How to clean blurry trunk window?

mealto

Active Member
Joined
Jan 26, 2015
Messages
178
Reaction score
29
Country
Canada
I noticed that the rear wiper area is blurry on the recorded dash cam video. Used strong dish detergent and lots of elbow grease and that portion is still blurry. On the outside from a distance, it looks like the wiper area is clean. But on the inside, the wiper area is definitely more blurry. Since the blurriness is in the wiper blade area, I have been trying to clean the outside with no results. Is this the wiper blade itself breaking down and getting into the micro pores of the rear window?

What tips are out there for a stubborn trunk window?
 
Any photo of it.

I assume you deep cleaned inside of the window.

You can detect if you got wiper scratch in the sun or when its dark under the street light. There will be curvy like the direction of the wiper.

I have use all of the thing below, to deep clean my windshield in my just retired car.

Use invisible glass cleaner with a microfiber clot.
Clay bar.
Blue sponge. Make sure it say scratch free. Green sponge is a no go. Good for insect also.
Remember to wash the dirt out, when you use the sponge. Dragging dirt around can make scratch.
scotch-brite-non-scratch-blue-sponge.jpg

Razor blade for tree sap. Don't use it on the painted surface.
Very fine steel wool, with a light hand. I could not make any scratch with a hard hand, so I will say pretty safe, but it have to be grade "#0000"


c350349b-8d10-48e0-98fb-05c087d3a4dc_1.e04f16c45d825693a8d656525ac2c3e5.jpeg

Cerium oxide glass polish. That will cut glass and remove very fine scratch, deep scratch and chip will stay. Its a lot of work but possible.

PS. dish detergent will remove wax from the car, so its not good to use for that.
 
Last edited:
Try Autoglym car glass polish. It's solvent based and seems mildly abrasive (at least my older formulation bottle is - quite a petrolly smell).

Some of the best glass hitech cleaners are only suited for light smearing whereas I've always found AGP to be really good at removing really stubborn dirt films. It used to leave a powdered dust like residue everywhere, but I believe they've no addressed this with a change of formula. Another tool is IPA (Isopropyl Alcohol not Indian Pale Ale!).
 
... Another tool is IPA (Isopropyl Alcohol not Indian Pale Ale!).
Both have their uses and both are equally effective. Cheers...
beerchug.gif
 
Both have their uses and both are equally effective. Cheers...

Strange, but it seems alcohol will break down the the layer in the glass. Special after 8-10 units.
Good news it be will recover by next day.

d744a06a5c07468786bc58a6566cd9d0.jpg
 
So this is crazy. I did a triple wipe down on the inside and got it very clean. Used Windows and another orange type de-greaser, that got most of the oil off. Then ended with 70% isopropyl alcohol and that made it look almost prefect looking outwards. Now the outside. Did the same treatment and even used a Mr Clean Magic Eraser. All chemicals left a foggy film behind. I have a feeling, it may be left over gunk and wiper blade rubber left in that area. Isopropyl alcohol at the end removed as much of the fogginess as I could but it's still no where near the front of the windshield. The wiper blade portion is more blurry than the non wiper blade area. But even the non wiper blade area is slightly blurry and have sings of "stained" areas. It's really odd.

Final video results are way better than yesterday but still not clear like a regular windshield.
 
Try Bar Keepers Friend but keep it off your paintwork as it's acidic. Supposed to be very effective on glass. Probably best sprayed onto the cloth away from the car to avoid over spray. Several detailers are recommending this on a professional detailing site I know.

You could try also claying or the next step beyond that will be probably be a Cerium oxide glass polish as suggested by Viking. Best to start with the least aggressive treatment and work your way up in my opinion.

Is's surprising but sometimes for the insides, one of the best methods is simply a drop of washing up liquid in water!
 
Cerium oxide glass polish. That will cut glass and remove very fine scratch, deep scratch and chip will stay. Its a lot of work but possible.
I'm cleaning up old photos.
Here how it look when you polish the windshield with Cerium oxide glass polish. A big mess, but a good car wash will clean it. I use water as lubricant.
IMGP2134.JPG
 
@Viking Plz come and do that to my rear windshield! Went to a friend who is a car nut. We tried all of his stuff including goo gone. Did not even do a thing.
 
Back
Top