screen impossibleto clean

mike102

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1990 300 E class
Dear Members.
I own a 1990 Merc 300 e, and i am having trouble trying to clean my windscreen.
Right, iv'e tried all those spray on things that contain chemicals and stuff, but where i am is, I get a really bad smear everytime i use the wipers especially when it's raininig, like a real oily film leaves itself on the glass when the wiper swipes.
It's got that bad now, that it's difficult to see properly when oncoming lights are against you, even street lights seem to obscure the vision.
Doe's anyone know what i'm going on about, if so, please get back and tell me if their is something i can do.
I don't know if this is true, but someone told me that if a windscreen is so old that the pitting on the glass can retain all the dirt and oils and are impossible to remove.
Thanks.
Mike.
 

teddycatkin

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I wonder if you have wiped it with a contaminated cloth and coated the surface ?
I.E. OIL or POLISH ? To get it back to normal use ordinary brown vinigar and CLEAN dry kitchen wipe to polish it off.
You may also need a new wiper blade too.
 
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djb

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I wonder if you have wiped it with a contaminated cloth and coated the surface ?
I.E. OIL or POLISH ? To get it back to normal use ordinary brown vinigar and CLEAN dry kitchen wipe to polish it off.
You may also need a new wiper blade too.

yep this works, have also used tooth paste on blades & run them with sucess before.
 

dave.robbo

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And a scotchbrite pad (you know, the little green pads used in the kitchen) can help to clean all sorts of muck off. Don't worry, it won't scratch the glass.
 

AndrewIles

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How old are your wiper blades?

If over a year old I would change these as they might be part of the problem.
 

bigasotonuk

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I,ll be honest my wiper blades don,t last much longer than 6-8 months on my C class's.
To clean the screen i normally use household spray type window cleaner and newspaper, i have heard of using a potatoe cut in half along the wiper blade, though never used it, something to do with the starch in a potatoe.
 
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television

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T cut does a good job on glass,and the blades, the blades on my SL are 7 years old and perfect still
 

roofless

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my wifes car is parked on a busy road at work it gets all the unburnt diesel emissions from the traffic & suffers the same problem but all i can do is use lots of screen wash to keep it clean or let her use the tight works car park used by 30 other woman drivers :(
 

brianbrian

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Where you park has a lot to do with your smeary wind screen cars ect, going past, pitted wind screen ,oily wiper blades, grease from insects, hot water fairy liquid should clear it, don't for get to clean wipers, let us no how you get on.
 

Dec

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Attached is an example of the wear on a wiper blade. As you walk, every stride you take wears a little rubber of the heel of your shoe, it’s the same with a wiper blade, and every sweep of the blade wears away a little rubber from the square edge of the blade.

It is the square edge that wipes the glass efficiently and is in contact with the glass during the sweep, it is the most important part of the blade, with use, the square part wares away and the blade rounds off resulting in a type of aquaplaning where the edge of the blade rides on top of the water and becomes less efficient at sweeping the water away, resulting in smears.

Whatever dust/grit/sand is on the windscreen when the wiper is switched on will be dragged across the screen by the blade, this will contribute further to wear on the blade and is the cause of the scratches on the windscreen glass which can be seen at certain angles and at certain times of the year and particularly noticeable when the sun is low in the sky and rich in ultraviolet light.

By the way, the blade or rather the rubber insert I have on my car at the moment is not a Bosh, it is of similar construction and grade of rubber to the Bosh but it works just as well, cost €4.

Dec
 

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roofless

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Attached is an example of the wear on a wiper blade. As you walk, every stride you take wears a little rubber of the heel of your shoe, it’s the same with a wiper blade, and every sweep of the blade wears away a little rubber from the square edge of the blade.

It is the square edge that wipes the glass efficiently and is in contact with the glass during the sweep, it is the most important part of the blade, with use, the square part wares away and the blade rounds off resulting in a type of aquaplaning where the edge of the blade rides on top of the water and becomes less efficient at sweeping the water away, resulting in smears.

Whatever dust/grit/sand is on the windscreen when the wiper is switched on will be dragged across the screen by the blade, this will contribute further to wear on the blade and is the cause of the scratches on the windscreen glass which can be seen at certain angles and at certain times of the year and particularly noticeable when the sun is low in the sky and rich in ultraviolet light.

By the way, the blade or rather the rubber insert I have on my car at the moment is not a Bosh, it is of similar construction and grade of rubber to the Bosh but it works just as well, cost €4.

Dec
will driving with my shoes off help :rolleyes:
 

WDB124066

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will driving with my shoes off help :rolleyes:


Yes it will, and if you hold your head out the window (with your eyes closed, because it is raining) at the same time, it will help even more! :D

Also, check for contamination of the reservoir and delivery lines from oil/grease and the like.
I have this problem too, I noticed after I get the screen clean it only takes a few jets of the MB windscreen fluid to bring back the smears.
Does anybody have a recommendation for a product to clean out the reservoir and lines?

Regards, W.
 

RiceBurner

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Taxi drivers used to use old style newspaper (the kind where the ink will smudge your hand).

sound mad - but the ink works as a cleaning agent, and the paper soaks up the oils and grease.
 

television

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Yes it will, and if you hold your head out the window (with your eyes closed, because it is raining) at the same time, it will help even more! :D

Also, check for contamination of the reservoir and delivery lines from oil/grease and the like.
I have this problem too, I noticed after I get the screen clean it only takes a few jets of the MB windscreen fluid to bring back the smears.
Does anybody have a recommendation for a product to clean out the reservoir and lines?

