This will sound like a painfully obvious statement, but to drive well, you first need to be able to see well. Is that object in the bushes inanimate, or is it a deer that will jump out into the path of your vehicle at its soonest convenience? Is that a paper bag on the road or a brick? If the view ahead isn’t abundantly clear but everything else seems medically fine, it might be time to clean your windshield. However, not all methods of cleaning a windshield are equally effective.
Have you ever noticed that even after scrubbing your windshield with glass cleaner and a short-nap towel, you can occasionally still see stuff on the glass? Believe it or not, those are embedded contaminants. Hard water, traffic film, the ghostly remnants of insects obliterated, what have you. It’s subtle in the daytime, but it definitely affects a driver’s ability to see clearly at night, because these contaminants can exacerbate glare. Thankfully, you don’t have to change your windshield or experiment with messy cerium oxide to get these stubborn contaminants out. All you need is a synthetic clay mitt from pretty much any brand, and you can pick one up for as little as $20 on Amazon.
While a clay bar can be used for this, a synthetic clay mitt still pulls contaminants out of the pores of surfaces, and it has a few advantages. First, it’s reusable — rinse it out, and you’re good to go again, even if you drop it on the ground. I’ve had mine for years, and compared to the cost of a clay bar, it’s paid itself back multiple times over. Secondly, it’s easier. You don’t have to knead and fold pieces of clay, and the increased surface area of the clay mitt means it takes less time to get those contaminants out of your windscreen. How easy? Just check this out.
Step one: Spray some glass cleaner to lubricate the surface. The clay mitt won’t slide without it, so feel free to be on the generous side and make sure the surfaces never run dry.
Step two: Move the clay mitt back and forth across the glass in horizontal sweeps.
Step three: Once the mitt slides everywhere smoothly with no resistance or grittiness, wipe off the remaining glass cleaner, then proceed with a normal cleaning of your windshield.
Pretty easy, right? It takes all of about five minutes, and I’ve found that doing it once a month makes night driving less fatiguing and increases visibility. So, if you find yourself having a harder time driving at night due to glare, maybe it’s not you. Maybe it’s just your windshield. Spending $20 on a cheap clay mitt and putting in five minutes of elbow grease shouldn’t just give you a better clean, but it should let you know for sure. Now granted, claying a windshield won’t remove scratches. As you can see, I’ll need to actually polish the glass on the Boxster to get these scratches out of there. However, I did pull a whole lot of schmutz out of the glass, and improvement is improvement.
(Photo credits: Thomas Hundal)
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Have you tried one of these “synthetic clay” pads? https://www.griotsgarage.com/brilliant-finish-synthetic-clay/
It seems more aggressive (in a good way) than the short-nap-microfiber synthetic clay mitts, and has zero nap so any contaminants easily and fully wash off.
its a paper bag with a brick inside
My brother-in-law who owns a body shop showed me how to polish glass with 00 steel wool. Works great! It easily cleaned up some stubborn old crap off of my 30 y/o Ford pickup’s windshield with little effort.
Definitely do not use 00 steel wool. Only 0000.
Sorry, meant 000.
A genuinely useful product review of something you personally use rather than a thinly veiled ad??? What madness this way comes???!!!!
I can see clearly now, the rain is gone…
What?
No affiliate links?
sarc/
I’ve heard that Magic Erasers are good for windscreens too.
My issue are the teeny tiny chips in my glass that drive me bonkers – not big enough for requiring a repair. Are there fillers out there – what do you recommend?
Magic Erasers are also amazing for cleaning shoes! I try to hit all my insoles every 6ish months with just some clean water and it’s amazing how much newer they look.
What has been Autopians’ experience of using a clay mitt vs. a clay bar on the finish of their vehicle?
Some product reviews I have read mentioned that a clay mitt left streaks of clay on the paint. Unless the mitt was of poor quality, I suspect that it may have been due to not using enough spray lubricant, too much pressure, or both.
This is my experience too. Got one from Griot’s garage that was useless on painted surfaces and glass, despite excessive lube. Probably my error, but I’ll stick with a clay bar that I can see turn gross and know it’s working.
Will a clay mitt also remove the “vinyl fog” on the inside of the windshield?
The only thing that I’ve found that works is sprayway glass cleaner and a good clean cloth
Better than a clean cloth, newspaper. I generally use the ad circulars that they drop on my porch. An actual newspaper would work fine too If you can find one.
If you’ve had trouble getting it clean, go over it several times. Use lots of fresh pieces of newspaper and fresh spray cleaner.
I use newspaper when I have it but it’s a lot harder to come buy than it used to be!
It’s worked for me in the past, but it might not work on every windshield and it’s worth being careful around any internal frit.
I use water with vinegar applied with a microfiber rag then removed with a small squeegee to clean the inside of car windows. Gets rid of the fog and the nose and paw prints on our four legged co-driver.
i use stoner invisiglass, with a microfiber sponge, then just squeegee that off. No steaks or anything left.
TIL! I’m gonna give this a try as I’m a little bit particular regarding windscreen cleanliness.
Bonus points for “schmutz” … love it. Been a while since I read that word but it conveys its meaning perfectly.
Huh. I love cerium oxide, idk why people are so down on it. It’s a dust you turn into a paste, which I guess if messier that a spray bottle of something, but it works beautifully and it’s totally worth it.
It’s mostly the fling when using it with a rotary. I’ll have to tape and drape the whole car 🙁
Fair. This clay mitt is much lower key than “I’ma polish my glass with CeO2.”
I’ve never had a problem with film on my windshield. Perhaps because I often use the wipers and spray to get things off ASAP. Always use the gas station squeegee to get bugs off. Finally, I replace the wipers as soon as they aren’t working perfectly.
I wish I could say I treat every part of my car this way, it’s just I really like to see well.
IMO gas station squeegees are the best way to get scratches and crap ON your windshield.
If they’re there at all.
I keep a squeegee in my trunk
as someone who like to see, I’d add RainX (or whatever) as the next step. the difference isn’t subtle. Also, Regularly clean your wiper blades with a baby wipe… the moisturizers/etc in the wipe keeps the rubber happy for a long time.
100% on regular (~6 months on a daily) RainX application. Appreciate the tip on the baby wipes, will be putting that to use.
I used to do window cleaning commercially, and got in the habit of always running the sponge side of the squeegee down each windshield wiper blade every time to get the crud they pick up off. Blades now generally age out on my cars instead of needing a yearly change
I do that too. It just feels like a logical thing to do when I’m right there with a wet squeegee anyway.
Do they make one these big enough to use on Congress?
Not approved for age spot removal, must apply term limits.