Top 10 Ways To Clean Your Windshield

Written by Igor Iwanowski in Exterior Cosmetic Problems and Fixes Last Updated 16/03/2023

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Car windows get dirty all the time, especially the windshield. Unfortunately, there is no permanent solution to this problem. So, instead of washing your car at the car wash every day just because your windshield and windows are dirty, here are 10 ways you can follow and clean them at home.

Top 10 Ways To Clean Your Windshield:

  • With Wax
  • With Detailing Clay
  • With Vinegar
  • With Cleaning Agent
  • With Newspaper
  • With Pressure Washer
  • With Bleach
  • With Windex
  • With Rubbing Alcohol
  • With Dish Soap
  • BONUS: Cleaning Hack For The Inside Of Your Windshield

Let’s get started:

How To Clean Your Car Windows With Wax

I’m going to show you something neat that I learned, and that I do to detail my car windowsOpens in a new tab.
 
Ingredients:

Guide:

  1. Spray the windshield with an ammonia-based windshield cleaner glass cleaner.
  2. Wipe it with a towel.
  3. Make sure you remove all the bugs and dirt from the windshield. This step is super important because depending on how clean you make it right now, is going to make the windshield turn out either really nice or not very nice at all. Before you put your wax on, you want to get this windshield spotless.
  4. Make sure you hose off the ammonia-based cleaner. You don’t want any of that ammonia on there.
  5. Dry your windshield with a microfiber cloth.
  6. Apply the wax onto the windshield. It should go without saying, you always apply wax in a circular motion.
  7. Let the was dry off.
  8. Once it’s dry, take it off with another microfiber towel.
  9. Take a microfiber cloth and polish it up just like if you’re going to polish the body of your car.
  10. Perform a test. Spray your windshield with water and see the results.

How To Clean Your Car Windows With Detailing Clay

Another great and easy way to clean your windows/windshieldOpens in a new tab.

Ingredients:

Guide:

  1. Start by applying water(lubricant) on your windows/windshield. This will help the clay to glide easily across the surface.
  2. Grab your clay lengthwise and start gliding. Start with up-down motions. Once you cover all the windshield with vertical motions, start with circular motions.
  3. If you come across grime, make sure to clean it well.
  4. Wipe your windshield/windows with a microfiber towel. This step will remove any excess clay.

How To Clean Your Car Windows With Vinegar

Vinegar is a product that can be used for a lot of things. It is not toxic and anti-bacterial. It can clean any surface without causing damage. And it’s cheaper than all the cleaning agents.

Ingredients:

  • 2 Cups of Distilled Water
  • 1/4 Cup White Vinegar
  • 1/2 Tbsp Dishwashing Detergent
  • Sponge
  • Microfiber Towel (see on amazon.com)

Preparation:

  1. Heat up the water almost to a boiling point.
  2. Mix the water with the white vinegar.
  3. Add the dishwashing detergent.
  4. Add the mixture to a spray bottle.

Guide:

  1. You can either start with water or with the mixture. If your windshield and windows are very dirty, you can first apply regular water and clean it up a little bit. Or, you can start with the mixture itself and soak your windows/windshield good.
  2. Grab your sponge and wipe the windshield. Make sure to remove all dirt and bugs.
  3. With a clean microfiber towel wipe your windshield.
  4. If you didn’t get the wanted results the first time, repeat the process.

How To Clean Your Car Windows With Cleaning Agent

If you don’t have free time or the homemade ingredients, you can always buy a cheap cleaning agent online. Also, make sure you read the instructions before using your cleaning agent. Some of them need to be diluted with water.

Ingredients:

  • Car Glass Cleaner (see on amazon.com)
  • Bucket With Distilled Water
  • Microfiber Towel
  • Sponge

Great For:

  • Cleaning hard water spots
  • Bugs
  • Dirt

Guide:

  1. If you are using a concentrated cleaner, mix it with water as per the instructions on the bottle.
  2. Spray your windows/windshield with the glass cleaner and let it sit for 1 minute.
  3. If your windshield/windows are very dirty, you can first start wiping with a sponge.
  4. Repeat the process until you get the wanted results.
  5. After you are done with step 4, grab your clean microfiber towel and wipe your windows/windshield.

How To Clean Your Car Windows With Newspaper

This method is very old. I first saw my grandmother cleaning her home windows with newspaper. At first, I thought she don’t have money for a microfiber towel. So, I went to the store and I bought her a pack of 3 microfiber towels. She laughed when she saw me. Then we did a small towel Vs newspaper match, and the results were the same. Works fine with any glass.

