Windscreen cleaning / clarity problem MY13 Polo

[Guest001]

Wouldn't have a clue about sizes Someone told me they had it for less than I paid at the chemist. You can dilute it anyway

Its possibly illegal to sell it in bigger ones

Make enquiries at Jaycar or electronic parts suppliers Last time I used rubbing alcohol which contains it For $8 a 500ml bottle
Was putting 3M clear sheeting on car panels

A Google search (Your eternal friend) would have revealed this amongst others

http://www.matthewmcdonald.com/238/p...nd-isopropanol

[brad]

Lucas R is spot on about steel wool.

Also scotchbrite scourers wotk well. Ajax or Bon Ami applied wet, wait to dry & wipe off with a dry cloth or kitchen towel. Gumption is good too (not sure if you can still buy it)

Toothpaste is good.

Seriously, I think your overthinking this & underestimating how tough glass is.

[JonP01]

Yes, I think I am underestimating the glass. I might have looked very stupid doing this, but tonight I deliberately parked the Polo under the street light so I could see more clearly the problem. There is definitely a buildup of film that I am going to have to get rid of using a good polish at the very least (and probably clay bar / steel wool, etc). But I also see what else is happening. I polished a small area and it dramatically improved (I used the green Meguiars Glass cloth), but as I wiped the polish off at the end and gave it a good rub to get it to shine, I could see that tiny filaments of material from the cloth were depositing themselves on the windscreen and contributing greatly (at least 50%) to this "overspray" sort of appearance.

I don't get it though - these specialty cloths are supposed to be designed for glass but they leave deposits on the windscreen. Same with the Turtle glass cloth I used and paper towels. I am starting to think the best approach after clay baring then polishing is to just use the windscreen cleaner, then wet the screen thoroughly with water and use a rubber squeegee. At least that won't leave these lint deposits which are very obvious when driving at night under street lights (but weirdly not so obvious with car headlights shining directly into the screen.

So what sort of cloths / methods do you guys use when you are just doing ordinary cleaning? Seems like these expensive "glass cloths" are only good for the polishing and cleaning part and no good for actually finishing it off in such a way that you get no streaks and no lint deposits (and yes, these cloths were either new or very near new).

[brad]

Stop using wash'n'wax as a start. Use carwash to wash the car & wax to apply a protective coating. carcareproducts can point you in the right direction. I like Duragloss as a detergent but there are heaps of other good ones out there. Natty's Poorboys for wax but there are heaps of better stuff.

I just use cheap microfibre cloths that I buy for about $5 for 10. Throw a bunch in the washing machine when finished. You can't do that with the expensive stuff.

Scrunched up newspaper is good for cleaning too. You go through heaps but it works.

I use Invisible Glass on the windows but again, there are plenty of alternatives & it's just glorified Windex.

Your first job is to scrape the layer of gunk off the outside of the windows.

[JonP01]

Finally had success after a lot of trial and error using the PolishAngel Cristal (applied with microfibre pad), followed by removal of the polish with a Meguiars "blue" microfibre cloth lubricated with a small amount of interior detailer, then the PolishAngel cleaner (very small amount needed using Viva paper towel).

I checked everything using a strong white LED light at an angle that showed every single minute flaw in the screen - it took me a while to get the technique down pat - especially the cleaning part with the PolishAngel cleaner - as this is a make or break as regards clear optics - as the white LED light was clearly showing me. Too much cleaner and you get a cloudy finish with streaking. Just one squirt for each side of screen onto a Viva paper towel is all that was needed.

The aim was to have the screen as clean as my eye-glasses and I finally found a technique to achieve that. I just drove it out tonight and checked it under the lights and it is fine. Mind you, I really am not impressed with the durability of these screens. Even after 15 months, there is a significant amount of "micro" impact damage - I mean impact damage far too small to need a resin repair (more like very tiny pin pricks), but certainly visible under that forensic light, as are scratches from the wiper blades despite being scrupulously careful to keep them clean and hardly ever needing to use the wipers at all in the whole time I have had it (mind you, those rain sensing wipers have started to work when there is nowhere near enough water on the screen to provide enough lubrication).

I know people will say the gunk on the screen did not help, but I don't honestly think it would have made much difference, since the car has hardly even been driven in the rain at all. But I suspect I could find the flaws I found today on almost anyone's screen. I had a look at the screens on my mother's and brother's cars today and they are far worse again - scratches galore on well-cared for cars. I'd hate to think what the screen on the Polo will be like in 5 years time. I'm now tending to think of VW windscreens as a wearing item like brakes and tyres.

It is a pity we don't have those "tear offs" like they have in V8 supercar racing. I realise windscreens cop a heck of a lot - the wind going directly into them at 110 kmh with all sorts of micro-projectiles in the air flow - but I actually reckon the Perspex screens they use in aircraft would be a better bet and easier to maintain.

