How can I clean my car windows without leaving streaks?

Every vehicle owner who loves his car usually also likes to bring the vehicle to a high gloss. This not only includes cleaning the body of the vehicle, polishing the rims, dusting off the interior and caring for the upholstery or leather covers. Because clean windows are the be-all and end-all when it comes to how a vehicle appears to the public. An effective and gentle cleaning of the windows of a vehicle from the outside is usually guaranteed by a high-quality wash in the car wash. Today, most car washes are equipped with gentle brushes, so you can be sure that neither your vehicle's paintwork nor the glass will be damaged. But what about cleaning the windows from the inside? This is not insignificant, because no matter how well the windshield has been cleaned of dirt from the outside, the glass will still look dirty if the interior has not been cleaned properly. How exactly can this work best be carried out? And above all: how to effectively clean the glass, especially free of streaks? We would like to go into these questions and some other information in more detail below.

What tools can be used to achieve the best possible result?

First of all, you should be clear about the tool you want to use to do the work. Because there are various alternatives that you should decide on beforehand. Broadly speaking, there are three options that differ from each other. The conventional method is cleaning with a microfiber cloth or a leather cloth. Here you will also need a bucket of water, polishing cloths, newspaper and car window cleaner. Alternatively, cleaning clay can also be purchased. This is mostly used for paint cleaning. This can also be used to remove stubborn dirt, but the glass is treated gently so you don't have to worry about scratches or streaks. As a third method, you can also choose dirt erasers. These are mostly open-pored sponges made of melamine resin. The resin particles are characterized by the fact that they can absorb even the smallest dirt particles when cleaning. Now that you've learned about the three most common ways to clean the glass of your car's windows, we'll go into detail about the steps you should follow.

How exactly does a gentle cleaning of the inside of the car windows work?

In the following we explain the most important steps that you should definitely follow if you want to be particularly gentle with the glass of your car.

  1. First of all you should make sure that you will do the purge in the shade. Direct sunlight would only ensure that the cleaning liquid can dry too quickly. This in turn can leave streaks or streaks.
  2. You should now carefully cover the upholstery and the dashboard. It doesn't do you any good if your car's glass looks great but there are stains on the upholstery or other surfaces. In addition, some of the cleaning agents are corrosive, which could even damage the fabric or leather. Newspaper is ideal here to cover the areas that are to be protected.
  3. Now you should first remove the coarse and fine dust that is still on the inside of the glass. The fine dust particles, which are hardly visible, are particularly dangerous here. This is because they can ensure that scratches remain on the glass when cleaning with a cloth. Even microcracks would annoy you later. That's why you should use a microfibre cloth to remove all dust particles, no matter how small, during a kind of “pre-cleaning”.
  4. Now you should work on the surface of the pane for a rough cleaning with moisture. The cloth you use should be damp, but never too wet. It must not drip, otherwise stains from water droplets will appear again. Now always swipe in one direction, i.e. either from left to right or vice versa. This type of cleaning is important, especially if people smoke in your car, in order to be able to effectively remove traces of nicotine from the glass. If you have now successfully completed this step, you should let the glass dry with the window open.
  5. In the next step, the pane is carefully processed with a microfibre cloth. Using glass cleaner is usually an advantage here. Make sure you work streak-free. Spray the glass cleaner on the cloth and then buff in circles or again from right to left or vice versa. In any case, you should always keep the swiping direction. If the cloth has already absorbed a lot of dirt, you should switch sides.

  1. Now the only thing left to do is dry off. Dry microfiber cloths are also suitable here. You should process the glass until no more streaks or streaks can be seen. Newspaper is also a well-known trick that works wonders. Simply crumple the paper into a ball and use it to work the glass until the glass literally sparkles.

The conclusion and a tip from CarTipsandmore

In summary, it can be said that the impeccable appearance of a vehicle often depends on the condition of the glass panes. It's no use if the body and rims of a vehicle shine and attract attention, but the glass of the window panes attract attention with dirt or fingerprints. The outside of the glass can be cleaned with a gentle wash in the car wash. The results here are usually more than satisfactory. But cleaning the inside should also be done professionally so that the results are convincing. Microfiber cloths or leather cloths can be used as aids here, but dirt erasers and cleaning clay are alternatives that are often used today. During the cleaning itself, care should always be taken to ensure that the products are used on clean glass so that there are no nasty surprises and sudden scratches after the work has been completed. Once the work is complete, the result can be optimized by polishing the glass with newspaper. At this point, CarTipsandmore also recommends using some spirit or benzine to remove greasy fingerprints on the glass. However, only one shot of this should be given in the bucket of water. This is sufficient.