Stupid Question: How to effectively clean interior windows?

[skpyle]

Are you mixing it or using it straight?

I am spraying it straight out of a small mist bottle. I wanted to see how it worked full strength and decide if I needed to cut it with distilled water.

 

[skpyle]

Ok I took the "vinegar plunge". Took me half an hour to find it on the grocery store because "I don't usually groce". I bought a gallon of "cleaner vinegar". Instead of the "distilled vinegar". Cuz I am retarded and stuff.

So I mixed it 1:4 ratio of vin to wat in a spray bottle. Yes I did a "waft" of said vinegar when I first opened it. Stanky stuff. I sprayed the glass, used the wand stick towel thing to clean. It made a HELL of a greasy looking mess on the first pass. I followed it with a clean wipe down towel. Did this on both on both the front door windows inside and out and mirrors. In the dark, cold, damp mid 40's tonight with my work light looking for smears.

I put everything back in the garage. The tinge of vinegar stings in my mouth like a whiff of battery acid sulfur type thing. And I did it bare handed so I got this nasty vin stink on my skin on my hands.

I scrubbed down in the wash sink and headed out to run my errands for the night. I have to say, it kicks ass. That glass was so clean and spot and streak free. Holy cow. But the after taste is tough. I will work on this formula. And wear gloves next time to see if it helps.

Ouch. Sorry. I have been using vinegar for years to clean other things, so I am used to it. Definitely suggest nitrile gloves for you. Also, when I cleaned my windows, I had all the doors open. And left them open for a bit to air out the interior.

 

[Larryjb]

I have tried pretty much all of the methods above. The best ones have lasted maybe a few weeks, but up here near the pacific NW, any amount of humidity in the cool weather makes this "film" show up really bad. I have concluded that most of the methods above don't actually remove the film. Perhaps is smoothens the film so that moisture in the air doesn't interact with the film? (Condensation tends to form on rough surfaces. It doesn't have to be rough to the touch, it is more a microscopic rough.)

What I have found that works for an entire year or more is to use toluene. This is a strong solvent that dissolves oil like substances. Be careful to not let it touch any plastics.

I dampen a paper towel with the toluene (not so it's dripping), wipe the windshield in one direction only (across). I replace the paper towel after I've done half the windshield otherwise I'll be just smearing this film around instead. Once I've done the windshield in one direction, I repeat the process wiping the other direction (up and down). If it's really bad I may repeat this whole process a few more times. After doing this, you probably won't have to repeat the cleaning for another year at least.

Note, you don't want to use this on your aftermarket tinted windows, and I wouldn't use it on a window with a grid heater.

 

[Fless]

I have tried pretty much all of the methods above. The best ones have lasted maybe a few weeks, but up here near the pacific NW, any amount of humidity in the cool weather makes this "film" show up really bad. I have concluded that most of the methods above don't actually remove the film. Perhaps is smoothens the film so that moisture in the air doesn't interact with the film? (Condensation tends to form on rough surfaces. It doesn't have to be rough to the touch, it is more a microscopic rough.)

What I have found that works for an entire year or more is to use toluene. This is a strong solvent that dissolves oil like substances. Be careful to not let it touch any plastics.

I dampen a paper towel with the toluene (not so it's dripping), wipe the windshield in one direction only (across). I replace the paper towel after I've done half the windshield otherwise I'll be just smearing this film around instead. Once I've done the windshield in one direction, I repeat the process wiping the other direction (up and down). If it's really bad I may repeat this whole process a few more times. After doing this, you probably won't have to repeat the cleaning for another year at least.

Note, you don't want to use this on your aftermarket tinted windows, and I wouldn't use it on a window with a grid heater.

On glass I'd use denatured alcohol before toluene (but I don't).

 

[Larryjb]

The film on the windshield is more like a wax than an oil. Denatured alcohol is a polar solvent and not as good at removing these films. The removal of this film needs a non-polar solvent.

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A quick and perhaps oversimplified chemistry lesson:
Molecules can be though of "magnets", with some being stronger than others. The strength of the depends on the atoms. (Note, what I am talking about is very different from ferromagnetism, the typical magnet we think of.)

Molecules that have oxygen in them (H2O (water), CH3OH and CH3CH2OH (alcohols), CH3OCH3 (acetone)) are quite strongly polar because oxygen likes to suck electrons from other atoms. Water is the strongest of this bunch. Alcohols and acetone are more weakly polar. Water will dissolve salts but won't dissolve oil or wax. Alcohol and acetone, being weakly polar, can dissolve many oils and salts, but not wax.

Molecules that have only carbon and hydrogen in them have almost no polar qualities. They are like a magnet that has become demagnetized. Common solvents like this are C6H6 (benzene, banned because it causes cancer), CH3C6H5 (toluene, quite safe relatively speaking), CH3CH3C6H4 (xylene), C11H24 (varsol). Paint thinner is a mixture of several non-polar solvents. All of these will dissolve waxes, but not touch water or salts.

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When we clean the waxy film on the windshield with ammonia or vinegar it "polishes" the wax to make it look clear. This is what we are doing when we wax the outside of our cars, except car wax is much better. If we used the same waxy stuff from the windshield on our painted surfaces, it would probably shine up very quickly, but then become hazy soon after.

 

[89Suburban]

WOW

 

[BADRIDES]

I wipe mine down with a damp chamois. Well, it's not a real chamois, it's one of those "Absorber" brand synthetic chamois. EZ.

That's what I use and then wipe moisture off with the softest microfiber I have

 

[Marky Dissod]

The film on the windshield is more like a wax than an oil. Denatured alcohol is a polar solvent and not as good at removing these films.
The removal of this film needs a non-polar solvent.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
A quick and perhaps oversimplified chemistry lesson:
Molecules can be though of "magnets", with some being stronger than others. The strength of the depends on the atoms.
(Note, what I am talking about is very different from ferromagnetism, the typical magnet we think of.)

Molecules that have oxygen in them (H2O (water), CH3OH and CH3CH2OH (alcohols), CH3OCH3 (acetone)) are quite strongly polar because oxygen likes to suck electrons from other atoms.
Water is the strongest of this bunch. Alcohols and acetone are more weakly polar. Water will dissolve salts but won't dissolve oil or wax.
Alcohol and acetone, being weakly polar, can dissolve many oils and salts, but not wax.

Molecules that have only carbon and hydrogen in them have almost no polar qualities. They are like a magnet that has become demagnetized.
Common solvents like this are C6H6 (benzene, banned because it causes cancer), CH3C6H5 (toluene, quite safe relatively speaking), CH3CH3C6H4 (xylene), C11H24 (varsol).
Paint thinner is a mixture of several non-polar solvents. All of these will dissolve waxes, but not touch water or salts.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
When we clean the waxy film on the windshield with ammonia or vinegar it "polishes" the wax to make it look clear.
This is what we are doing when we wax the outside of our cars, except car wax is much better.
If we used the same waxy stuff from the windshield on our painted surfaces, it would probably shine up very quickly, but then become hazy soon after.

So, we should alternately use paint thinner and H2O to clean inside glass?

 

[89Suburban]

vinegar mix impressing me very much.

 

[Larryjb]

I don't bother with water after. The toluene evaporates fairly quickly. Sometimes I use acetone after though. That evaporates even quicker than toluene.