Ingredients:

  • Newspaper
  • Window Cleaner, or some vinegar

Guide:

  1. For this method, you can either use a cleaning agent or some of the above homemade cleaning solutions.
  2. Apply the cleaner to your windows/windshield.
  3. Rub the surface with a newspaper. It is very important that you choose a newspaper that has very little to no photos on it. You will be amazed how clean your windows/windshield will be.

How To Clean Your Car Windows With Pressure Washer

Ingredients:

Guide:

  1. Make sure your windows are closed. You should do this step with all the previous methods, but you want to double check before turning on your pressure washer.
  2. Spray your windows with the pressure washer. Keep a distance of at least 2 feet.
  3. Spray your windows with soap. You can either do this manually or via pressure washer.
  4. Rinse your windows/windshield with the pressure washer. If you keep your aim at 15-20 degree angle you will have the best results.
  5. If you didn’t get the wanted results at first, repeat this process.
  6. Grab your microfiber towel and dry your windows/windshield.

How To Clean Your Car Windows With Bleach

I wouldn’t personally recommend this method, but it is doable. Bleach is a strong chemical and does a great job when it comes to cleaning. Make sure you use rubber gloves and eyeglasses.

Ingredients:

  • 1 tbsp Bleach
  • 2 tbsp Dish Soap
  • 1 Bucket Water
  • Microfiber Towel
  • Sponge

Preparation:

  1. Warm up your water. No need to get it to boiling point.
  2. Add your dish soap and mix the water.
  3. Add the bleach. Be careful when mixing. You don’t want to get bleach in your eyes.

Guide:

  1. Again, make sure you have rubber gloves and eye protection on. You can either have the mixture in a bucket or a spray bottle.
  2. Soak your windows/windshield with the solution and leave it to sit for 5 minutes.
  3. Grab your sponge and start cleaning your windshield. Make sure to clean all the dirt. Repeat this process as many times as you need.
  4. After completing step 3, grab your microfiber towel and dry your windows/windshield.

How To Clean Your Car Windows With Windex

Windex products are used for cleaning home windows but can be also used to clean your car windows/windshield.

Ingredients:

Guide:

  1. Apply Windex on your windows/windshield and let it sit for 1 minute.
  2. Start wiping with the microfiber towel.
  3. If your windows/windshield are very dirty, you might need to switch microfiber towels.
  4. If you want, you can also wipe it one more time with a clean microfiber towel.

How To Clean Your Car Windows With Rubbing Alcohol

You can use rubbing alcohol on pretty much any glass surface. I clean my eyeglasses with rubbing alcohol. It’s that safe. So, if you want clean and streak free windows/windshield, start using rubbing alcohol.

Ingredients:

Preparation:

  1. Mix 1 part 70 percent Alcohol with 3 parts water.

Guide:

  1. Apply the mixture onto your windows/windshield.
  2. If your windshield/windows are dirty, apply more of the solution.
  3. Leave it to sit for 5-10 minutes.
  4. Wipe the glass surface with circular motions.
  5. When done, dry the windows/windshield with a clean microfiber towel.
  6. Make sure to ventilate the car after cleaning with rubbing alcohol.

How To Clean Your Car Windows With Dish Soap

Really quick DIY for you on how to clean your windshield really cheap and effectively. You’re probably wondering why can I just
go to any auto parts store and buy Windex or any kind of windshield cleaner. Well, the answer is it’s too expensive, it doesn’t work well. Why? Let me explain. What really gets your windshield dirty? It’s not the bugs, it’s not the salt that spreaders use. It’s actually the grease that cars are kicking up that are in front of you. Think about it. How many millions of cars driveOpens in a new tab.
work on any kind of oils that are working in your car.
 
Ingredients:
  • Spray bottle
  • 2 tbsp Dishwashing soap
  • Water
  • Microfiber towel
So, the simple trick is this go to a dollar store, pick up a simple little spray bottle. You can even find one sometimes for maybe a little bit over a dollar at your local hardware store. Next, about two tablespoons of dishwashing soap, some more water, and you
got yourself some extremely powerful windshield cleaner. Just a side note: you might want to be careful with this stuff on your paint job. It will take off your wax because wax is a grease and this is a degreaser. So, if you do spray some, wipe it off quickly. If you want you could simply just reapply the wax later.
 
Guide:
  1. Start up a driver’s side. Take the solution, shake it up just a little bit and apply it on the windshield. Like I said if you do get on the paint job, wipe it off immediately because it is a degreaser you don’t want to take the wax off of your carOpens in a new tab.
  2. Start wiping it off.
  3. Switch to the passenger side and repeat the process.

