Yep, I'm sticking with the Lidl stuff. Might pick up another 5l tomorrow whilst they still have some left.

I bought 5 bottles from Lidl, thats 25 litres,

Should last me a very, very, very, long time..

+1 for the Lidl screenwash. Not the stuff they have all year round, but the tall 5l bottles that they have just got in over the past couple of weeks. They get it in every year around this time. Made in Germany, I think.

One of the best screenwash concentrates going, IMHO

Was in Lidl on Friday and they had loads left. Normally I miss out.

Well, based on this thread, I just picked up two of the 5L bottles from Lidl.......£5.99 a go......they have loads of it up here!!!

Might go get some more......although 10L should do for a while......???

Edited 14 November, 201213 yr by Johnny_BoomBoom

Depends on how much fluid concentrate you get through. With my headlight washers and salt slurried roads I can get through a couple of litres a week and if that is diluted 50% then a school maths question is developing. .

I bought a 5L keg of -60°C from Lidl the other day. Mixed it with water until I had roughly 15L (1:3) and it still foams way way way too much, especially at the headlight sprayers. My car looks like it has rabies and my headlights are mostly useless until the foam has settled.

It was a flimsy transparent plastic keg, made in germany, called "Ultimate Speed" something or other.

Not buying this again.

Surprised to here that.

Here in the UK, a lot of car enthusiasts watch Lidl like hawks from mid-October, because we know that is when they get in the 'Ultimate Speed' screenwash. And buy up enough to get through the winter. Between our two cars, I usually use 20 - 25 litres of concentrate.

With my headlight washers and salt slurried roads I can get through a couple of litres a week and if that is diluted 50% then a school maths question is developing. .

On the headlight washer question, can the timing be increased on the FL? Seem to remember that might be an issue, but it's certainly helped my consumption of the stuff on a pre-FL, by setting the fire time to 1.5s - just helps you control when the lights get washed a bit more.

I haven't found anything relating to the headlight washers the maxidot settings in my FL car, anyways. Have I just not looked hard enough?

I do know that the headlight sprayers fire every fifth time you pull the wiper stalk, and/or the first time after every restart, it seems.

Nothing in maxidot about changing the timing. I'd be interested if there is anything in vcds as they are thirsty little blighters.

I've now managed not to set them off with my heavy handedness when putting the rear wiper on

Not a fan of the Lidl screenwash, i found it smeared far too much.

Holts for me for the last 3 years, on three different vehicles all working great.

I mostly use the VAG stuff and never had any blocking problems.

AFAIK, the main problem is the detergent in the cheap stuff. I know when I used to work at Halfords if there was ever a spill of their ready made screen wash it left a sticky residue even after cleaning. That's the stuff which blocks the fan jets and it's made worse because of the interaction of the detergent with minerals in the water making a water soluble gel-like scum. The VAG has a high methanol content (you can smell it) which is what stops it freezing but I'm not sure whether there is less or different detergent.

I've found that if I use super concetrate it seems to be less viscous. I've used this one from B&Q and it lasted ages, but can't seem to find it any more.

http://www.ebay.co.u...=item460a58934f

Yep, it's not a Maxidot setting - that would probably be an unwelcome level of complexity, akin to BMW's iDrive - for adjusting the milliseconds before the washers fire

It's available within VCDS, for a pre-FL anyway. I possibly recall someone checking for an FL, but not finding it. Basically you can adjust the setting for how long the windscreen washer is applied for (length of time the stalk is held back) before the headlamp washers fire.

This still adheres to the 'every 5th time' rule, but it means you don't have to bring them into play unless you really want the lights washed. I know on longer winter trips when I'm clearing the screen fairly often, I might not want or feel the need for the lights to be washed with every 5th application of washer fluid to the windscreen. If so, I just hold the stalk for slightly less than my specified 1.5s time.

Hope that makes sense!

Methanol is being phased out, anyways. It's bad for your health (etc etc) and stores can't legally have it on the store floor... it needs to be locked up.

We have -20°C isopropanol based fluid visible in the store, with a sign that -40° methanol based fluid is available if you ask.

When winter really hits, i typically pour -40C straight into the tank. It's great for defrosting your windscreen.

I use evian® Natural Mineral Water. Protected under a fortress of geological layers built up by glaciers 30,000 years ago, it slowly travels through a natural purifying filter. Untouched by man and free from pollution, its microbiological composition is perfectly sound, mixed with a dash of Tesco screen wash !

I use evian® Natural Mineral Water. Protected under a fortress of geological layers built up by glaciers 30,000 years ago, it slowly travels through a natural purifying filter. Untouched by man and free from pollution, its microbiological composition is perfectly sound, mixed with a dash of Tesco screen wash !

I hope your Octavia knows how well off it is. All its brothers and sisters have to make do with plain old tap water. You have a very privileged windscreen.

Lol mineral water..... Bit of a waste but a great story lol, best with distilled water.

Yep - £5.99 for 5 litres, goes down to -60 (I think) neat and suitable for fan jets. That sounds like the same spec as OEM to me. Picked 2 up at the weekend - should hopefully see me through the winter.

I'm not sure the price, minimum temperature and jet type alone constitutes it as being the same as OEM.

FWIW I've got some of the lidl stuff, some of the QX stuff from ECP and some of the VAG stuff.

QX concentrate:

- Summer 3:1

- Winter 1:1

- Severe Winter - Neat

No temperatures listed, although I doubt it's good below somewhere in the -5 to -10 degrees ranged based on the smell of the stuff (That's purely a guess though). Doesn't mention fan jets at all and so probably isn't.

This is going to be used in a different car.

VAG (1L concentrate):

Min Temp = -72 Degrees (Neat)

Dilution from 1:1 up to 4:1 for summer

-16 protection is about 3L from a single bottle

- Good for fan jets

- Smells pleasent (for screenwash)

- Cleans very well

Lidl Ultimate Speed (5L):

Min Temp = -60 Degrees (Neat)

Dilution from 1:1 up to 4:1 for summer

-10 protection is about 3L from a Litre or 15L from a whole single bottle

- Good for fan jets

- Smells ok

- Cleans well

Blimey......3pages of 'Which screenwash'!!!

Just for info:-

I've used Wilko concentrated screenwash mixed with plain tap water in my Octy for the last 4years (80,00miles)and never had a blocked jet.

There's clearly much to talk about

There's clearly much to talk about

And not a single mention of washing up liquid and a splash of meths.

And not a single mention of washing up liquid and a splash of meths.

Can't be certain, since I'm not exactly part of the ibiza club generation, but I would have thought washing up liquid through a fan-jet spray nozzle would be something like a foam party