DIY : Car Windshield Cleaning. Low cost method to get the Best Shine

[avingodb]

Good idea. Similarly, previously I have used old shaving cream to clean up dried bird droppings and results were equally good.

[akshay4587]

I used colgate with active salt,to clean up fogged up headlamps,and result was pretty good

[drpullockaran]

Originally Posted by ilangop

What I feel is that, over time & continued usage of toothpaste can leave microscratches on the glass and blur the vision during night driving, and will also scatter the light from the On coming traffic.
I would rather stay away from toothpaste & better go with shampoo.

You have hit the nail on the head. Toothpaste and all such abrasive containing cleaning agents can be and may be used on every glass and clear plastic surface like your headlamps but leave the driver side of your windshield to only pure soap agents to do the cleaning . If at all your are hell bent on cleaning the windshield leave it to windshield experts who have the rotary buff and very expensive extremely fine grit polishing agents. Night driving becomes horrendous after a couple of times with toothpaste on the windshield. Micro scratches on the driver side of the windshield is a recipe for scattered light and a disaster waiting to happen. Even fine dust can scratch your wind shield and hence the reason you have the water spray to mitigate the effects of the wiper running on dry dusty glass.

[siddharthp]

Originally Posted by ghpk

For Cleaning with shampoo, I've seen rainbow colored spots on windscreen it may be due to left over shampoo on screen or whatever.

+1,Shampoo actually causes the rainbow colored spots.I tried this as low cost option but then resisted from it.Else,any Windshield cleaner is always better but IMHO,gel toothpaste really works better!

[Raccoon]

Talking about abrasives on windscreen, can somebody say conclusively if its safe/standard practice to use "zero number" sandpaper on the windscreen?

Asking because MASS body shop where my car was given for some painting and denting job messed up my windscreen with what seems to be clearcoat spray. When I took it back to them they rubbed this sandpaper after wetting the windscreen.

Now it seems to have few fine and deep scratches. They say it its safe and routine to use "zero number" sandpaper on the screen. I have serious doubts... tough I cannot conclusively say if its the sandpaper did this to the screen, or the stuff and dust on the windscreen on which the sandpaper was rubbed or something else.

Can somebody comment please?

More details (Incredibly shoddy work & damage by MASS (Chowgule Industries))

[Aroy]

Originally Posted by Raccoon

Talking about abrasives on windscreen, can somebody say conclusively if its safe/standard practice to use "zero number" sandpaper on the windscreen?

Asking because MASS body shop where my car was given for some painting and denting job messed up my windscreen with what seems to be clearcoat spray. When I took it back to them they rubbed this sandpaper after wetting the windscreen.

Now it seems to have few fine and deep scratches. They say it its safe and routine to use "zero number" sandpaper on the screen. I have serious doubts... tough I cannot conclusively say if its the sandpaper did this to the screen, or the stuff and dust on the windscreen on which the sandpaper was rubbed or something else.

Can somebody comment please?

More details (Incredibly shoddy work & damage by MASS (Chowgule Industries))

When you use an abrasive on any surface to clear up scratches, the abrasive grinds the surface away, till the depth of the scratches. You will get an excellent finish using abrasives, but the windshield will be thinner and in the long term more prone to damage.

By the way instead of zero grade sandpaper, you can use the "rubbing compound" used by denters for final polish of repainted cars. This has a finer grit compared to sand paper. Again beware, you are grinding away the material when you use the abrasives!.

[ghpk]

Using abrasive paper on wind screen is never safe, nor any standard practice I've ever heard of.

This certainly shows unprofessional attitude by service center.

A professional person/service center would clean any paint marks using proper solvent and use something soft to rub, the rubber wipe used in installing sun films is the hardest thing I could think of currently.

[siddharthp]

Originally Posted by Raccoon

Talking about abrasives on windscreen, can somebody say conclusively if its safe/standard practice to use "zero number" sandpaper on the windscreen?

Asking because MASS body shop where my car was given for some painting and denting job messed up my windscreen with what seems to be clearcoat spray. When I took it back to them they rubbed this sandpaper after wetting the windscreen.

Now it seems to have few fine and deep scratches. They say it its safe and routine to use "zero number" sandpaper on the screen. I have serious doubts... tough I cannot conclusively say if its the sandpaper did this to the screen, or the stuff and dust on the windscreen on which the sandpaper was rubbed or something else.

