Stupid Question: How to effectively clean interior windows?

[89Suburban]

I purchased a cleaning wand and terry cloth covers. I cleaned the inside of the windshield and front door windows with a couple of sprays of vinegar on the covers, then wiped the glass. Followed up by wiping the glass with a fresh dry cover.
I cleaned the outside of the front door windows and door mirrors with windex and glass cleaning towels.

We shall see...

Now that were are getting frost here overnight and the windows get fogged up you can clearly see the swirl marks from the damn microfiber towel. GRRRRRR....

 

[B-train]

Do you put your knees on the steering wheel, or on the dashboard?

I was wondering the same thing! I picture butt cheeks sticking up out of the sunroof from some dude bent over, standing on both seats.......magically working some wand and spray bottle between his legs. I bet that windshield never looked so good to the wife.......LOL

 

[B-train]

Now that were are getting frost here overnight and the windows get fogged up you can clearly see the swirl marks from the damn microfiber towel. GRRRRRR....

Agreed. I tend to just try and polish them out while driving down the road to work. I've found that work shirts, carhart hats, and the occasional taco Bell napkins do the trick. Keeping the truck on the road while scrubbing back and forth is the hard part.

 

[skpyle]

Now that were are getting frost here overnight and the windows get fogged up you can clearly see the swirl marks from the damn microfiber towel. GRRRRRR....

That is part of what I have been running into. I clean the windshield, it looks good to me. Sun hits it just right, or windshield fogs up a bit, and I see how lousy a job I did.

 

[Blackcar]

I have good luck with Stoner Invisible Glass cleaner and paper towels. Work well on Mirrors in home also.

Glass Care

Glass care that is so good, you'll think it's invisible. 100% residue and streak-free, tested and proven by a leading independent laboratory. Getting professional-quality car care results has never been easier.

stonercarcare.com

 

[George B]

Now that were are getting frost here overnight and the windows get fogged up you can clearly see the swirl marks from the damn microfiber towel. GRRRRRR....

I don’t think micro fiber cloths are all they are cracked up to be. I have never had much luck with any of them. I think your better off with a good dry terry towel or dish towel.

An old white tee shirt works as well as anything on glass. No need to get all fancy.

 

[Rocket Man]

Now that were are getting frost here overnight and the windows get fogged up you can clearly see the swirl marks from the damn microfiber towel. GRRRRRR....

Wait until they’re un-fogged. You’ll see those marks no matter what when there’s fog on the glass. Glass is porous and it absorbs shit that is only seen under certain conditions, one of which is when fog is on the glass. Another way to see this nearly invisible shit is if you do what some people do, and look AT the glass from an extreme wide angle under bright light as opposed to looking through the glass to see what’s on the other side. It doesn’t matter what you do, there will always be some nearly invisible shit on all your glass that you’ll only be able to see if you really want to. So turn on the defroster. The worst thing you can do is touch the glass when it looks like that. You’ll make a mess. And if anybody wants to see just how terrible your last glass washing was, just fog up the glass. It’s like those tv shows where they’re looking for blood evidence and they turn on the black light.

 

[skpyle]

So far, so good. I work night shift, 7:00PM to 7:00AM. Yesterday morning, cold out, low angle sun from sunrise. There was almost no film on the inside of the windshield. Only places that I had missed with the wand. Because I suck at using it. So far, the vinegar seems to be working.

 

[89Suburban]

So far, so good. I work night shift, 7:00PM to 7:00AM. Yesterday morning, cold out, low angle sun from sunrise. There was almost no film on the inside of the windshield. Only places that I had missed with the wand. Because I suck at using it. So far, the vinegar seems to be working.

Are you mixing it or using it straight?

 

[89Suburban]

Ok I took the "vinegar plunge". Took me half an hour to find it on the grocery store because "I don't usually groce". I bought a gallon of "cleaner vinegar". Instead of the "distilled vinegar". Cuz I am retarded and stuff.