Regards, W.

I have heard that its better to drive with your hand on the roof, the excess water hits your arm and runs back onto there screen.

Milton is quite good at cleaning the tank
 

CHEWIE

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e32ocdi Avant with EVERYTHING Obsidian Black...WAS! now departed.
Cleaning your Windows/Glass.

Dear Members.
I own a 1990 Merc 300 e, and i am having trouble trying to clean my windscreen.
Right, iv'e tried all those spray on things that contain chemicals and stuff, but where i am is, I get a really bad smear everytime i use the wipers especially when it's raininig, like a real oily film leaves itself on the glass when the wiper swipes.
It's got that bad now, that it's difficult to see properly when oncoming lights are against you, even street lights seem to obscure the vision.
Doe's anyone know what i'm going on about, if so, please get back and tell me if their is something i can do.
I don't know if this is true, but someone told me that if a windscreen is so old that the pitting on the glass can retain all the dirt and oils and are impossible to remove.
Thanks.
Mike.

Hi Mike,
Not sure if I can help any further without knowing cause of your contamination, but having worked in both the Automotive Glazing and Specialist Marine Window/Door industry for many years I have cleaned far too many windows and learnt a few tricks along the way,...and may be of use to members in general.
Common practice for cleaning glass is to use steel wool and meths as the meths leaves almost no residue, this can also be added to your washer bottle (in place of detergent) as a regular way of degreasing your glass and will not harm your paint and will also act as anti freeze in the winter, it is alcohol based and soluble in water and evaporates very quickly.

Yes I did say steel wool above, this is used as a regular cleaning medium to lift silicone and adhesives/paints from the glass after assmbely, but is also an effective overall cleaner as it also catches and "lifts" the contamination from the surface, very good for insect splats with normal detergents (why dont they make glue from insects?...nothing stickier!!!) it is best to form a pad, sort of burger shaped and use under a flat hand and let the wool do the work, (pre wet sticky stuff) you can apply more localised pressure for stubborn areas if required, you will struggle to scratch glass with these methods as pushing steel wool against glass with hand pressure will push IT into your skin before you can push IT into the glass to damage it, if unsure try on an old mirror or glass jar you may have, failing that if next door has taken the dog for a walk you can always try on theirs first!.........................................................joke, no claims please!

Another often used solvent, stronger than meths, is Ketone or acetone, but this is much more harsh and should be kept away from paintwork and treated with respect, PPE etc,
it is also available in a milder form as nail varnish remover, this can be very effective if used carefully,not quite so "vicious" on paintwork, but best kept away and it is designed for application to human skin and nails which "stripped of oils" by the acetone so it also contains conditioning agents (oils etc) which should be washed away with detergent after use, do not add this to your washer bottle for that reason only plain Meths.

As regards your specific problem it is almost impossible to guess at a cause without " a look", so I would suggest that if unsure about wiper blades, I would replace so that you "know" they are good but only after a thorough clean of your screen, as you could contaminate your new blades, also rubber absorbs and is broken down by oils and grease and will cause it to perish,if your blades have absorbed some oil previously, they might now appear clean, but this could be a cause, also where you live can play a part in the life of your blades by way of salt and temperature effects etc.

Also do you park under trees at any time? as this is a cause of near invisible contamination from Sap "raining" from trees when in leaf, not usually visible but if you want to see it, leave a mirror or piece of flat glass under a leafy tree for an hour,during the day is best,and then tilt into light and look over the surface, its quite surprising! if you regularly park under them this will lead to prolonged contamination as wiper blades are coated with sap.
I would chance one of these two reasons or a combination to be the most Probable causes , from what you have said your wipers could well be "applying" more than they are removing! regards the "pitting" suggestion, yes that can hold contamination to an extent, glass is not absorbant and will only hold a microscopic amount of dirt etc,if it were bad enough to have that effect,I think you would have been moaning about the pitting first, causing poor vision, point in question,in some cases the laminate can appear "milky" with age this is caused by air between laminates and can often be seen at edges of older screens as white patches and also around old stone chips, this cannot be dealt with and means replacement, but dont think this plays a part in your problem.

As I said, not sure if I can help any more, but that it was I have learnt over the years and it has done me well and have never scratched glass with above methods or known of any to be scratched, so dont be afraid to give it a go!

Hope this will be of use to other members, as well as yourself, let us know how you get on.
Cheers,
Ray.
 

whitenemesis

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CLS55 AMG '05
I make it a point of changing wiper blades annually, biggest factor in getting and keeping a clean screen.

That said I do, or rather did, suffer from rain spots etc until I started using MER screen cream. It's a polish so will create huge amounts of dust. But by 'eck does it clean the glass! Buff well (with a clean cloth) after removing the dried cream and the screen gleams and seems to repel water much more easily. Bugs removed more easily, really good stuff.

Now if only I could find something similar for inside, that didn't dust.....
 

Myros

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I used to use rainex

but was tempted by a nano treatment at the local supermarket.it is superb. use the cleaning block to clean the screen, coat it with the treatment and polish off and Bob is your avuncular relative. No wipe opacity as with rainex and everything rolls off and insects and the like don't stick as well as they do to an untreated screen.
It would be wise to clean out the washer tank and clean up the blade first though.
 

kth286

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Isnt the washer bottle fluid heated by the hot engine coolant via a heat exchanger ??

Could the heat exchanger be leaking engine coolant into the washer bottle ?????? and causing the glass to smear ?????????

and probably not doing your paintwork any good either ??
 


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