I used to clean my cricket bat which had leather ball spots on it with "zero number" sandpaper every month and used leave some minor scratches on wooden bat.I am absolutely surprised to hear sandpaper implementation on glass actually.Windscreen is something very delicate and important part of car.

For me atleast, using sandpaper for glass cleaning is absolutely no-no.Adding to it,once sandpaper is wet,its fine granules gets separated from paper and causing Swirling scratches.

Dust on Windscreen will not cause deep scratches if we clean the glass with free flowing water .Dry dusting is also OK sometimes but to rub it with plain cloth is also damaging.I can not even imagine sandpaper here !Atleast,I have never seen anybody cleaning Windscreen like this.

[roy_libran]

Why not just the old fashioned way of using old newspapers?
Works brilliantly and gives similar results, at less than the Taam Jhaam required to do this. :-)

[honeybee]

I used to apply toothpaste (with a toothbrush!) to my Maruti's windshield and it shone like anything. Over months, however, the glass showed fine concentric circles which started creating problems with oncoming headlights. However, I do think it was the toothbrush rather than the toothpaste which was responsible for it.

[mpksuhas]

Originally Posted by ghpk

truck/taxi drivers rub tobacco also in rainy season, but I haven't tried and would not try it on my car atleast.

For Cleaning with shampoo, I've seen rainbow colored spots on windscreen it may be due to left over shampoo on screen or whatever.

I have used tobacco for cleaning windshield, however its not much help in cleaning dust since it doesnt have any detergent like quality as such. The use of tobacco was for getting oily layer accumalated on windsheild from exhaust gases of other vehicles removed. First we need to clean windshield with water and any glass cleaning solution once that is done rinse the windshield again and apply tobacco over it. Later wipe with news paper. This was how we used to clean our premier padmini.

Would try the tooth paste trick next time, I been trying with Collins solution and during rains found that it is useful only to clean dust and not the oily residue.

[anuragn]

My car was also in MASS for denting and painting. While taking delivery of the car, I noticed some lacquer-like substance stuck on the windshield which had probably come from other cars during spray painting.
The service center guys used 2000 no. emery paper (its actually 2000 and not zero number as mentioned in previous posts) on the glass and then polished using a grinder. The glass became good as new. And to my surprise, a few of the old scratches too disappeared. I'm happy.
Dont know about long term ill-effects, but still I suspect that one such session cannot remove more than a few microns from a glass surface that is probably 5-6 mm thick, which is negligible.

[hrman]

Nice and informative post. What I liked most was the way in which you have detailed every step, adding a touch of humour.
I have personally tried the potato trick to clear the windscreen. Didnt work.. Will try tooth paste the next time.

[Raccoon]

Aroy, ghpk, Siddharthp,thanks a lot for the inputs.

Actually, after I took the car to them 1st time, they rubbed it with what they call "zero number" sandpaper with water. This of course did not do the job and even wipers were not moving properly on the glass. After escalation, they took the car again, but I don't know what exactly they did. They have gotten rid of whatever rough film was on the glass, but now there are scratches. About 3 are deep enough that you can run your fingernail on it. And now they are all visible all the time while in the car, and thats enough to drive me nuts. The screen did not have a single scratch in all these years. Never used more than water and sponge to clean the screen. Now they have ruined years of careful use in a single shot.

Some other frustrations too, but off topic here. Will add that to my thread mentioned above.

That said, they got that film on the headlamps too. However, they told me they sent the car for headlamp restoration (at their cost). To make it brief, the results are very good. Not only have they got the film off the headlamps, the headlamps look almost new now! So they have in fact left them in a better condition then they were before they messed up. Anbody who has faded/yellowed/scratched headlamp lenses that you think may be obstructing light output, can definitely consider going in for this process.

Not sure how to take this windscreen issue back to them. They make me sign a satisfaction letter when I took delivery... sigh!

This MASS workshop is giving us endless problems.

[anand_lukose]

I remember somebody suggesting me that the best combination was Newspaper with coke but only on the windshield.

I guess the acidic nature of coke would create long term issues. But for me, the newspaper+Water combo seems to be the most convenient of them all especially for long distances.

Would definitely try this combo out to see the difference. I am pretty sure it would look awkward for my neighbours