So I mixed it 1:4 ratio of vin to wat in a spray bottle. Yes I did a "waft" of said vinegar when I first opened it. Stanky stuff. I sprayed the glass, used the wand stick towel thing to clean. It made a HELL of a greasy looking mess on the first pass. I followed it with a clean wipe down towel. Did this on both on both the front door windows inside and out and mirrors. In the dark, cold, damp mid 40's tonight with my work light looking for smears.

I put everything back in the garage. The tinge of vinegar stings in my mouth like a whiff of battery acid sulfur type thing. And I did it bare handed so I got this nasty vin stink on my skin on my hands.

I scrubbed down in the wash sink and headed out to run my errands for the night. I have to say, it kicks ass. That glass was so clean and spot and streak free. Holy cow. But the after taste is tough. I will work on this formula. And wear gloves next time to see if it helps.

 

[skpyle]

Are you mixing it or using it straight?

I am spraying it straight out of a small mist bottle. I wanted to see how it worked full strength and decide if I needed to cut it with distilled water.

 

[skpyle]

Ok I took the "vinegar plunge". Took me half an hour to find it on the grocery store because "I don't usually groce". I bought a gallon of "cleaner vinegar". Instead of the "distilled vinegar". Cuz I am retarded and stuff.

So I mixed it 1:4 ratio of vin to wat in a spray bottle. Yes I did a "waft" of said vinegar when I first opened it. Stanky stuff. I sprayed the glass, used the wand stick towel thing to clean. It made a HELL of a greasy looking mess on the first pass. I followed it with a clean wipe down towel. Did this on both on both the front door windows inside and out and mirrors. In the dark, cold, damp mid 40's tonight with my work light looking for smears.

I put everything back in the garage. The tinge of vinegar stings in my mouth like a whiff of battery acid sulfur type thing. And I did it bare handed so I got this nasty vin stink on my skin on my hands.

I scrubbed down in the wash sink and headed out to run my errands for the night. I have to say, it kicks ass. That glass was so clean and spot and streak free. Holy cow. But the after taste is tough. I will work on this formula. And wear gloves next time to see if it helps.

Ouch. Sorry. I have been using vinegar for years to clean other things, so I am used to it. Definitely suggest nitrile gloves for you. Also, when I cleaned my windows, I had all the doors open. And left them open for a bit to air out the interior.

 

[Larryjb]

I have tried pretty much all of the methods above. The best ones have lasted maybe a few weeks, but up here near the pacific NW, any amount of humidity in the cool weather makes this "film" show up really bad. I have concluded that most of the methods above don't actually remove the film. Perhaps is smoothens the film so that moisture in the air doesn't interact with the film? (Condensation tends to form on rough surfaces. It doesn't have to be rough to the touch, it is more a microscopic rough.)

What I have found that works for an entire year or more is to use toluene. This is a strong solvent that dissolves oil like substances. Be careful to not let it touch any plastics.

I dampen a paper towel with the toluene (not so it's dripping), wipe the windshield in one direction only (across). I replace the paper towel after I've done half the windshield otherwise I'll be just smearing this film around instead. Once I've done the windshield in one direction, I repeat the process wiping the other direction (up and down). If it's really bad I may repeat this whole process a few more times. After doing this, you probably won't have to repeat the cleaning for another year at least.

Note, you don't want to use this on your aftermarket tinted windows, and I wouldn't use it on a window with a grid heater.

 

[Fless]

I have tried pretty much all of the methods above. The best ones have lasted maybe a few weeks, but up here near the pacific NW, any amount of humidity in the cool weather makes this "film" show up really bad. I have concluded that most of the methods above don't actually remove the film. Perhaps is smoothens the film so that moisture in the air doesn't interact with the film? (Condensation tends to form on rough surfaces. It doesn't have to be rough to the touch, it is more a microscopic rough.)

What I have found that works for an entire year or more is to use toluene. This is a strong solvent that dissolves oil like substances. Be careful to not let it touch any plastics.

