Hi all. New to the forum. Thank you for having me. I'm here because my truck is almost unusable. I can no longer see out of my windshield at night or when it's raining. I have maybe 10% visibility. I'll post a few pictures. So far I have tried washing it, glass cleaner, clay bar, glass stripper, hard water remover, new windshield wipers, max defrost. The truck is less than a year old. It's pretty much a brand new truck. I never use RainX or any other wax on the windshield. At first I thought it was inside, maybe the dashboard outgassing chemicals or something. But then I noticed the wipers etch into it as you can see in the second pic. I'm just so confused at this point. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Windshield borderline life-threatening.
- Thread starter McDx
- Start date
Eldorado2k
Well-known member
- Nov 9, 2015
- 14,583
- 731
I know this isn’t really allowed to mention, but I can’t really think of another product that works quite like it and would probably solve this issue and that’s “McKee’s Glass Restorer”.
Look it up and get yourself a bottle. It’s never let me down and performed when nothing else would. It will fix that.
Look it up and get yourself a bottle. It’s never let me down and performed when nothing else would. It will fix that.
Mike Phillips
Active member
- Dec 5, 2022
- 51,004
- 8
Here's the term I created for what you're seeing,
Drizzle Stains
It's "something" that's ON the glass.
Looks like an easy fix to me with the right product. Nothing you've used so far is the right product. Applying another "liquid" is not going to remove that film. You need to abrade it off.
Drizzle Stains
It's "something" that's ON the glass.
- It something that was either sprayed onto the glass?
- Industrial fallout?
- Something in the rain where you live?
- Environmental pollution where you live?
- Something in your windshield washer fluid?
Looks like an easy fix to me with the right product. Nothing you've used so far is the right product. Applying another "liquid" is not going to remove that film. You need to abrade it off.
Mike Phillips
Active member
- Dec 5, 2022
- 51,004
- 8
Just to note,
I think I'm a horrible "review" write. I think I'm a pretty good "how-to" writer.
Here's my review, but it's really not a review it's really a HOW-TO article.
Review: BLACKFIRE Glass Water Spot Remover
BLACKFIRE Glass Water Spot Remover
From the Autogeek.com store page
BLACKFIRE Glass Water Spot Remover is a mildly abrasive polish that gently removes mild to moderate water spots from your glass surfaces. Perfect for use by hand or by machine, Glass Water Spot Remover improves the clarity and visibility of your glass without risk of any further damage!
BLACKFIRE Glass Water Spot Remover features:
• Removes mild to moderate water spots
• Improves visibility on glass surfaces
• Use by hand or machine
Okay, the above is great info but here's the real skinny....
When water lands on your car's glass over and over again, be it from normal rainy weather or from a man-made source, for example from a sprinkler, the water will form beads or puddles, (depends on if there's anything on the surface like a glass coating to create surface tension), and over time, you will get two topical defects on your car's glass.
Road Film - the film that builds up from dirty water that lands on your car. See my article HERE
Imprint rings - an imprint ring is the VISIBLE perimeter outline that marks where water formed a drop or a puddle and after evaporating off left a ring for chemical contamination. See my article HERE
Road film and imprint rings on glass will NOT wash off. You have to mechanically abrade it off and that's where BLACKFIRE Glass Water Spot Remover comes into the equation. You can use this product by hand or by machine but results are always better when you work by machine. Plus here at Autogeek... we don't sell hands... we sell machines. In the pictures below you'll see me using a Griot's Garage 6" Random Orbital Polisher with a Lake Country ThinPro Foam Polishing Pad. This combo kicks water spots butt and it's fast and easy.
You're reading a review written by a guy that learned to detail cars in OREGON.
So what you say?
Well here's so what... it rains a LOT in Oregon and what this means is when a customer brought me their car not only would the paint have water spots but the glass would also have water spots. Here's the deal - you CANNOT make the paint look perfect and then give your customer back their car with water spots on the glass so a LONG TIME AGO I learned the value and the NECCASSITY of machine polishing glass.
Here's an old worn out cliché
Work smarter instead of harder
Everyone throws that old cliché around so loosely but they NEVER show you how to actually work smarter instead of working harder so the cliché and the person spouting it are of no use. So let me share with you how to work smarter instead of harder. Next time you go to wash your car, START by machine polishing the glass with the BLACKFIRE Water Spot Remover.
