other hard to remove stuff. Been doing it this way for a long time.
 
NON-VEGAN Bon Ami in the RED can. If you can't find that, an old detailer's trick was to use an acidic cleaner to remove the water spots.
 
If it's just water deposits then try some white vinegar 1:1 with distilled water.

If it's etched into the glass then abrasives are required.
 
Last weekend, I used some Griots Garage Glass Polish on my orbital with a Griots glass polishing disk. It worked great, and I followed up with some RainX.

If that seems like a big investment, I'd start with RainX, or buy some of the Griot's Glass Polish and apply by hand in a circular pattern.
 
I ended up having to use #0000 steel wool and was told to use a quality glass cleaner like Invisible Glass. If I remember correctly it was just for lubrication as the steel wool did all the work. The glass company I asked about this also said to only go in one direction with the steel wool and not to push down to hard.
 
I use cerium oxide abrasive, which is best for polishing windshield glass. It cures etch type staining. I then follow up up with a rain-x type of treatment.

I've even had etch stains on a brand new windshield that was freshly installed.
 
thanks for all the replies. Looks like I most probably have to use some kind of mild abrasive. If so, will the glass clarity (transparency) be affected?

think I will first try the acid/ vinegar first
 
I've had bad luck with steel wool, no matter how many "0"s were in the name.. It might work, but you kind of need to have a good feel for it.
 
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