My dad takes his and my mom’s car to the car wash 1-2 times every week. Saying he hates dirty vehicles is an understatement. In fact, every time I come to visit he gives me a free car wash card so I can get my Durango washed too. That way my dirty car isn’t the eyesore in their driveway since I live 13 hours away and my car looks well-traveled by the time I get there. This need to have perfect vehicles did not rub off on me while I was growing up. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy a clean car and whenever I do get it washed, I make a new resolution to maintain the cleanliness, but that never happens. Mainly because I have another 13 hour drive to get back home. Where I live there really isn’t a good car wash. I miss living near car washes where it gets hand washed by a team of 10 people and it’s finished, complete with fresh scent, in 15 minutes. The town I live in has a few hands free, drive thru car washes attached to gas stations and that’s it. Those don’t exactly get all the spots or bugs off and it sure as heck doesn’t vacuum the interior for me.
I would wash my own car if I was good at it. However, whenever I get done washing it myself it almost looks worse than it did before I started because of streaks. You wouldn’t think that washing a car would be difficult, but it is for me! So when I ran into a video that shows you how to clean windshields in a way that not only makes them crystal clear but rain and mud resistant, so they stay cleaner longer, it piqued my interest. After watching this video, I put it to the test and used this windshield cleaning method. Here’s how it went:
What you’ll need: Invisible Glass cleaner, a clean sock, Grade #0000 Steel Wool, Rain X, and two rags. I cut one of my husband’s shirt in half. I chose a shirt he wore all the time that I hate and paper towels (not pictured).
Here are the before pictures of my nasty windshield. Sadly, it still had the remnants of my last drive home from visiting my family in Arizona a couple of weeks ago. I told you I don’t wash my car often. There were quite a few bug splatters, dirt, and hard water spots from parking in the sprinklers.
STEP ONE: Take the steel wool (make sure it is 0000) and use it to buff out all the debris and dirt from the windshield. You really don’t have to put too much elbow grease into it. I just rubbed in circles over the water spots and bug splatters until they came out. It took me about 15 minutes to do, including the time it took to find a step-ladder because I couldn’t reach the center of the windshield without it. I would have been happy with the results even if I stopped right here! Other than a little leftover dust, just having the water spots and bugs gone made me happy!
STEP TWO: Soak the sock in RainX and apply a thin layer to the entire windshield. I recommend doing away with the step-ladder and having someone else do the work for you. I used my husband!
STEP THREE: As my dog watched, I let the RainX to dry for 10 minutes. This step was like watching water boil. It’s amazing how long 10 minutes takes when you are watching the clock. Even my dog was bored.
Step Four: Using the same sock, apply another thin coat of RainX to the windshield. This is a view from the inside so you can see what it looked like as it was drying.
STEPS FIVE: Allow the 2nd application of RainX to dry for another 10 minutes. STEP SIX: While waiting for the RainX to dry, I decided to clean the inside of the windshield with the Invisible Glass (in the video this was done last but I’m impatient). Just spray the inside of the windshield with the Invisible Glass (which really is awesome by the way) and then wipe off with a paper towel.
STEP SEVEN: Using your hose or a sink, wet one of the rags/t-shirts with the hose and then ring it out so it’s no longer dripping wet. Use the wet rag to wipe off the RainX from the windshield, then use the remaining dry rag/t-shirt to dry the windshield.
And you’re done! Now I’m not a photographer and I don’t have a fancy camera. I just took pictures with my camera phone, but you can definitely see a difference when compared with the first picture! And the view from the inside is just as pretty as from the outside.
The center picture makes me wish I had washed my car before cleaning the windshield! I guess I’ll have to take it through one of our gas station drive thru car washes and test the theory that the windshield stays spot free because of the RainX!
Here is the original “how to” video on getting a windshield super clean!
Whether you are a car cleaning enthusiast or window cleaning impaired like me, this is a guaranteed way to get your windshields squeaky clean! This will most likely work on house windows too! I’m going to have my husband put that one to the test! Now that I know I can do it, I’m satisfied simply with having the knowledge I can now pass on to others! My husband is actually so impressed with my vehicle’s windshield that he has plans to do his truck’s windows tomorrow. This is my favorite thing that I’ve learned today!