No matter what I clean the inside of my car's windscreen with (including Autoglym Car Glass Polish), by tne time a film has built up you can see the same old handprints and fingerprints every time. It's a replacement screen and I can only assume that the fitter had very corrosive perspiration and that it actually etched its way into the glass!
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L\'escargot.
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L'escargot,-
Many years ago I read in the Popular Mechanix Magazine (American) that their motoring guru Jim Mc.Cahill recommended Coca Cola as a remedy for badly traffic-filmed windscreens. I've tried it and it really does remove greasy and oily deposits from the windows. Worth a try for 60p.?
Let us know if it works.
P.
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Oh, I forgot - apparently it's the mild concentration of Phosphoric acid in the drink that's the active ingredient..
P.
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Yuk, imagine what is does to your insides.
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Yuk, imagine what is does to your insides.
I don't think you're meant to drink it after you've cleaned your windows with it ;)
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Having just re-read my last post, and recalling that Coca Cola are one of the world's biggest companies, I wish to retract the 'apparently' and substitute 'allegedly'...!
P.
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Try using vinegar. Smear free too.
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Aim low, expect nothing & dont be disappointed
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Try using vinegar. Smear free too. ----------------------------------------------
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Applied with newspaper-it works.
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It's not the film that's a problem, it's the apparently permanent handprints. Nevertheless and notwithstanding, I'll try Coke once ~ and then drink then remainder of the bottle!
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L\'escargot.
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I bet he had silicone sealer remanents on his hands, it isn't unknown for this to happen on double glazing sealed units, try a silicone sealer remover, followerd by a good strong detergent to remove the cleaner.
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If desperate, Autoglass use jeweler's rouge (they gave me some).
Just make sure the powder "fall out" does not fall into anything else, dustsheets and all that.
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Despite being cleaned lots of times, I still get the circles on the windscreen from where it was fitted each time the screen mists up. Someone suggested meths and newspaper, but I've yet to try it!
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Didn't I once read in HJs Saturday column that someone used toothpaste and it produced an incredibly clean and smear free windscreen.
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Someone suggested meths and newspaper, but I've yetto try it!
Sitting down reading a paper, having a drink, is hardly going to get the windscreen clean is it ;o)
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Get someone to smash to screen and get it replaced on the cheap on your insurance if all else fails ;-)
Seriously, this could be a safety issue and if it cannot be cleaned then it probably ought to be replaced.
My genuine suggestion is going to your local windscreen repair place and asking them for advice and even a product. They might have a better idea of what it is causingthe handprints/fingerprints to re-appear all the time.
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Under certain circumstances, mine still shows the rings where the screen was fitted, AND the stickers / build details sheet as the car went down the line.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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One of the "features" of the Pug 104ZS I owned in the eighties was the appearance of the words "don't follow me follow Spurs" in the rear screen whenver it steamed up. No mount of cleaning would see it off.
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Seriously, this could be a safety issue and if it cannot be cleaned then it probably ought to be replaced.
It's not a safety issue. I think you have to experience the problem to appreciate what it looks like. Immediately after the screen has been cleaned with a proper glass cleaner the marks are invisible. They only reappear when the screen has developed a film again or when it mists up. Like PoloGirl and TVM I too (in previous cars) have been able at times to see the marks of the suction cups that were used to hold the screen during the original assembly. Unless anyone else categorically knows different I think that the marks are etched into the surface of the glass to a microscopically small depth. When the marks become filled with the normal film that builds up over time, or with mist, they become visible. It's an annoyance more than anything else.
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L\'escargot.
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Try Brasso
What ever you do do not use brasso
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In theory the coke idea should work, as should vinegar. BTW, phosphoric acid in coke is also the main ingredient of rust remover. If you have some, try nail varnish remover?
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Phosphoric acid is also a spermicide. Amazing stuff Coke! But I would never actually consume it myself.
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Phosphoric acid is also a spermicide.
As is wedding cake!!!!!
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TU ---
After that reply can you recommend something to remove coffee from a keyboard?
LOL
A S
Are you sure it's handprints on the screen and not footprints?
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>As is wedding cake!!!!!
It is also very fattening. One slice can put as much as 25 lbs on a new bride in as little as six months.
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>As is wedding cake!!!!!
how come this never gets mentioned before the wedding?
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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Try Brasso What ever you do do not use brasso
Why so adamant about Brasso? Anyway I suggest you use Silvo, as I've successfully used this product many times to remove traffic film/grease from the windscreen (outside that is).