I dampen a paper towel with the toluene (not so it's dripping), wipe the windshield in one direction only (across). I replace the paper towel after I've done half the windshield otherwise I'll be just smearing this film around instead. Once I've done the windshield in one direction, I repeat the process wiping the other direction (up and down). If it's really bad I may repeat this whole process a few more times. After doing this, you probably won't have to repeat the cleaning for another year at least.

Note, you don't want to use this on your aftermarket tinted windows, and I wouldn't use it on a window with a grid heater.

On glass I'd use denatured alcohol before toluene (but I don't).

 

[Larryjb]

The film on the windshield is more like a wax than an oil. Denatured alcohol is a polar solvent and not as good at removing these films. The removal of this film needs a non-polar solvent.

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A quick and perhaps oversimplified chemistry lesson:
Molecules can be though of "magnets", with some being stronger than others. The strength of the depends on the atoms. (Note, what I am talking about is very different from ferromagnetism, the typical magnet we think of.)

Molecules that have oxygen in them (H2O (water), CH3OH and CH3CH2OH (alcohols), CH3OCH3 (acetone)) are quite strongly polar because oxygen likes to suck electrons from other atoms. Water is the strongest of this bunch. Alcohols and acetone are more weakly polar. Water will dissolve salts but won't dissolve oil or wax. Alcohol and acetone, being weakly polar, can dissolve many oils and salts, but not wax.

Molecules that have only carbon and hydrogen in them have almost no polar qualities. They are like a magnet that has become demagnetized. Common solvents like this are C6H6 (benzene, banned because it causes cancer), CH3C6H5 (toluene, quite safe relatively speaking), CH3CH3C6H4 (xylene), C11H24 (varsol). Paint thinner is a mixture of several non-polar solvents. All of these will dissolve waxes, but not touch water or salts.

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When we clean the waxy film on the windshield with ammonia or vinegar it "polishes" the wax to make it look clear. This is what we are doing when we wax the outside of our cars, except car wax is much better. If we used the same waxy stuff from the windshield on our painted surfaces, it would probably shine up very quickly, but then become hazy soon after.

 

[89Suburban]

WOW

 

[BADRIDES]

I wipe mine down with a damp chamois. Well, it's not a real chamois, it's one of those "Absorber" brand synthetic chamois. EZ.

That's what I use and then wipe moisture off with the softest microfiber I have

 

[Marky Dissod]

The film on the windshield is more like a wax than an oil. Denatured alcohol is a polar solvent and not as good at removing these films.
The removal of this film needs a non-polar solvent.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
A quick and perhaps oversimplified chemistry lesson:
Molecules can be though of "magnets", with some being stronger than others. The strength of the depends on the atoms.
(Note, what I am talking about is very different from ferromagnetism, the typical magnet we think of.)

Molecules that have oxygen in them (H2O (water), CH3OH and CH3CH2OH (alcohols), CH3OCH3 (acetone)) are quite strongly polar because oxygen likes to suck electrons from other atoms.
Water is the strongest of this bunch. Alcohols and acetone are more weakly polar. Water will dissolve salts but won't dissolve oil or wax.
Alcohol and acetone, being weakly polar, can dissolve many oils and salts, but not wax.

Molecules that have only carbon and hydrogen in them have almost no polar qualities. They are like a magnet that has become demagnetized.
Common solvents like this are C6H6 (benzene, banned because it causes cancer), CH3C6H5 (toluene, quite safe relatively speaking), CH3CH3C6H4 (xylene), C11H24 (varsol).
Paint thinner is a mixture of several non-polar solvents. All of these will dissolve waxes, but not touch water or salts.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
When we clean the waxy film on the windshield with ammonia or vinegar it "polishes" the wax to make it look clear.
This is what we are doing when we wax the outside of our cars, except car wax is much better.
If we used the same waxy stuff from the windshield on our painted surfaces, it would probably shine up very quickly, but then become hazy soon after.

So, we should alternately use paint thinner and H2O to clean inside glass?

 

[89Suburban]

vinegar mix impressing me very much.

 

[Larryjb]

I don't bother with water after. The toluene evaporates fairly quickly. Sometimes I use acetone after though. That evaporates even quicker than toluene.