How To Clean Your Windshield/Windows From The Inside

I’m going to show you how to clean the inside of your windshield so that’s crystal clear and streak free. A dirty windshield makes driving difficult, especially at night time when you can see all the streaks and oily film. So, let me show you how to get rid of the streaks and make it crystal clear.
The inside of your windshield is a real pain to clean for a few reasons. It can be challenging to get in the part between the dash and the windshield. Another issue is, you could get an oily film on the inside, which leaves streaks and is really hard to get off. To understand how to clean the oily film off, you have to understand where it comes from first. So, that oily film that gets on your glass is primarily from the off gassing from the plastics in your interior. Most dashboards are made of vinyl or plastic or a combination of the
two and vinyl and plastic, and all have oils in them. When they get very hot, such as when the sun’s beating down on the dash, those oils come to the surface and evaporate, and then they’ll stick right
onto the glass, and that’s how you get that oily film. Another cause of that oily film is using one of these greasy protectants on your dashboard. Finally, smoking is really bad for you, but it’s also bad for the interior of your car, and all that smoke has to go somewhere. It goes all over the interior glass and just makes a mess of your glass and it makes it even more difficult to clean.
So, now that you know how the interior glass gets so dirty, let me show you how to clean it up to get it to a streak-free and crystal clear.
Before cleaning the inside of your windshield make sure you clean the outside glass so you can easily see the dirt and streaks that are on the inside. Use one of the methods that I provided. With the
exterior glass looking nice and clean, we have three main steps to clean the interior:
  1. The first step is to use a clean dry microfiber towel and clean the whole interior glass.
  2. Then you’re going to either want to use alcohol or one of the Mr. clean erasers or dishwasher soap to degrease and clean the glass. This is what’s going to get that oily film off.
  3. The final step is you’re going to use your favorite glass cleaner and another microfiber towel and wipe down the glass one more time. After that, it’ll be crystal clear.

While this process works on any glass including the side glass and the rear glass. If you have rear tints, I wouldn’t use this method on rear tints. All you need to do is use some soapy water and a microfiber towel. It’s a lot easier to clean tint.

So let’s get started.

  1. Get a clean microfiber towel. Get in here and wipe down all of the interior glass. A lot of times it’s really hard to get into these tight areas between the dash and the glass especially where the dash and glass meet. So one method you could use that really helps is using the backhand method. What you do is you face towards the rear of the car and take your hand and face the palm of your hand towards the glass. And you can see it could easily reach in there. Wipe the glass off with a clean dry microfiber towel. When cleaning the glass you want to go in circular motions which attacks the dirt at all angles. Then, flip the towel over to a side that hasn’t been used yet, and go in an up and down motion to finish the first step. Also as you clean try not to let the towel touch the dash. Keep it nice and folded and controlled so that you don’t get any of the grease that’s on the dash on your towel, and then you’re just rubbing that grease back onto the glass. If you do for some reason get the towel on the dash, that towel is done. Throw it in a washbucket and grab a new towel and finish whatever step you are on.
  2. Step two is an awesome trick that I learned. What you’re going to want to do is you’re going to use one of the Mr. Clean Magic Erasers. If you don’t have a magic eraser, you can use rubbing alcohol and a microfiber cloth. The whole point of this step is to de-grease the windshield. I highly suggest trying to use one of the Mr. Clean Magic Erasers. All you have to do is you dunk it in warm water, bring it out and that activates it, and then just take it and clean off the glass in circular motions. Make sure that the towel is wet. You want to make sure that this has liquid in it and that the glass is getting wet as you’re doing this. If you get any drops of liquid on the dashboard, get a paper towel real quickly and wipe the dashboard off because you don’t want the liquid to stain or even damage the dashboard. If it sits on there, it is a cleaner and you don’t want to discolor it. So, once you finish your circular motions and you’ve cleaned the whole windshield, you want to quickly grab your microfiber towel and dry the windshield off in circular motions. You don’t want the liquid from the Magic Eraser to dry onto the glass. You want to soak it up with your microfiber towel because in that liquid is going to be all the dirt and grease that you’re just absorbing right now.
  3. Step three is the last step. So, grab your favorite glass cleaner and spray it on a cleanOpens in a new tab.

Igor Iwanowski

I am a certified Automotive Service Excellence (ASE) mechanic since 2018. I specialize in Brake systems, dashboard warning lights, EGRs, general engine problems, EVAP and Emissions issues.

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