Wipers Smearing - how to clean car windscreen/wiper blades?

Crabman

lil_me wrote:

Blades usually have scum on them from the factory/transporting/shop floor, try cleaning them first before you try tackling the window. Vinegar works usually but make sure you clean it off. Try changing your washer bottle fluid too, can become 'gunky' at this time of year especially I find with temperatures dropping and rising so much, I changed a bottle recently and the gewww *urgh!* it was awful what was in that bottle. I find a regular swoosh out with the hose does wonders, but you do get wet !

How do you clean it out, just fill with water, spray the windscreen till empty, repeat? Or is there a clever way to drain it I'm too thick to think of myself? :rotfl:

moonrakerz

Cheap white toothpaste on the glass, Honest !

Glad

alcohol wipes work on wipers too

Pink.

studentphil wrote:

You are meant to rub it on the outside and it is meant to make the rain water ruin off the screen easier, so you need the wipers less.

Have you tried that? Can you see through the starch on the windscreen?

Thanks for starting this thread Crabman.....my windscreen wipers never seem to do the job properly for very long no matter which brand I buy. I'm going to give some of the ideas on this thread a go.

Pink

Crabman

Glad wrote:

alcohol wipes work on wipers too

Alcohol :think: what is this substance you speak of? :A

EDIT - Hey Pinky :hello: I'm going to try vinegar on the wipers first... watch this space

studentphil

I have never tried rubbing Tatties on the Windscreen, but I was told it works.

Maybe it might be best to try it on a mirror or a piece of glass first.

Crabman

OK I've wiped the blades with vinegar and picked up a lot of black dirt (only been on 2 weeks!) but there's still a tad of smearing where the blade paths overlap - but nothing to worry about though. Big improvement many thanks peeps :beer:

I may give it a clean with vinegar/water solution or even the toothpaste... not ready for the potato step just yet :think: :rotfl:

johnaerial

I suffered for years with smeary hazy windscreens. I used every glass cleaner under the sun. I tried isopropyl alcohol, wire wool, even vinegar but nothing would stop the smear until....I decided that perhaps it wasn’t grease or wax but a build up of limescale. I live in a very hard-water area and limescale builds up on everything to do with water.

Even though I had tried vinegar previously, this time I soaked a towel in vinegar and left it on the windscreen for an hour or so. Then I gave the screen a vigorous rubbing and hey presto, I now have a crystal-clear windscreen and NO MORE smear.

Dave_b_3

I've been trying EVERTHING to get rid of windscreen smears Problem solved thanks to the tip about using white toothpaste - YES it works

Dave_b_3

Yes - that white toothpaste works pretty good - but I've found that screwed up newspaper on a damp windscreen - rub nice and hard - works even better. Maybe it's the newsprint? - anyway I reckon it's really good.