interior detailing

damn this is pissing me off.. is there a way where i can wipe the windows and not smear.. cuz i used windex and wiped it with a towel... and it left smears.. any tips?

damn this is pissing me off.. is there a way where i can wipe the windows and not smear.. cuz i used windex and wiped it with a towel... and it left smears.. any tips?

 

Stoner's Invisible Glass works well - use a lint-free towel.

 

new car windows will be covered with crap from the outgassing of the materials (plastics, vinyls, glues) for a while. just clean the inside of your windows often.

Stoner's Invisible Glass works well - use a lint-free towel.

 

new car windows will be covered with crap from the outgassing of the materials (plastics, vinyls, glues) for a while. just clean the inside of your windows often.

 

i'll try that.. thanks!

Stoner's Invisible Glass works well - use a lint-free towel.

 

new car windows will be covered with crap from the outgassing of the materials (plastics, vinyls, glues) for a while. just clean the inside of your windows often.

 

+1 with the stoners, or any foam glass cleaner, cover the windows and let it kinda 'roll down' a lil bit to eat into the dirt and then wipe it off once with a damp rag to really pick up the grime and then a dry terry cloth towel with a lil elbow grease will pull the rest of it off and should leave it streak free.

Use a microfiber towel. On glass cleaning I'm not even picky on the brand. I just keep an eye on it and make sure its not linting all over the place. It won't streak like a paper towel and works better than any other towel I've used. You can just use the cheap ones you find at AutoZone for all it matters. They even work great if you use them dry and just wipe the haze off the glass.

The smears on glass are from fabric softener or skin/sweat oils. Be careful using glass cleaners containing ammonia or alcohol if you have tinted windows. these chemicals attack the adhesive by penetrating the film itself which is slightly porous. Lee Berrebi of Leeberbs Tinting (Applied Film Technologies in NJ, 973-477-6717) suggests using a mild dishwashing solution of 1/2 teaspoon to 1/2 gallon of water put into a spray bottle. This is just good enough to remove skin oils and other light particles that stick to the glass and tint film. Use soft lint free "Shop Towels" (blue rolls) or inexpensive bulk coffee filters that use soft lint free paper.

newspaper works good for me

A little dishwashing detergent in water, as recommended by my tinter also, works great for me.

I'll second the newspaper. Windex and newspaper will get that smoker's film off your windows really well.

Stoners+microfiber towel=the nicest, cleanest windows you will ever get.

 

Maybe it's me, but this whole newspaper thing never worked for me...

I love micro-fiber towels...expensive tho!!!

I've seen several car dealers who use newspaper.

Newspaper is not the best way to clean glass. Its simply one way to do it. A lot of the old timers are using newspaper still because that is the way they have always done it. Times change, but old timers rarely do. I've never had success with the newspaper thing either. To me it looks unprofessional to use something like that anyway. I'll just stick to using Invisible Glass and microfibers.

 

There are some cool tools out there to help with window cleaning now days. I'll have to find the link for it, but there is a really cool tool with this triangular shaped head on a long handle that works amazingly well for cleaning windows. I hate doing windows, but this tool takes a lot of the reason I hate doing it away. I just saw it at Target last weekend. Check out the car care aisle next time you are there. You can't miss it.

Newspaper is not the best way to clean glass. Its simply one way to do it. A lot of the old timers are using newspaper still because that is the way they have always done it. Times change, but old timers rarely do. I've never had success with the newspaper thing either. To me it looks unprofessional to use something like that anyway. I'll just stick to using Invisible Glass and microfibers.

 

There are some cool tools out there to help with window cleaning now days. I'll have to find the link for it, but there is a really cool tool with this triangular shaped head on a long handle that works amazingly well for cleaning windows. I hate doing windows, but this tool takes a lot of the reason I hate doing it away. I just saw it at Target last weekend. Check out the car care aisle next time you are there. You can't miss it.

 

Isn't that the thing that they run infomercials on? It's like the coolest thing since sliced bread...for windows. I have to get one of those, and try it. If anyone has one of those 'As Seen on TV' stalls at your local mall...try it out...they will usually have those things there.

I think it does say "as seen on TV" on the box. Hey, my Legacy is "as seen on TV" too, so just because a product chooses to advertise through infomercials doesn't make em bad. This product was available only through griots garage for the longest time, so I was super excited to see it on the shelf for much less money. Its a sweet tool that makes cleaning the windshield without pain and cleaning the back window without being a contortionist much easier.

I think it does say "as seen on TV" on the box. Hey, my Legacy is "as seen on TV" too, so just because a product chooses to advertise through infomercials doesn't make em bad. This product was available only through griots garage for the longest time, so I was super excited to see it on the shelf for much less money. Its a sweet tool that makes cleaning the windshield without pain and cleaning the back window without being a contortionist much easier.

 

Some of their stuff is not of the best quality. However, something like this might not be so bad. I remember buying one of those 'flat hose' things from them...just for the heck of it...and it lasted a day. The nozzle was plastic...and really cheap. But, I also bought one of those spindle of tupperware things, and that's really good. They work really well. So, for me, a 50-50 experience.

This is one that will improve the average. I've been using it regularly for a few months now and it has paid for itself in the time I've saved on window cleaning.

 

Here is what I'm refering to. I bought mine at Home Depot back in like February I think, but I've seen them at Target now and they are probably in other stores too. It's a very handy tool.

 

http://www.asseenontv.com/prod-pages/images/GW-Box.jpg

You can see that its pretty much the exact same thing that Griot's Garage sells for twice as much.

 

http://www.griotsgarage.com/images/products/lg/90247_LG.jpg

I love micro-fiber towels...expensive tho!!!

 

Actually not too bad. Saw a 5-pack of microfiber towels at Target's automotive section for $5.99. So just slightly over 1 clammy per.

 

 

OCDetails, I'll check out that glass cleaner. Looks spiffy!

man I hate the film outgassing plastics leave. I'm really quite surprised at how little the subaru is doing it, especially given the heat we've had around here. My last new car would build up a NASTY film over the whole thing every two days for the better part of a year.

 

There are special cleaners made for it that work VERY well.. can't remember the name for the life of me unfortunately. Smelled kind of like that synthetic "minty" smell that clearly has nothing to do with mint... rubber dog toys often smell of it.

 

cuts the film very well

 

http://www.griotsgarage.com/images/products/lg/90247_LG.jpg

 

I wasn't able to find this at any stores today. Does this thing slide between the glass and the rear brake light? That's the only part I can't seem to get clean.

Haven't tried it yet...

 

Didn't see any at my local Target, but Bed Bath & Beyond did happen to have it (stashed at the bottom stack in their cleaning/mop section)...

 

It was only $10.. and you know how BBB loves to send out those $5 off with $15 purchase coupons

Nothing gets between the glass and the brake light. Luckily its not an area that really gets dirty. I mean, if you have spots or something back there then its probably from before they installed the brake light to begin with. You can just remove the brake light and wipe down the glass. There isn't much of a gap between the light and the glass, so unless you know an effective way to floss a paper towel between them and somehow apply pressure to the middle... I just don't think it can be done without removing the whole assembly.

I have spots between the brake light and the glass that originated at the factory. How do I remove the brake light assembly so I can clean the glass?

I dunno. Have you looked back there? I'm sure its just a couple of screws that you need to take out. A lot of tint shops (the good ones anyway) will take it out when they tint your windows. Mine did, but I didn't watch them do it.