Cleaning windows

[Grim/Don]

Notice the lower case w in windows, so I mean glass and not software!

What's the best way to clean glass, in vehicles and at home?

My wife had some Formula 409 Glass and Surface and it streaked like 70's college student. I picked up some Zep at Home Depot and that seems to work much better. I always use paper towels, one for inital cleaning and a second, dry one to kinda polish the window, remove streaks and any leftover dirt/crud.

 

[yam]

My wife swears by water and just a very, very, very small amount of dish washing liquid. If it gets sudsy , you've used too much. I guess it works, our windows aren't streaked or anything.

 

[Gollnick]

If the windows aren't filty, then the less-than-clear appearance is probably due to oils on the glass. In that case, an amoniated cleaner such as Windex is best.

 

[Cougar Allen]

The pros use heavily diluted household ammonia and a Squeegee. If you get streaks you haven't diluted the ammonia enough. Unless the glass is really oily very little ammonia is needed.

Windex and most of the other commercial glass cleaners are just diluted ammonia with some coloring and scent added and the price jacked up.

 

[Ken C.]

3 parts water to 1 part vinegar. Wipe off with a piece of newspaper. Newspaper doesn't leave lint on the glass and vinegar doesn't leave streaks.

 

[Walking Man]

I'm going to recommend that if you use your own water/chemical solution to clean up your windows that you use either distilled / deionized / or reverse osmosis water. Whichever is most readily available. All will do the same thing, and are pretty much the same thing, unless you're using it for extremely precise and/or sensitive scientific purposes.

 

[VampyreWolf]

water and viniger... toss a cup in a 1 litre bottle, top it off with water, shake and squirt.

 

[SIFU1A]

FWIW most glass cleaners mess up film on tinted windows so if ya have them ya should just use water/etc.

i do mean the aftermarket tint not tint from the factory.

it makes the film "milky" and purple looking, ya see a lot of vehicles like this by the way.

 

[Cindy Denning]

I hate that part of the window, trying so hard to get it clean! The only thing is the real Windex brand, no knock off brand. And balling up the wad of paper towell over and over again since you should really use a protectant like Armoral on the interior of the vehicle every now and then and wet the paper towell with Windex-ever so gentle and wipe.

 

[Win Heger]

For my vehicles I use Stoner's "Invisible Glass" and micro-fiber clothes. This is sold at Walmart for $3.47 a can, I've seen it listed on the internet for alot more.

My wife has an on going battle with our home windows. Outside they get over spray from the sprinklers and it is very hard water. She's using a dishwasher detergent diluted in hot water. Seems to work great.

Win