Can I use dishwasher soap to clean my sunglasses lenses?

U

ukknifer

Joined
Jan 30, 2010
Messages
424
Hi
So I got a new pair of polarised sunglasses maui jim (not cheap)
I am obsessed with cleaning them but I don't want to scratch the lenses and the coatings.


Can I use dish soap like fairy to clean them?
 
If an Eyeglass cloth does not take everything out or there are dried dots of water on your glasses, you can run warm water with soap mixed into it for half a minute. Use hand wash soap, dish detergent might be a little strong

I would really stay away from Rubbing alcohol since that could possibly take off the coating

Good luck
 
ukknifer said:
Hi
So I got a new pair of polarised sunglasses maui jim (not cheap)
I am obsessed with cleaning them but I don't want to scratch the lenses and the coatings.


Can I use dish soap like fairy to clean them?
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I use a little bit of mild hand soap and warm water to clean the lenses on my Oakleys and have had no problems. I only do it when they get to the stage that just wiping them doesn't clean them though. :thumbup:

I'm sure Fairy soap will be fine, just ask why your mums hands are so soft. :p
 
I think you're more likely to damage the lenses/coatings with the cloth you're using than the soap.
 
I always use detergent not soap .
Flush off loose dirt with warm water.
Put a couple of drops of detergent on the lenses and gentily rub with fingers.
Flush off detergent .
Gentily dry with tissue.

The damage to a lens is done by rubbing the dirt on the lens. Dirt is abrasive , plastic lenses and coatings are soft !!!
 
Use a clean microfiber/lens cloth, not a tissue. Tissues have lower quality control; they occasionally have rough areas that can harm optical coatings.
 
The only tissue you can use is kimwipes. Others have particles in them that can scratch lenses. As far as dish soap is concerned, I don't think it'll hurt the lens itself but I'm not sure how it will react to any kind of anti-scratch coatings the lenses may have.
 
Yup clean my Oakleys all the time. Like ppl said you will scratch them with particles on the cloth or dropping thm first. I use hardly any soap and warm water
 
Planterz said:
I think you're more likely to damage the lenses/coatings with the cloth you're using than the soap.
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:thumbup:

I have one regular and two pair of prescription sunglasses. I've been using Palmolive dish soap and warm water on all three for 10 years. Not a scratch yet. Soap up your wet hands for about 10 seconds and gently clean everything then rinse under warm water. If your hands are rough from winter or hard work, the dishsoap will soften them enough so you don't inadvertently scratch a lens.

Like Planterz said, the wrong cloth used to dry them is what will scratch the lenses.
 
ukknifer said:
Hi
So I got a new pair of polarised sunglasses maui jim (not cheap)
I am obsessed with cleaning them but I don't want to scratch the lenses and the coatings.


Can I use dish soap like fairy to clean them?
Click to expand...

YES, but not lemon or other citrus detergent, as it contains acid. Also,, per my optometrist here in Japan, use only cold water.

I do it all the time.

Norm
 
biggun3006 said:
Stay away from glass cleaner(cleaner for windows). The ammonia will take the protective coatings off.
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Good point. I had a friend who cracked 4 pairs of glasses by repeatedly using Windex for it. The sad thing is, he got replacement for free and it must have been a big loss for the place he ordered from
 
Dawn dishwasing liquid scratched the hell out of my prescription sunglasses despite all my care. Now I use nothing but lens cleaner approved by the eyeglass maker and a 3M Microfiber cloth made for that purpose.
 
I'm willing to believe your glasses got scratched, but not that Dawn dishwashing liquid did it. Liquid doesn't scratch.
 
Most quality glasses come with a cloth. Use that. Put it in a shirt pocket and run it with the laundry every once in a while to keep it clean. The doc where I get my glasses gives me a free bottle of solution for cleaning glasses any time I need one.
 
yablanowitz said:
Dawn dishwasing liquid scratched the hell out of my prescription sunglasses despite all my care. Now I use nothing but lens cleaner approved by the eyeglass maker and a 3M Microfiber cloth made for that purpose.
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It was probably the cloth that scratched it and not the Dawn. Not all 3M cloths are the same. The smallest ones are OK for eyeglass lenses but if you wash it with other things, it'll pick up and retain fibers from other materials and embed in your cloth. Once that happens, you no longer have a pure micro-fiber cloth.
The large cloths typically have bigger loops and are not meant for eyeglass lenses.

Also, if you have dry or rough calloused hands and you don't allow the Dawn and water to soften them up before rubbing the lens, you will scratch the lens.
If you keep them in a case and the inside of the case is not a material that is soft, it can also scratch the lens.
 
The scratches are on the inside of the lenses. The cloth was new and made specifically for lens cleaning. Actually, both cloths, as I used one in the water to wash the lenses and a second to dry them. I always rinsed the glasses first to remove loose dust and dirt before applying a drop of soap to remove oil film and rubbing it with a wet microfiber cloth.

The professionals at the vision center where I bought them informed me that Dawn contains microabrasives and will scratch the coatings on plastic and polycarbonate lenses. That's why I stick to glass whenever it is an option.
 
Horst said:
Not all lenses are equally abrasion resistant either. sunglass fix has good replacement sunglass lenses, apparently 8x more abrasion resistant than common lenses. check here to see if replacements are available for your model http://www.thesunglassfix.com/shopdisplaycategories.asp
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I use a cleaning cloth. Usually the one that comes with the sunglasses. Typically if my lenses are only a little dirty (few smudges), I will use the clothe. If it is really dirty or has water spots, I will wet the lens, and then use a few drops of dish soap. Then when I rinse all the soap off, I dry with cleaning cloth.

Knock on wood but dish soap has never put visible scratches on my sunglasses. It does take all the grease and oil off. Hopefully it doesn't remove any coatings.
 
LMT66 said:
:thumbup:

I have one regular and two pair of prescription sunglasses. I've been using Palmolive dish soap and warm water on all three for 10 years. Not a scratch yet. Soap up your wet hands for about 10 seconds and gently clean everything then rinse under warm water. If your hands are rough from winter or hard work, the dishsoap will soften them enough so you don't inadvertently scratch a lens.

Like Planterz said, the wrong cloth used to dry them is what will scratch the lenses.
Click to expand...

Same for my prescription glasses. No obvious damage and I typically go 5 years between updates.
 
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