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I'm stuggling to clean my windshield near the wiper-blade area. Apparently this car sat in the elements for a while and has "stained" with a brownish tint in this area.
I had some hard water marks on my original 81 glass, and the glare at night was so bad, I could drive safely. I was ready to have a new windshield installed, but decided one night to try a few things first, besides the deep cleaning I had already done.
I spotted my set of three Novus Plastic polishing compounds.....humm....went to town with #2 and to my surprise, it removed every last bit of hard water stains and other deposits....heck, the first applications were turning the white rag brownish!! It surely removed lots of other "invisible to the naked eye" crap as well. Night haze and blurring GONE. I was one happy camper, and 200 beans could be spent elsewhere!
Later, I also discovered an application of RainX improved the visability even more. It is totally satisfactory now.
Then, one night while getting ready to apply 3M show wax, I tried it on a small painted area....WOW, improved shine, removed most micro scratches; after waxing, I could get nice clear reflections....amazing !!
I am sure there are other products that can do these jobs, but being a novice in the body dept., I am not aware. The Novus stuff works wonders for me.
If "stained" on the outside or inside of the glass, you should be able to clean it off with solvents or scrubbing. If the plastic laminate built into the glass (shatter resistant layer) is discolored, there is nothing that you can do.
The most effective way to clean a windshield is to use Bon Ami. Yes, the cleanser. It does not have harsh abrasives in it. You wet the windshield first, then shake a good portion of the cleanser on the windshield and clean thoroughly with a wet sponge. Put enough cleanser to make a thin paste. When you're done hose everything off and you'll have a windshield free of grease oil and other contaminants. you can follow up with a windshield treatment if you like.
CAUTION: Do not use any other kind of cleanser or you will scratch the windshield.
I concur with the use of Bon Ami... this stuff has more uses in the garage than you can imagine.
If this doesn't do the trick, purchase some "Jewelers Rouge" and use your Dremel to rub it out. Go slow and gentle and it will polish out minor imperfections in the surface of glass.