Dirty screen
Author
Discussion

miniandy

Original Poster:

1,512 posts

266 months

Tuesday 4th January 2005
quotequote all
Hi guys,

Now at this time of year there is a lot of crap on the roads which inevitably messes up your screen. Mine is greasier than a chippy, and no amounts of washing can shift it. I've heard of using white spirit or meths on the screen to basically cut through the grease, but does anyone know if this works?

cheers

Big Al.

69,336 posts

287 months

Tuesday 4th January 2005
quotequote all
Meths is undoutably the best!

I clean car & lorry mirrors for a living!

BliarOut

72,863 posts

268 months

Tuesday 4th January 2005
quotequote all
Jif, or as it's now known, Cif works a treat on messy windscreens.

miniandy

Original Poster:

1,512 posts

266 months

Tuesday 4th January 2005
quotequote all
cheers, will give it a go! Don't fancy cleaning mine, do you?!

oh and also when it was frozen my mate took a cd case out and used it as a scraper and it has done just that - left bloody scratches on the screen. anyone know how to get rid of these?

BliarOut

72,863 posts

268 months

Tuesday 4th January 2005
quotequote all
Toothpaste.....

This tip was bought to you by Rob and his amazing box of household cures

tuscan_thunder

1,763 posts

275 months

Tuesday 4th January 2005
quotequote all
and once it's clean, try using rain-x. absolute genius stuff. it's great for helmet visors too.

(rain-x also do a 'compound cleaner' which works well. it seems to be mildly abrasive but strips off all kinds of muck)

miniandy

Original Poster:

1,512 posts

266 months

Tuesday 4th January 2005
quotequote all
BliarOut said:
Toothpaste.....

This tip was bought to you by Rob and his amazing box of household cures


is that the whitening variety?!

what about giving the blades a clean? same stuff as i'll use for the screen?

BliarOut

72,863 posts

268 months

Tuesday 4th January 2005
quotequote all
I would think any old toothpaste will do. It might not work, but having said that, the Cif may remove the marks as they may not be scratches, but plastic left on the screen. Cif'll clean your wiper blades too. Just don't go mad with it as it's mildly abrasive. Not good for the paintwork!

mrmaggit

10,146 posts

277 months

Tuesday 4th January 2005
quotequote all
tuscan_thunder said:
and once it's clean, try using rain-x. absolute genius stuff. it's great for helmet visors too.

(rain-x also do a 'compound cleaner' which works well. it seems to be mildly abrasive but strips off all kinds of muck)


It says "do not use on plastics" on my bottle of Rain-x.

Motorbike helmet visors are plastic.

.Mark

11,104 posts

305 months

Tuesday 4th January 2005
quotequote all
Big Al said:

I clean car & lorry mirrors for a living


miniandy said:

Don't fancy cleaning mine, do you?!


Only if you are stationary at the traffic lights long enough

Big Al.

69,336 posts

287 months

Tuesday 4th January 2005
quotequote all
.Mark said:

Big Al said:

I clean car & lorry mirrors for a living




miniandy said:

Don't fancy cleaning mine, do you?!



Only if you are stationary at the traffic lights long enough




OOPPPS, soddit just dropped me sponge on the keyboard!

BTW Happy New Year mate! OH

FourWheelDrift

92,300 posts

313 months

Tuesday 4th January 2005
quotequote all
Talking of dirty screens.

Why must so many cars have a wash/wipe function that goes something like this :-

Wash, wipe 4 times.......pause...........wipe.

I hate it, by the time it does the extra wipe at the end the screen has dried up and it just smears more crap over the screen meaning you have to wash again and loop ad infinitum.

Lois-PIE

14,706 posts

281 months

Tuesday 4th January 2005
quotequote all
FourWheelDrift said:
Talking of dirty screens.

Why must so many cars have a wash/wipe function that goes something like this :-

Wash, wipe 4 times.......pause...........wipe.

I hate it, by the time it does the extra wipe at the end the screen has dried up and it just smears more crap over the screen meaning you have to wash again and loop ad infinitum.



Never see a car that does that but it has reminded me to put some washer fluid in my car! Smears anyway!

cij100

53 posts

274 months

Tuesday 4th January 2005
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Autoglym glass polish has always worked for me.

rustybin

1,769 posts

267 months

Tuesday 4th January 2005
quotequote all
FourWheelDrift said:
Talking of dirty screens.

Why must so many cars have a wash/wipe function that goes something like this :-

Wash, wipe 4 times.......pause...........wipe.

I hate it, by the time it does the extra wipe at the end the screen has dried up and it just smears more crap over the screen meaning you have to wash again and loop ad infinitum.


(Some) Alfas have a similar trick. If you turn off the wipers from intermittent. "I'lla a justa give ita onea mora go". Always seems to find a piece of crud to smear across that wasn't there before. It's trivial but bdin annoying.

>> Edited by rustybin on Tuesday 4th January 17:59

slikk

2,135 posts

272 months

Tuesday 4th January 2005
quotequote all
No need to clean ya screen.. .. ..sit tall and peer over the top

pdV6

16,442 posts

290 months

Wednesday 5th January 2005
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FourWheelDrift said:

Why must so many cars have a wash/wipe function that goes something like this :-

Wash, wipe 4 times.......pause...........wipe.

I've had several cars where this might have been useful - i.e. the 3/4 wipe finishes and over the next few seconds the remainder of the water runs down the windscreen right in your field of view, so you need to do an extra wipe to clear it. Actually, I did have one car that did this (a Rover 800 - on the rear screen - and it was spot on!)

Having said that, why do manufacturers do the auto wipe thing at all? If it needs 4 wipes to clear the screen (which, inevitably it doesn't) then I'm quite capable of doing it myself...

Speaking of Alfas (as somebody did), mine has no soft-touch 1-wipe facility, which is a right pain in the proverbials. You have to switch it right into intermittent to get a single wipe, and then off again - which generates the extra wipe so beloved of AR spa . Therefore the absolute minimum is 2 wipes, which is a complete wind up when there's nothing but a very light drizzle or overspray from the car in front!

cmsapms

708 posts

273 months

Wednesday 5th January 2005
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What windscreen



Actually, as the valves met the pistons on New Year's day, I'm now restricted to the Range Rover, but none of the crud ever gets as high as the windscreen on that, so windscreen cleaning is still an alien concept

Paul

tuscan_thunder

1,763 posts

275 months

Wednesday 5th January 2005
quotequote all
mrmaggit said:

tuscan_thunder said:
and once it's clean, try using rain-x. absolute genius stuff. it's great for helmet visors too.

(rain-x also do a 'compound cleaner' which works well. it seems to be mildly abrasive but strips off all kinds of muck)



It says "do not use on plastics" on my bottle of Rain-x.

Motorbike helmet visors are plastic.


mine has no mention on it. rain-x was originally developed for visors and most single seater drivers use it on their visors. i've used it plenty and it's had no ill effects. also used it on the tuscan's rear screen with no probs.

_topcat

1,938 posts

278 months

Wednesday 5th January 2005
quotequote all
FourWheelDrift said:
Talking of dirty screens.

Why must so many cars have a wash/wipe function that goes something like this :-

Wash, wipe 4 times.......pause...........wipe.

I hate it, by the time it does the extra wipe at the end the screen has dried up and it just smears more crap over the screen meaning you have to wash again and loop ad infinitum.



You dont want to try my exige washers then. Bloody things. A little spray then 4 complete wipes on a dry screen. Stupid!!!!