Why?
Because glass polishing can be a tick messy as you'll get polish splatter on the inside of the window frame on the windshield, doors, sides of cars and back of framed glass on the back of a vehicle. Not a big deal as you can simply wipe the splatter off. But here's what I do and teach in all of my classes. Machine polish all the exterior glass and then wash the car. You'll get your glass perfectly clean like it was brand new and when you wash the car you'll remove all the splatter. You'll kill two birds with one stone. You'll work smarter instead of harder.
After you machine polish you glass crystal clear again stick a fork in the project and call it done or clean the glass with a glass cleaner and apply a glass sealant or a glass coating and then in the future your glass will stay cleaner longer or if you're driving in the rain the water will simply fly off the windows. In the case of your windshield after about 30 mile per hour you won't need your wipers and rain water will basicly fly off the glass.
Here's some pictures that show you what to do and how easy this is.... by the way, the spots you see on the glass, if you were to wash this Honda Pilot, the spots or more specifically, the IMPRINT RINGS would NOT WASH OFF. And the more time that goes by the worse they get. The ONLY way to remove the imprint ring left by water that has dried on glass is to mechanically remove them via a glass-safe polish.
Here's the sun roof on a Honda Pilot. Water lands, dries and leaves water spots with imprint rings.
The imprint rings are the outer perimeter lines that mimic how the water drop formed and then dried.
GREAT tool for machine polishing glass and your car's paint. See my article HERE
Happy face - you don't have to do this, just put some product on the face of the pad....
Run the polisher over the glass on the 4 - 5 speed setting....
Wipe residue off with microfiber towel...
BOOM! --> clean glass again!
This looks good....
This looks bad...
Now I'll remove the tape and do the other side as a way of saying thank you to the owner for letting me use their SUV for this article.
There we go... the other half is polished clean...
And now the driver's side...
This product really works good.... you wont' be disappointed....
Portraint photo from an iPhone 10XS Max - notice how the background is blurred but the bottle is in focus. Pretty cool.
Review
Great product. Great performance. I'll be adding this product to all my car detailing classes for the students to learn about and use.
I'd say 99.9% of the cars on the road, and this mean your car or cars, needs to have the glass polished. Everything on the outside of your car gets a film on it including the glass. Take my word for it, I teach car detailing for a living. Seeing is believing but you can also FEEL the difference on glass that has been polished and glass that has not been polished.
Here's my best tip for using this product. Either do like I 'normally' do and machine polish the glass and the wash the car OR tape off the inner perimeter of the frame around the glass so you don't have to clean out splatter after you're done polishing the glass.
Also - for products like these - SHAKE WELL before and during use so you always have uniform mixture of abrasives throughout the product.
rops:
On Autogeek.com
BLACKFIRE Glass Water Spot Remover
BLACKFIRE Glass Water Spot Remover - 1 gallon
I think I'm a horrible "review" write. I think I'm a pretty good "how-to" writer.
Here's my review, but it's really not a review it's really a HOW-TO article.
Review: BLACKFIRE Glass Water Spot Remover
BLACKFIRE Glass Water Spot Remover
From the Autogeek.com store page
BLACKFIRE Glass Water Spot Remover is a mildly abrasive polish that gently removes mild to moderate water spots from your glass surfaces. Perfect for use by hand or by machine, Glass Water Spot Remover improves the clarity and visibility of your glass without risk of any further damage!
BLACKFIRE Glass Water Spot Remover features:
• Removes mild to moderate water spots
• Improves visibility on glass surfaces
• Use by hand or machine
Okay, the above is great info but here's the real skinny....
When water lands on your car's glass over and over again, be it from normal rainy weather or from a man-made source, for example from a sprinkler, the water will form beads or puddles, (depends on if there's anything on the surface like a glass coating to create surface tension), and over time, you will get two topical defects on your car's glass.
Road Film - the film that builds up from dirty water that lands on your car. See my article HERE
Imprint rings - an imprint ring is the VISIBLE perimeter outline that marks where water formed a drop or a puddle and after evaporating off left a ring for chemical contamination. See my article HERE
Road film and imprint rings on glass will NOT wash off. You have to mechanically abrade it off and that's where BLACKFIRE Glass Water Spot Remover comes into the equation. You can use this product by hand or by machine but results are always better when you work by machine. Plus here at Autogeek... we don't sell hands... we sell machines. In the pictures below you'll see me using a Griot's Garage 6" Random Orbital Polisher with a Lake Country ThinPro Foam Polishing Pad. This combo kicks water spots butt and it's fast and easy.