You need a scrupulously grit-free surface before rubbing hard with the Silvo and then buff off when it has dried to a white film. This product does however leave its own temporary slightly waxy film which is easily removed with a dampened leather etc.
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Another good way to de-smear windscreens, is to give the screen a clean in the normal way. Get a handfull of old newspaper, and give the screen a good hard rub.
It takes a bit of elbowgrease but I can assure you this works realy well. Note if the screen is very dry, you may need to very slightly moisten the newspaper, but dont do this too much or it doesnt work too well.
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Well, I've tried everything except Brasso and Silvo (which I reckon would leave marks on the top of the dash if I wasn't careful) and the hand/finger prints still re-appear as soon as the inside of the screen gets a film on it. I give up.
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L\'escargot.
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Has it been involved in a fire? See www.blaby.gov.uk/ccm/navigation/transport-and-stre.../ Someone may have been using hydrofluoric acid, wittingly or not.
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Has it been involved in a fire?
No ~ it's a replacement screen and they're the finger/hand prints of the fitter.
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L\'escargot.
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ask the police if you can access there data base for finger print profile of the culprit and then ask him what the hell he was using to fit the windscreen
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ask the police if you can access there data base for finger print profile of the culprit and then ask him what the hell he was using to fit the windscreen
I think some people's perspiration must be corrosive. See tack's anecdote.
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L\'escargot.
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Silicone sealer fingerprints on windows are a normal occurrence in bodyshops. A little ordinary T-Cut on a cloth is the usual remedy. It's the best glass overspray remover too.
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It's funny you should mention handprints. I have a bit of a funny story. When I was a young detective, I was in tow to a grizzled old veteran who was married to an absolute harridan. To make up for such a bad lot, he had a few ladies on the go. For his mileage vehicle (i.e use private car for work and fiddle the petrol expences!) he used a small Escort type van. We were out in it one day doing a surveillance job. It was wet and humid weather and the car steamed up on the inside. As if by magic, a set of footprints appeared on the passenger side of the windscreen........on the inside...........ladies size............upside down.........and quite far apart, My, my, who have you had in here? and what were you doing to her? Do you know, he cleaned and polished the screen and never got rid of them, they always appeared in wet humid weather and he had to get rid of the van
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A little ordinary T-Cut on a cloth is the usual remedy.
Ok, I'll give it one last try ~ with T-Cut. If that doesn't do the trick I'll just have to learn to live with it.
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L\'escargot.
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For several months, SWMBO and I had terrible smeary windscreen problems after I had used the 'wrong stuff' to clean the interior of our screens. It was a branded polish that listed glass on its label - but I assume now that it meant household furniture type glass. Funnily enough, I had also used it on the exterior screen where it had a strange effect on rain dispersal on the screen - I believe similar to Rain-X.
We tried everything to try and shift it , vinegar etc - without any success. We thought we had fixed it on a number of occasions - only for it to reappear when the windows steamed up again.
In the end, I used methanol - not methylated spirits - 'neat' methanol that I had 'borrowed' from the lab. It did the trick - after the second application the screen was fine again.
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The guys who fitted my worktops used meths to remove silicone, and I've used it since when doing a shower. The silicone was not set, but I guess a good rubbing action would lift the silicone off the glass.
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BTW - further to my note above - I've just checked the can of 'wrong stuff' that I used on the screen - it says 'Contains silicones'. Aaaaaargh!!!
L'escargo - have you tried methanol?
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L'escargo - have you tried methanol?
Not yet.
I've got some ethanol (isopropyl alcohol?)~ what about that?
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L\'escargot.
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Good old fashioned original cream windowlene, works well as it has a mild abrasive.
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I've got some ethanol (isopropyl alcohol?)~ what about that?>>
It's at least 40 years since I did organic chemistry :-(
I suspect that the solvent properties of an 'alcohol' are required. Methanol is CH3OH and ethanol is C2H5OH: isopropanol has a different structure again - but it is an alcohol, so give it a whirl.
If it doesn't work, ask around any of your mates who work in a lab - they may be able to get hold of some methanol for you. There are restrictions regarding its use nowadays as, like many things that are useful, prolonged skin contact has been declared harmful.
Hopefully a chemist will come along and recommend a reliable source. [ oops ...... I nearly wrote 'sauce']
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Engineering grade scrubbing pad & a good solvent would probably do it :-(
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