Some advice, please, for an enthusiastic driver who, although not in the first flush of youth, still likes to keep his car clean and as mechanically sound as possible.
Can somebody please come up with a method to clean (and polish) the inside of a modern car's windscreen without causing acute muscle strain. Windscreens are now so sharply raked that trying to polish them from the drivers' seat is almost impossible without suffering the aforementioned muscle knack. The obvious place to stand in order to get some leverage is outside the car alongside the windscreen but, of course, the door gets in the way.
Any ideas?
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>>The obvious place to stand in order to get some leverage isoutside the car alongside the windscreen but of course the door gets in the way. Any ideas?
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If you can reach the center of the screen from each side, as above with the door shut and window open.
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>>as above with the door shut and window open.>>
Twice as hard.
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I've got long arms. :-)
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>>I've got long arms. :-)>>
You must be a freak then...:-)
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>>I've got long arms. :-)>> You must be a freak then...:-)
No can't be, my knuckles don't quite reach the ground. :-)
I must admit I clean mine from the front seats, and as a wrinkly geriatric, if I can manage OK I cant see what the problem is. Other than someone having mobility problems, then get someone else to do it.
Edited by Old Navy on 19/01/2010 at 10:52
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Chamois leather.
Do the passenger side first, then get in the driver's seat and do the driver's side and as far across the passenger side a possible.
That way the other side get the smears at the join. ;>)
Seemples.
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>>Chamois leather.>>
Anyone who has the original pale green AutoGlym window cleaner is on a winner.
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Once you've got the windscreen very nearly clean on the inside and outside, the best way I've found for getting rid of those smears that show up in sunlight is to use slightly damp newspaper. It really works, even better than a chamois leather.
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Don't the Scouts do this kind of thing anymore for fifty pence, or did the minimum wage and child employment laws stop this?
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Our two cars are particularly bad for this, the Altea being an mpv style has a slopiing windscreen and quite a big bit of dashboard.
However it is a dawdle compared to the Beetle, the top of the windscreen is level with your head when sitting, the bottom of it overhnags the front bumper I think!! And when you have a wife who doesn't understand the issue with using the back of her hand to clear dirt or condensation or misting up, it makes the issue ten times worse!!
Everytime I am in her car, it drives me mad but so far I have been able to resist cleaning it myself as a point of principle but I don't know how much longer that will last!
Re the OP, I always use Autoglym window cleaner, blue liquid, which cleans particularly well but it does dry to a residue so you need to make sure it is thoroughly wiped off including at edges, round mirrors etc. And it smells nice!
I also find you need to be aware of weather, if there is too much condensation in the air, the first time you get into the car it will be totally misted up.
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First never ever touch the inside of the screen with your hands.
To clean the screen use multi purpose surface cleaner available from all supermarkets - There's probably a bottle under the sink and it works just as well as overpriced products aimed at the motoring market.
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other things to think about....
Does the pollen filter need changing...when I bought my subaru the cabin filter was full of rubbish and I had been wondering why I was having to clean the window once a week.
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to polish the window I use one of my sons old baby grows...now outgrown!!!
there great, they don't leave any cotten/threads behind. Just make sure you cut off the metal poppers....
also great for polishing the car...the baby grows not my sons...(aged 3 and 7)
having them help me wash the cars takes 4 times as long and I get more water on me that that of the car!!
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Paul.
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Thanks, guys, for your various comments and suggestions. It is at least reassuring to learn that I am not alone in finding difficulty in performing what is a fairly important safety issue - a dirty windscreen at night with oncoming traffic having ill directed headlights is not a good situation in which to be.
I am sure that the Autoglym product as recommended by Bobby G is very good but I am using a Turtle Wax variant which is excellent. It's just the streaking that causes me trouble.
Since starting this thread my good lady has produced (from the kitchen cupboard not from anywhere else) a contraption of which I was unaware. It is a pad covered with a non smear cloth which sits on a ball joint at the end of an extendable handle. This might prove to be the ultimate solution to my problem but why was I not told about this device before?
The same problem occurs, of course, with cleaning the inside of the rear window, particularly in a hatchback.
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The same problem occurs of course with cleaning the inside of the rear window particularly in a hatchback.
Hatchbacks are a doddle! I just open the hatch and clean the glass from outside. Doesn't everyone?
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J1mbo, thanks for the link. That device is more or less the one to which I referred in my message at 22.48 last night. My wife's version came from the excellent Lakeland and cost less than a fiver!
Snaily, I too do the tailgate window from the outside but I still have problems reaching the extremities - probably age related!
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>Hatchbacks are a doddle! I just open the hatch and clean the glass from outside.
Bien sûr, M. Snail. Now try it in a Volvo S60 - not a hatchback, not the world's roomiest back seat, and with two large and immovable head restraints between you and the glass. (Folding the seats moves the head restraints - but then there isn't room for me!) When I eventually worked my way in there, the muck turned a white cloth black in no time - and there's still more there that I just can't reach.
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I have a very fine Spontex e cloth, it feels like a piece of very fine suede or chammy. I use It for spectacles mostly but it is very good at removing the film that seems to appear on the inside of one's windscreen even when there are no smokers in the car, ever! A coarser e cloth would probably do as well - something like a terry towelling texture
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