Anyone else really struggle with glass?

[JCFoster]

I posted this a while back. I’ve been using this with a glass buffing pad and buffer to clean the windshield and have been pleased. It does have a small of acid so I wouldn’t use it on paint or other surfaces.

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[Hadelson]

Dawn Dishwashing liquid and warm water. Microfiber cloth. Rinse window first and wipe off residue. Then apply solution of 1/3 cup of Dawn in gallon of water. Simple elbow grease. Dry off and all grease and smudging eliminated from inside.

 

[Rapid Red]

If you REALLY want clean glass, and you have or can buy or rent a Dual Action Polisher and some M105 or similar finishing compound, then you can get it all and, polish the glass at the same time.

You'll be amazed at how much contamination accumulates wax after wax. Here's a shot showing half the windshield polished and the other half not. A little IPA to point out the gunk. Keep in mind, the entire windshield is coated in 90 IPA.

All good outside what about a DA and the outer side? Like they say there is always 2 sides to every window.

 

[331GT]

I am glad I am not the only one to have this problem- i started wondering how i ever made it this far in life without being able to properly clean glass ha. It was mostly the interior for me, rear and front. i finally decided to move the car to have the sun shine in from whichever direction made the smears most apparent and visible to see what i was working with. glass cleaner kept leaving smears-finally i tried regular old rubbing alcohol on a microfiber towel and then glass cleaner after. i think somehow i was just smearing oil around (from what, i am not sure, i bought the car used) instead of getting it off. the rubbing alcohol helped tremendously but i need to hit it again with the alcohol. i am hoping once i get whatever is on the glass off, just regular window cleaner will suffice going forward. good luck, it's damned frustrating!

 

[kilobravo]

what about a DA and the outer side?

Greg: I presume you meant the INside (other) of the glass. <smile> If so, I'm afraid that the only answer there is elbow grease, good towels, and lots of Invisible Glass. Fortunately, the inside doesn't get the waxes, etc., that the outside gets and in my experience, IG does as good a job as anything else I've tried.

 

[Rapid Red]

Greg: I presume you meant the INside (other) of the glass. <smile> If so, I'm afraid that the only answer there is elbow grease, good towels, and lots of Invisible Glass. Fortunately, the inside doesn't get the waxes, etc., that the outside gets and in my experience, IG does as good a job as anything else I've tried.

Oh man ..... not typist for sure....

 

[DFB5.0]

This short video gives some good tips regarding glass care -

 

[Kristian87]

I finally got round to giving my glass a good cleaning yesterday.

On the inside I went straight in with a damp magic eraser sprayed with some carpro eraser. Mopped up with one glass towel, then buffed with another.

For the exterior, I went to town! Once the glass was clean, it got a clay (block) using glass cleaner as lubricant. I then went over once more with carpro eraser. No matter what towel I dried with, I did seem to see wipe marks - akin to hazing following a polish, very hard to spot but it was there. Followed up with the magic eraser and this seemed to mostly get the glass super clean, wipe marks much much less.

The windscreen only got a polish by hand (carpro ceriglass) and then all exterior glass got a coating of Adams glass sealant. Buffed off with carpro eraser again.

I hit the road just after sunset so missed out on the sun really showing me how good my work was! But aside from a few minor "smudges" on the interior glass, I think I'm pretty happy with the results.

Towel management could have been better I think - there was no real thought behind which towels I used and when, but I did get through 6 or so towels.

 

[kilobravo]

Great post, Kristian but you know, we're all "photo junkies." <grin>

I've never tried Eraser on grimy glass, (surprised I haven't,) but I would have thought that it would be able to leave the glass streak-free.

For me, in south Texas where the air itself can be grimy, what worked was polishing the glass and coating it with Hyde's. Huge improvement. But even that doesn't last forever so I've had to repeat the Hyde's once about six months later. NBD and now I try to minimize what I put on the glass in between which seems to be helping with streaks. Next time will be a re-polish.

IIR, I went with yellow pads and 205 that first time.

 

[DFB5.0]

Funny the mention of glass polishing, that's exactly what I did today, although not on the Mustang.

I used CarPro CeriGlass, CarPro glass polishing pads and CarPro masking tape.

Once done, I cleaned the windows with Eraser before coating them with NV Glass Lite.

Love the look of crystal clean glass.

In terms of using Eraser for glass cleaning, being alcohol based like Stoners, it works very well at this task.

 

[Kristian87]

Arggghhhh the smears

Sunny day yesterday, a perfect day for reviewing my results!

Out of the back window I can tell that the glass is mostly crystal clear but there are swipe marks from where I did a final buff. I go side to side on the interior glass. Given that I went in with the magic eraser, I can only blame a contaminated towel or poor technique. I got back in there after taking this photo for another buffing which improved things but still not 100% wipe mark free.

The front windscreen is generally pretty good, a few "smudges" where I didn't buff too well were easily taken care of, but what was noticeable was a patchy sort of "fog" as I was driving and getting the sun at different angles. I'm guessing this is the norm for the film that accumulates from the dash? I tend not to put anything on there in terms of dressing. Just gets a wipe over with a interior detailer.

I've got a good selection of glass towels, all washed with P&S rags to riches - on their own, so I guess I just need to be more methodical when I'm using them - fold into 4, don't overuse etc.

Frustrating because I always think if I was to do detailing part time and handed someone the keys, they'd be on the phone straight away saying "you really didn't do the glass well did ya" lol

 

[Bobn57]

First: Clean windows to get most of the crap off
Using paper towel and glass cleaner.

Second: Get a Mister Clean Magic Eraser,
Soak it in warm water in a cup.
Wring most of the water out and
Then clean your glass. (Small circle motion)
I use just the damp eraser on my cars.
Customer cars that the owners smoke
in, I use an all purpose cleaner with the
Magic Eraser on the inside glass.

Third: Clean the glass with your favorite
Cleaner and use a Micro Fiber
towel made for glass. (No streaks or
Lint)

The first step with a paper towel is help keep the Micro Fiber towel made for glass from really getting dirty.
Clean the glass OUT OF THE SUN.

The products that I prefer are:
Glass cleaner: Spray Away or Malco
All purpose cleaner: Adams
Micro Fiber Glass Towel: Gliptone

I get great results using this method.

just saw this same recommendation on you tube this past week. Tried it and very happy with the results, especially on the interior glass. Apparently the gassing of plastics in the interior leaves an oily film on the glass. Conventional glass cleaning did not help. The microfiber towels and magic eraser did the trick. I followed up with Rain X cleaner and its really clear.
Just hard to clean the rear window being 6'4".

 

[Bikeman315]

Just hard to clean the rear window being 6'4".

Lower you back seats and go in through the trunk. It looks really silly but you back will thank you.

 

[kilobravo]

Say what, Ira? I don't think that is possible on one of these vehicles, is it? At least not without a lot more effort than cleaning the back glass I would think.

 

[Bikeman315]

Say what, Ira? I don't think that is possible on one of these vehicles, is it? At least not without a lot more effort than cleaning the back glass I would think.

Oh no, not me, I do it the hard way. But I rembered this from 2016

Put the front seats forward, pull the rear seatbacks down, open the trunk. Either go on feet first from the front and put your legs in the trunk, or crawl in from the trunk, sitting up when you get into the rear seat. Way easier to get close to the glass without your legs and the seatback in the way.

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