You're reading a review written by a guy that learned to detail cars in OREGON.
So what you say?
Well here's so what... it rains a LOT in Oregon and what this means is when a customer brought me their car not only would the paint have water spots but the glass would also have water spots. Here's the deal - you CANNOT make the paint look perfect and then give your customer back their car with water spots on the glass so a LONG TIME AGO I learned the value and the NECCASSITY of machine polishing glass.
Here's an old worn out cliché
Work smarter instead of harder
Everyone throws that old cliché around so loosely but they NEVER show you how to actually work smarter instead of working harder so the cliché and the person spouting it are of no use. So let me share with you how to work smarter instead of harder. Next time you go to wash your car, START by machine polishing the glass with the BLACKFIRE Water Spot Remover.
Why?
Because glass polishing can be a tick messy as you'll get polish splatter on the inside of the window frame on the windshield, doors, sides of cars and back of framed glass on the back of a vehicle. Not a big deal as you can simply wipe the splatter off. But here's what I do and teach in all of my classes. Machine polish all the exterior glass and then wash the car. You'll get your glass perfectly clean like it was brand new and when you wash the car you'll remove all the splatter. You'll kill two birds with one stone. You'll work smarter instead of harder.
After you machine polish you glass crystal clear again stick a fork in the project and call it done or clean the glass with a glass cleaner and apply a glass sealant or a glass coating and then in the future your glass will stay cleaner longer or if you're driving in the rain the water will simply fly off the windows. In the case of your windshield after about 30 mile per hour you won't need your wipers and rain water will basicly fly off the glass.
Here's some pictures that show you what to do and how easy this is.... by the way, the spots you see on the glass, if you were to wash this Honda Pilot, the spots or more specifically, the IMPRINT RINGS would NOT WASH OFF. And the more time that goes by the worse they get. The ONLY way to remove the imprint ring left by water that has dried on glass is to mechanically remove them via a glass-safe polish.
Here's the sun roof on a Honda Pilot. Water lands, dries and leaves water spots with imprint rings.
The imprint rings are the outer perimeter lines that mimic how the water drop formed and then dried.
GREAT tool for machine polishing glass and your car's paint. See my article HERE
Happy face - you don't have to do this, just put some product on the face of the pad....
Run the polisher over the glass on the 4 - 5 speed setting....
Wipe residue off with microfiber towel...
BOOM! --> clean glass again!
This looks good....
This looks bad...
Now I'll remove the tape and do the other side as a way of saying thank you to the owner for letting me use their SUV for this article.
There we go... the other half is polished clean...
And now the driver's side...
This product really works good.... you wont' be disappointed....
Portraint photo from an iPhone 10XS Max - notice how the background is blurred but the bottle is in focus. Pretty cool.
Review
Great product. Great performance. I'll be adding this product to all my car detailing classes for the students to learn about and use.
I'd say 99.9% of the cars on the road, and this mean your car or cars, needs to have the glass polished. Everything on the outside of your car gets a film on it including the glass. Take my word for it, I teach car detailing for a living. Seeing is believing but you can also FEEL the difference on glass that has been polished and glass that has not been polished.
Here's my best tip for using this product. Either do like I 'normally' do and machine polish the glass and the wash the car OR tape off the inner perimeter of the frame around the glass so you don't have to clean out splatter after you're done polishing the glass.
Also - for products like these - SHAKE WELL before and during use so you always have uniform mixture of abrasives throughout the product.
rops:On Autogeek.com
BLACKFIRE Glass Water Spot Remover
BLACKFIRE Glass Water Spot Remover - 1 gallon
Mike Phillips
Active member
- Dec 5, 2022
- 51,004
- 8
You can use the BF Water Spot Remover by hand with some terry cloth and a lot of Elbow Grease, it would be faster and create a better finish on the glass to use some type of polisher.
And... welcome to AutogeekOnline!
:welcome:
And... welcome to AutogeekOnline!
:welcome: