oil on windscreen

cantdecide

hello all,
i seem to have some kind of oil on my windscreen. it's been there since i bought it and i've tried lots to remove it but nothing works. visibility is very bad at times

any ideas?

I.S.T.

Have you changed your wiper blades?

Alun

Get a good windscreen cleaner. I use the one made by Rain-X, but there are others. And also change your wiper blades as they'll have whatever crap was on the screen on them too.

cantdecide

is there a cleaner specifically for oil? i've tried the usual stuff including MER windscreen cleaner.

if i change the blades without getting all of the oil off, wont i ruin the new blades too?

I.S.T.

Take the current blades off, clean the windscreen with the cleaner Alun suggested, then put the new blades on.

Alun

Hmmm .. I've just looked at the Rain-X website and the cleaner they now produce is different to the stuff I have. My stuff was a slightly abrasive cream that you applied with a damp cloth and then hosed off afterwards. Worked like a dream, especially for grease and wax since the action was as much mechanical as chemical. But I see that the new stuff is just a spray like most other cleaners. I've no idea if it works as well, I'm afraid, but they always had a good reputation so it's worth a try.

http://www.rainx.com/

BTW Their main product is a glass treatment that repels rain .. works really well, but can be a bit of a pain to apply cleanly and streak free and needs to be topped up frequently too.

smodgley

i find vineger is a good glass cleaner clean the blades too

prospect

Try cleaning it with Coca Cola.

cantdecide

i'm getting hungrier reading this thread!!!

i've heard of vinegar but coke is a new one on me.

Rowley Birkin QC

prospect wrote:

Try cleaning it with Coca Cola.

I'll second that one, works a treat. Yet another reason not to drink it!

maidhc

cantdecide wrote:

i've heard of vinegar but coke is a new one on me.

I think they use a concentrated form for cleaning oil tankers.

Alun

maidhc wrote:

I think they use a concentrated form for cleaning oil tankers.

Seems unlikely to me .. the "cleaning" component in Coca Cola, if you can call it that, is phosphoric acid and I can't see that dissolving oil or grease. Lime scale, rust or things like that I can imagine, but not oil. You'd need some kind of solvent, surely?

No mention of that kind of cleaning capability here either ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phosphoric_acid#Other_applications

leeroybrown

You could try a general purpose de-greaser rather than a windscreen specific product. There are a decent few products designed specifically to break down oil based products. You can probably pick a few of them up in supermarkets.

maidhc

Alun wrote:

Seems unlikely to me

Well yer man in the pub said they do.





So there.

BrianD3

Ask in a motor factors, there are surely mild degreasers available that are suitable for use on glass. I use one called "Marine Clean" which is quite mild yet excellent for cleaning oil/grease off bodywork.

Alun

maidhc wrote:

Well yer man in the pub said they do.





So there.

.. and I bet he in turn heard it from some bloke on that new-fangled Interweb thingy too .. notoriously unreliable, I hear

antodeco

run sheets of brown paper across it. should take it most of it. If not, try spraying on some deodorant and wipe it off. Worked for me on a house window.

You sure the oil is on the outside?!