Mike Phillips
Active member
- Dec 5, 2022
- 51,004
- 6
Remove the glare from where you stare
Window Glare!
Both annoying as well as a safety issue
I don't know anyone that likes glare on their windshield. Glare is how light is diffused over the surface making it hard to see. It's also a safety issue because you need to see when you're driving.
Common problem
While writing a recent article about Griot's Fine Glass Polish I noticed the inside of my own glass had a film build-up. Over the years I've seen questions come up on our forum where people are having a difficult time removing really stubborn films and contamination off the INSIDE of their windows. Normally they tell a tale of how they've used every glass cleaner under the sun and every secret glass cleaning technique ever shared over the blogosphere.
Vinyl Fog
New cars have a lot of plastic and other freshly made man-made components and materials inside of them. These newly manufactured parts will tend to give off a chemical gas called outgassing as a natural process. This can also be accentuated when interiors become hot, for example parking outside in a parking lot in full sun with all the windows rolled up. The inside can become a sort of pressure cooker. The resulting outgassing deposits an oily film on the inside of the car. It's probably everywhere since it's not picky about where it attaches but it's only on the glass that you can see it.
Sometimes you need a mechanical solution (no pun intended)
I've come across difficult inside windows to clean in my lifetime and when I've exhausted normal spray-on glass cleaners I've switched over to polishes with great success. The idea being to use a glass polish to cut through the gunk on the glass and then wipe this residue off.
How it works?
The abrasives in the glass polish plus any chemical cleaners will cut through the film and then mix into the polish itself.
Then you wipe the whole mess off.
Next switch back over to your favorite spray-on glass cleaner to make the final wipes. While it can be awkward rubbing some type of applicator pad over the inside of your car's glass unless you're already a contortionist, with a little effort you can do it.
Capturing glare with a camera
I've taken thousands of pictures in my car detailing life documenting defects an all types of surfaces but when I went to take pictures of the glare caused by a film that has built-up on the inside of my truck I found it to be a little tricky. It was tricky to capture both the glare and film before and also after. But I think when you look at the pictures below you'll agree, somehow I did it.
The challenge of timing
First you have to get the pictures either early in the morning as the sun is coming up or late in the afternoon as the sun is setting. After looking at the glare at both times of the day I decided it would be better to capture early morning pictures.
Here's a shot looking out the driver's side of my truck's windshield...
Here's a cropped out section from the above picture...
Here's a full size image, 800 pixels wide cropped out of the original.
Griot's Fine Glass Polish
Soft foam applicator pad...
I applied to just a section of glass in the middle of the windshield.
This morning, I arrived to work early to capture the before and after 50/50 shots as the sun was rising on the horizon....
Now you have to look carefully
The inside glass on the left side has been hand polished with Griot's Fine Glass Polish and the inside glass on the right side is untouched.
The smear you see is where I took my finger and swiped it across the glass before I started writing this article just out of curiosity to see how bad the film on the glass was...
Sun Glare and the Multiplier Effect
It's the FILM on the inside of your car's glass that multiplies the GLARE created from sun rays hitting the windshield that blinds you while you're driving.
Finishing the job...
Today I finished hand polishing the entire inside glass...
Now that's a clear view!
Summary...
So if you find yourself struggling to really get the inside glass on your car clean... it might be time to take a new approach and hand polish the glass with a dedicated glass polish.
Window Glare!
Both annoying as well as a safety issue
I don't know anyone that likes glare on their windshield. Glare is how light is diffused over the surface making it hard to see. It's also a safety issue because you need to see when you're driving.
Common problem
While writing a recent article about Griot's Fine Glass Polish I noticed the inside of my own glass had a film build-up. Over the years I've seen questions come up on our forum where people are having a difficult time removing really stubborn films and contamination off the INSIDE of their windows. Normally they tell a tale of how they've used every glass cleaner under the sun and every secret glass cleaning technique ever shared over the blogosphere.
Vinyl Fog
New cars have a lot of plastic and other freshly made man-made components and materials inside of them. These newly manufactured parts will tend to give off a chemical gas called outgassing as a natural process. This can also be accentuated when interiors become hot, for example parking outside in a parking lot in full sun with all the windows rolled up. The inside can become a sort of pressure cooker. The resulting outgassing deposits an oily film on the inside of the car. It's probably everywhere since it's not picky about where it attaches but it's only on the glass that you can see it.
Sometimes you need a mechanical solution (no pun intended)
I've come across difficult inside windows to clean in my lifetime and when I've exhausted normal spray-on glass cleaners I've switched over to polishes with great success. The idea being to use a glass polish to cut through the gunk on the glass and then wipe this residue off.
How it works?
The abrasives in the glass polish plus any chemical cleaners will cut through the film and then mix into the polish itself.
Then you wipe the whole mess off.
Next switch back over to your favorite spray-on glass cleaner to make the final wipes. While it can be awkward rubbing some type of applicator pad over the inside of your car's glass unless you're already a contortionist, with a little effort you can do it.
Capturing glare with a camera
I've taken thousands of pictures in my car detailing life documenting defects an all types of surfaces but when I went to take pictures of the glare caused by a film that has built-up on the inside of my truck I found it to be a little tricky. It was tricky to capture both the glare and film before and also after. But I think when you look at the pictures below you'll agree, somehow I did it.
The challenge of timing
First you have to get the pictures either early in the morning as the sun is coming up or late in the afternoon as the sun is setting. After looking at the glare at both times of the day I decided it would be better to capture early morning pictures.
Here's a shot looking out the driver's side of my truck's windshield...
Here's a cropped out section from the above picture...
Here's a full size image, 800 pixels wide cropped out of the original.
Griot's Fine Glass Polish
Soft foam applicator pad...
I applied to just a section of glass in the middle of the windshield.
This morning, I arrived to work early to capture the before and after 50/50 shots as the sun was rising on the horizon....
Now you have to look carefully
The inside glass on the left side has been hand polished with Griot's Fine Glass Polish and the inside glass on the right side is untouched.
The smear you see is where I took my finger and swiped it across the glass before I started writing this article just out of curiosity to see how bad the film on the glass was...
Sun Glare and the Multiplier Effect
It's the FILM on the inside of your car's glass that multiplies the GLARE created from sun rays hitting the windshield that blinds you while you're driving.
Finishing the job...
Today I finished hand polishing the entire inside glass...
Now that's a clear view!
Summary...
So if you find yourself struggling to really get the inside glass on your car clean... it might be time to take a new approach and hand polish the glass with a dedicated glass polish.
