So many times I have read posts about greasy wipers, the difficulty of shifting road grime, the relative merits of whosever gloop you buy to put in your washer reservoir and so and so's (expensive) glass cleaner. Not to mention that jollop that's supposed to repel rain, and goes all greasy itself when you apply it. Case of the cure (if such it is) being worse than the disease.
Me too, I fell for all the lines and I must have wasted plenty on all this stuff over the years and more often than not, like many of the posters, still dissatisfied with the results.
Where I live you can actually see the pollution most days and the winsdshield is always grimy, the wipers messy as well.
Simple really, today I just went back to the age-old remedy: a bottle of rubbing alcohol from the supermarket and a clean cloth. Instant brilliant shiny glass, barely needed to polish it! Follow up with some dishwashing liquid in the reservoir. I always used to do this, why did I get seduced by some junk I saw in a shop or read about in an ad?
What other moneywasters lurk in all those colored containers on the accessory shop shelves?
Now I just know someone is going to tell me why this is all wrong and why I shouldn't be doing it....
Years ago, there were only two cleaning things the informed motorist like my Dad used to bother with, Simoniz wax in the yellow tin, and Solvol Autosol chrome polish in the black and gold tube. Both of which still readily available I'm glad to see. Which must say something.
I believe Solvol went off the shelves in UK some time back, and I recall finding it again in a Halfords somewhere on one of my visits. Grabbing a tube I mentioned to the cashier I was glad to find this again and she told me this was what she was hearing all the time and the stuff as selling like hot cakes.
|
I'd NEVER put washing up liquid in the washer bottle.
It contains a lot of salt, and so will rust your car, especially around the windscreen.
I know this becuase I used to put it in my VW Polo to save money, and in no time rust started to appear. According to TurtleWax, it also dulls the paintwork (I guess by leaving a salty coating on the paint).
|
|
Hell, I knew Some One would rain on my party.....
|
|
|
|
Graham
I totally agree about Solvol Autosol - it used to bring the alloy bits of a motorbike engine up beautifully. I bet you used it on your A10 (Worthing Bald Eagles circa 1960).
I'm quite comfortable with the dishwasher liquid in the screen tank. Even if it does contain a few nasties, there isn't that much of it that gets on the bodywork - and it's soon washed off in the UK rain.
What about Plus Gas as the best nut cracker of all time?
;-)
Ian Cook
|
|
Ah, Plus Gas overnight, and if that didn't work, a judiciously applied welding torch and a large hammer.....
|
|
|
|
|
My father-in-law, a motor engineer with a vintage Riley, removed stubborn dried-on insects from windscreens with a copper coin. He said it was too soft to scratch glass.
|
|
We've all know about how a copper coin left in Coca Cola overnight will be restored to a shiny condition. I read somewhere recently that Coke is good for cleaning windscreens as well. Haven't tried it so I don't know for sure.
|
Yeah but do you put it in the washer bottle, or sniff it off the windscreen?
|
Ian Cook: You might be happy with nasties in your washer bottle but was that you I followed the other day (at a respectable distance) when you used your washers, missed your screen and splattered mine?
HP Sauce also cleans copper etc.
Malt Vinegar/Lemon juice the poor mans WD40.
Raw cut potato rubbed on windscreen for overnight anti frost cover.
Kiwi boot polish for black bumpers and bags of elbow grease.
DVD
|
I think I'll save the HP sauce for the BBQ, but I know Coke (the kind you drink) brings nickel up well, and did you know you shouldn't wax chrome. makes it dull, Use chrome polish instead (that's the Harlet doctrine and those boys should know about chrome).
Newsprint is also said to clean glass and silver foil to remove staining on chrome.
|
|
|
Ian Cook: You might be happy with nasties in your washer bottle but was that you I followed the other day (at a respectable distance) when you used your washers, missed your screen and splattered mine?
No, it wasn't me, DVD. I'm sorry but I hadn't considered the consequences of washing the car behind.
Whilst logged in, what about wiping the windscreen with a freshly cut potato - a get you home measure for having no wipers (something to do with the starch, apparently). It's reasonably effective but needs re-doing every few miles (used a lot in the days of old Fords with vacuum wipers).
Ian Cook
|
|
|
|
|
I believe Solvol went off the shelves in UK some time back
Nope, I own a Yamaha Diversion so Solvol Autosol an I are close friends.
AFAIK it's still available. Hope so 'cos my tubes nearly empty.
--
Parp, Parp!
Note: All Toad posts come with an implied smiley.
|
Anyone know how to make wipers stop squeaking and glide more smoothly, or do I need new blades?
S.
_____________________________________
SVPworld (incorporating PSRworld)
www.svpworld.com
|
Anyone know how to make wipers stop squeaking and glide more smoothly, or do I need new blades?
Yes, either stop using them, or oil the screen :o)
Seriously, have a look at the wiper assembly and see if the hinge mechanisms of the blade holders are loose. If so, remove from car and squeeze gently in a small vice or with a pair of pliers to take up the slack. I found that because of all the play in the assembly the wipers would sqeak and judder across the windscreen.
|
|
|
|
