The windscreen on the 280 is now badly contaminated - y’know, with those patches which just won’t clean fully and clearly and where the rain no longer beads, including where the blades park and stop and return from each sweep. I’ve replaced wiper blades then I’ve tried to clean it with Autoglym Car Polish, their Fast Glass and even lemon juice and white vinegar; they’ve all failed. Was thinking about trying BKF but thought it might be a bit too harsh?
 

So now my plan is to use Ceriglass with the DA to properly clean the glass but, and here it is; the heated screen won’t be damaged by doing this, will it? Co😕 

Edited 2 August, 20214 yr by numskull

No.

Boiling hot water, rubber gloves, a tiny drop of white spirit in the water and clean it off with newspaper, worked every time for me on any car I owned. Don't put any of those supposed miracle liquids on your windscreen they're terrible and make it worse. Bosch aerotwin wipers after its squeaky clean and you'll never look back. 

14 minutes ago, j caff said:

Boiling hot water

 

Will boiling hot water risk causing cracking ?

 

I used to use hot water from the tap (not boiling) to clear my windscreen on frosty mornings and ended up with a small (but getting bigger) crack in both bottom corners.

I know it's not quite the same as pouring hot water onto a frozen windscreen but I'm wondering if the relative temperature differences would be similar,

Eg... Zero degrees with 55 degree hot tap water added vs let's say 16 degrees with 99 degrees water added.... Temperature change of 55 degrees vs 83 degrees.

 

I could be totally wrong, just thinking out loud.

I didn't mean actually 100 degrees Celsius, as hot as you can bear with a rubber glove on, the water will cool quickly as you clean the screen. 

Thermal shock from very hot water directly on a cold screen risks cracking, expensive if it does crack. If doing this method, fetch the screen temperature up gently, maybe use the heated element or blast it first with hot air from the heater.

1 minute ago, xman said:

Thermal shock from very hot water directly on a cold screen risks cracking, expensive if it does crack. If doing this method, fetch the screen temperature up gently, maybe use the heated element or blast it first with hot air from the heater.

That's a good idea. I didn't mean pouring the water directly from a kettle on to the glass, put a tiny drop of white spirit into a clean basin then put the very hot water in, using a brand new sponge or cloth wash the screen from top to bottom then dry it off using newspaper. Preferably change the wiper blades if they're only new give them a good clean with the sponge until the black stops coming off them. 

Have you tried a good quality coarse clay bar? 
if that doesn’t work normally a cutting pad with even a medium cut compound normally does the trick. 
I would generally only resort to ceri glass for scratches or the likes. 
none of these will damage the heated screen as mentioned above. 

Thanks everyone; I thought it should be ok but best to ask and thanks too for all the methods

Re the Ceriglass, the screen does have a couple of annoying grit arcs which I’d like to remove hence why I’m going down that route. However, re the gunge, I’ll try the white spirit in darned hot water method. 
 

 

If you're unsure of trying to clay the windscreen you could always use a clay mitt instead of the bar they're easier to manage. The white spirits method has never failed me yet. A scummy windscreen is enough to drive you stone crazy. 

Thanks J caff. I’m in your country at the mo and the amount it rains up here in the NW makes matters even worse of course! We had glorious weather for couple of weeks though, so I can’t complain. I’ll get some white spirit and give it a whirl. 

Edited 3 August, 20214 yr by numskull

Few drops of white spirit, white vinegar, lemon juice and surgical alcohol (apparently clear vodka also works for the alcohol)

 

Then rub it with cotton wool pads (which you will find in make-up remover section of shops).  Hopefully dirt will transfer to the pad which will change from white.

 

 

Bit of snow foam and clay bar, machine polish as alternative. I use ipa alcohol or auto smart glass cleaner. Also got ceramic coating on glass...no issues now

Tried the white spirit method of j caff and it did booger all. I will try and polish the crap off the screen, but this is the least of my car worries at the mo, as it’s appears the abs unit is kaput…🙄

I’d be trying some decontamination products.  Iron remover, tar remover etc. 

AHH feck that for a caper, give it a belt with a hammer and get a new one on the insurance!! 

25 minutes ago, j caff said:

AHH feck that for a caper, give it a belt with a hammer and get a new one on the insurance!! 

Just as long as the new screen is not a cheap Chinese version - too many screens are very poor quality and once you tilt to the rake on most motors the inferior laminate quality / material is all too visible.

1 hour ago, Berisford said:

Just as long as the new screen is not a cheap Chinese version - too many screens are very poor quality and once you tilt to the rake on most motors the inferior laminate quality / material is all too visible.

At least it will be clean!! 

Can't say it's a problem I've ever come across before (cheap Chinese screens)

Yeah, don’t really fancy whacking it, especially as it’s a heated screen with all the cameras etc and most fitters do a pretty crap job replacing the trims etc. Ceriglass next….

On really stubborn bits

 

I first wash the glass thoroughly with generous amount of washing up liquid and rinse off with water, dry with kitchen paper roll.

 

Maybe repeat.

 

Then use brake cleaner and rub virgorously with kitchen paper roll. Only do a small area at a time, stand to the side, look at the reflection to see where the patches of contamination are and whether youve made any impression. Throw used paper and use fresh frequently. Probably would work with something like iso proyl alcohol. 

 

Rewash screen

 

Bit more faff if cleaning the inside of the screen, and contamination more stubborn. Do NOT use this method on the inside of a heated screen as I've read the heater film is easily damaged.

 

 

https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/accessories-tyres/63759/best-car-glass-cleaners

 

 

21 minutes ago, gumdrop said:

https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/accessories-tyres/63759/best-car-glass-cleaners

 

 

You can discount Autoglym fast glass as it's brutal on a windscreen, everything is fine until you use the wipers the screen becomes practically opaque. Washing up liquid for me gave the same result, the car was dangerous to drive especially at night. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had such a problem years ago, that I used windolene, put it on pink leave to dry polish off a white powder.

once done I used VW windscreen wash only and except for the occassional heavy vehicle pollution everything

was fine for years. Windowlene disappeared so I used bicarb paste instead, but stuck with the VW wash.

8 minutes ago, gumdrop said:

I had such a problem years ago, that I used windolene, put it on pink leave to dry polish off a white powder.

once done I used VW windscreen wash only and except for the occassional heavy vehicle pollution everything

was fine for years. Windowlene disappeared so I used bicarb paste instead, but stuck with the VW wash.

Windowlene was fantastic, bicarb paste is a great suggestion. I use prestone screenwash it's brilliant I've heard great things about the VW screenwash. I'm using the prestone in a 9:1 mixture. 

1 minute ago, j caff said:

Windowlene was fantastic, bicarb paste is a great suggestion. I use prestone screenwash it's brilliant I've heard great things about the VW screenwash. I'm using the prestone in a 9:1 mixture. 

Prestone is very good, I was Ooop North and ran out of screen wash for the journey home, The service station only had the prediluted blue stuff but the till man said pop across to the industrial estate

I bought some Prestone, the workshop let me wash my screen and refill the washer bottle and it was very good especially with an up with the dawn start.