Wiper smear due to stone chips?

jimbo_the_jetset

Noticed OH's wipers are starting to smear quite badly (4/5 lines right accross field of view). Coming into winter obviously not good.

Currently got Bosch flat blades on it which are only 10 months old now and seem in decent condition. Cleaned the screen and wipers at the weekend with AutoGlym Glass Polish so both are spotless. The only thing I can think of is that there are quite a few very small stone chips on the screen, when we had a larger one repaired the Autoglass man said there wasn't anything he could do about the smaller ones.

Any idea's to fix the problem other than replacement screen? Bought some RainX this week, any chance this will 'fill' in some of the smaller chips or is its filling properties only at the microscopic level?

Strider590

Normally smearing is caused by grease, dirt and even the wax from car shampoo.... Try cleaning it with a decent glass cleaner (and not something you'd use in the house).

david39

Also, when you clean it, use cloth(s) that have not been through a wash with other items using a fabric conditioner.

The conditioner puts a film on the fibres to make them feel soft and pliable and I find that this rubs off onto glass when I clean my house windows, leaving them looking good for a short time but then they go cloudy and smeary.

Inactive

Give your screen a good clean with vinegar, it will remove any road film, wax etc.

Wipe your wiper blades with it as well.

jimbo_the_jetset

Thanks for the responses but please read the original post. I did clean the screen and wipers with a suitable glass polish so grease etc is not the problem. Good tip about the cloth though and I do actually handwash my polishing cloths to avoid fabric softner contamination.

jimbo_the_jetset wrote: »

Cleaned the screen and wipers at the weekend with AutoGlym Glass Polish so both are spotless.

As I said in the original post I believe the problem is stone chips whereby there is some water sat in the chip and when the wiper blade moves over the chip it carries some water with it causing 4-5 lines which I have called smearing (I apologise if this was mis-leading)

Inactive

jimbo_the_jetset wrote: »

Thanks for the responses but please read the original post. I did clean the screen and wipers with a suitable glass polish so grease etc is not the problem. Good tip about the cloth though and I do actually handwash my polishing cloths to avoid fabric softner contamination.

But any form of " polish " is the worst thing that you can put on a screen.

maninthestreet

Use Vinegar or Meths to clean the wiper blades. Smearing can't be caused by stone chips, in my experience.

david39

If you used Autoglym glass polish then that is made specifically for use on vehicles, so that would not be the reason for the smears.

If the lines of the smears are on an arc that pass through the pits caused by the stone chips then your reasoning that they are the culprits is likely to be correct.

You need to establish whether the wiper blades or the screen itself are the problem. Mark the line of the smears on the inside of the screen with something like a felt-tip pen that can easily be rubbed off and then swap the wiper blades over. If the smears then appear along the same lines, it's a fault on the screen - if they appear on different arc-lines, then it's the wipers.