I would even think about buying a new screen, but it would likely end up just the same as the original one after another two years. Pity a brick does not go through it every year - that would be great lol.

[Guest001]

Rain sensing wipers work by pressure on the area NOT NECESSARILY RAIN A Leaf hitting it will start them off sometimes, or even a cloud of dust in the wind. That's how your screen gets scratched..

Methinks you are rather OCD LOL

[brad]

Rain sensing wipers won't activate if the switch is in the "off" position ?

Megs products? You need to get into some low-end pro gear rather than high-end amateur stuff.

Also, if you are focusing down the road then the condition of the windscreen tends not to matter unless you are driving into the sun.

[JonP01]

Rain sensing wipers won't activate if the switch is in the "off" position ?

Megs products? You need to get into some low-end pro gear rather than high-end amateur stuff.

Also, if you are focusing down the road then the condition of the windscreen tends not to matter unless you are driving into the sun.

Immediately after I got the car, since the wipers were not going all the time I left the wiper stalk in the position as delivered. It wasn't till I had a nice long few scrapes in completely dry weather a few days later when I realised the sensing wipers did not have to have rain to work (it happened when a large truck came in the opposite direction on a single lane each way country road and created such significant air pressure wave in front of my car that the wipers activated.

The other thing is that to get the wipers in the service position you have to run them across the screen. So it becomes quite fiddly because you really have to clean the wiper blades in the "working" position - not the service position - otherwise you are running dirty blades across the screen - and no matter how well lubricated the screen is you will still likely scratch it if the blades have dirt on them.

I don't like either of the features (rain sensing or that service versus working wiper positions). I would rather just have it like all the other cars I have had, even though I imagine the wiper position does something incredibly amazing and valuable to the aerodynamics and wind noise.

Yes, obviously I know the sensing wipers have an "off" position but it is very easy for someone to knock the stalk out of position, and even when you get back in the car you can't easily tell what position they are in if they have been moved. This has happened to me a couple of times and again it caused the blades to run across a dry screen. It is going to have to become a standard practice of mine to check the stalk position before I even put the key in the ignition when I get into the car.

This scratching (and the muck) on the screen were never a problem until now because virtually all my use has been in the middle of the day, but my circumstances changed recently and I am doing a lot of driving when the sun is very low and at night. That is why it has become an issue now.

Anyway, since I have already bought the expensive PolishAngel stuff I am going to try and polish the screen properly using a proper polisher and pads. It would be pretty hard to make it much worse and if for some reason I do, I will get a professional detailer to have a look. I have an old glass top coffee table I will practice on first. If I can't do that perfectly I won't proceed to try the car windscreen.

I would love to be able to permanently disable the rain sensing wipers so that if the stalk is in the relevant position, it does nothing. Does anyone know if they can be disabled? Seriously, all this feature has done is scratch my screen and it is more trouble than it is worth. Even when there is rain, they are way overzealous and clean the screen when there is still insufficient water to provide enough lubrication (and not enough water to even really need the blades to be going). Perhaps if there was an obvious light on the instrument cluster to say they were on that would be OK, but otherwise as I say, there have been several occasions where I have previously had them disabled and for whatever reason (accidental knocking when cleaning, accidental / intentional re-positioning by another driver, etc), they have come on numerous times when the screen has been bone dry. I guess I am lucky all the scratching is very shallow (so while it is bad with the low sun or at night, the depth should require only fine polishing).

Alternatively, if the rain sensing only actually worked when it was both raining and there was enough water on the screen to warrant the blades moving, I'd be happy with that, but I very much doubt one can "calibrate" them in any way - and of course the design as I have been informed does not work based on contact with water anyway.

[brad]

You must have a weird freakin body or method of entering the vehicle if you tap the wiper stalk as often as you make out.

semi-helpful content: I believe the sensitivity of the rain sensor can be adjusted by either the dealer or VCDS (can't remember which).

Rain-X or similar will help with lubricating the windscreen.

Focus further down the road - you won't even know the windscreen is there.

[Trex]

Hi,
I had a coating on the outside of the Tiguan windscreen. The wiper blades removed most but outside of the wiped area it was smokey.
I tried window cleaner, chamois, microfibre cloths but nothing worked.
I have used the magic sponges on stainless steel and found them excellent for that, but useless on the glass.

Eventually I was able to clean it off with a little rubbing using a Chucks brand microfibre cloth that I had for cleaning computer screens.
The cheap microfibre cloths from Reject shop were no use, but the Chucks one worked a treat, I guess there are lots of different ones.

Don't know what the coating was, could have been there from new, but it was resistant to most cleaners.