what is on my windshield or is it bad glass?
 

The windshield in my car is a "SGC M-66 dot65 AS1". It was virtually brand new when I bought the car two years ago. In the rain, especially at night, the wipers clean the water but a blinding (VERY dangerous) fog-like film, on the outside limits my vision to nill!

I have tried 3 or 4 different sets of wiper blades and numerous cleaners and cleaning tips/tricks. (bon-ami, amonia, Stoners etc.)

Any clues would be greatly appreciated as this is a serious safety issue!

thebern

Hopefully the problem is contained to just the outside surface. This windshield would be a perfect candidate for professional polishing. Take it to an automotive glass place and they should take care of it. Or, if you insist on doing it yourself, JC Whitney sells a glass polishing kit that can be used with a drill.

I have read either in the "Detailing" section of this site or on another site that RainX and FogX does weird things to the windshield. Could this be your problem? There are many different opions as to the effectiveness of these products.

Supposabley once you get it on, it never comes off. If I recall correctly cleaning the glass with warm water and "Soft Scrub", should remove any residue or left over RainX and FogX from the windshield.

Give it a try what is the cost? 2.49? and a little elbow grease?

My solution for real heavy duty cleaning is laquer thinner - of course it melts about half the things I clean with it - but that's a small price to pay for real heavy duty cleaning. I don't see how it could hurt glass, just don't spill any on the paint.

Paint thinner will also help. The problem is oil or silicone oil on the glass, and soap won't take either off.

Hexane, if you can get it, will work too. Laquer thinner is a good bet, but please be very carefull of the paint and trim!

For abrasives to polish it off, try the dry Bon Ami cake (if you can find it) applied by rubbing a damp cloth full of "paste" from the block. This is the only thing I've found other than solvents that will remove car wash wax. The dry powder in the can never seems to work very well for me for some reason. I use the dry cake at work to clean microscope slides, too!

Peter

If your car has been sitting in the path of a sprinkler you most likely have iron deposits on your windshield. Try using rubbing alcohol or such. Good Luck. :)

If you use automatic cars wash, some of them use some very sticky waxes. That could be the source of your problem.
jackd

I had the same problem the other night ,raining (odd for Oregon)heavy oncoming traffic curvy two lane road.The on coming lights broke up like starburst very hard to see the road, scary. I thought it was road film,but I did apply rain X a while back. I'll bet brasso will take it off,I used to use it on highly polished silver........
William Rogers.......

Windscreen
 

Isopropyl alcohol will remove silicones.

No it won't. Silicone can only be removed by mechanical means.

I had a similar problem and ended up cleaning the windshield with car wash soap and #0000 steel wool. I was warned that this might scratch the windshield but it was already so bad that I took the chance. You have to use a lot of elbow grease but I was happy with the results.

This film on my windshield was very dangerous and driving me nuts, especially with a light rain at night. The wipers would go over it, there'd be a haze, and then it would dissipate. The defroster helped, but it was still bad.

The problem was finally solved by the fine steel wool (#000, seemed to work), and concentrated car wash fluid, the stuff that you would put into a pressure washer.
Circular motions, pretty hard, then wiped off with paper towels.

It's like a new windshield.

There never used to be any kind of film like this on windshields. Makes you kind of wonder.

I use denatured alcohol with 000 steel wool to clean glass. That's the only change I would suggest to LaughingGravy's method.

Denatured alcohol is used by the tint shops to clean everything, including old tint and adhesive, from windows. That with steel wool and razor blades.

Also make sure to either replace or clean the wiper blades. They are probably coated with whatever is making the film.

Commercial De Icing material
 

In the past few years I have seen an increase in use of newer commercial de icing mixes on highways (brine slurry and eco friendly mixes) as well as non petroleum based chemicals used by commercial road construction.

The result is the type of condition you have indicated.

I use filtered water and P-21 Washer concentrate with 15% commercial windshield washer fluid and that seems to work with the heated washer fluid compartment MB has as OEM.

I have noticed that most commercial windshield wash fuid gets "gooey" below 40 deg F (You will see a visible smear behind the wiper blade).

I don;t use Rain X as I grew tired of the chattering blade syndrome and the resulting damage to the Wiper motor system on both my MB and Volvo.

Have you tried using a clay bar?