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  1. #31
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    Re: What`s the best spray window cleaner?

    Just my 2 cents since figuring this out last summer. Struggled with streaky glass for years, tried a few different cleaners, could never get them perfect. Always saw streaks no matter how many towels or how much or little glass cleaner I used. Switched to using only distilled water and haven`t looked back. Soak a microfiber towel with distilled water, like dripping wet saturated with it, gently wring out so it isn`t dripping but still pretty damp then proceed to clean the window, getting into all the corners and such. Use a separate, clean, dry microfiber towel to dry the glass.

    I know it`s kind of against the grain with the less is more approach for glass cleaning but I`ve found this to be by far the most effective way to clean glass. And this hasn`t been just my personal cars either. Been successful with this process on 100s of windows over the past few months.

    This approach also works amazing for matte finish decals as well
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  2. #32

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    Re: What`s the best spray window cleaner?

    Quote Originally Posted by ShaneB View Post
    Just my 2 cents since figuring this out last summer. Struggled with streak glass for years, tried a few different cleaners, could never get them perfect. Always saw streaks no matter how many towels or how much or little glass cleaner I used. Switched to using only distilled water and haven`t looked back. Soak a microfiber towel with distilled water, like dripping wet saturated with it, gently wring out so it isn`t dripping but still pretty damp then proceed to clean the window, getting into all the corners and such. Use a separate, clean, dry microfiber towel to dry the glass.

    I know it`s kind of against the grain with the less is more approach for glass cleaning but I`ve found this to be by far the most effective way to clean glass. And this hasn`t been just my personal cars either. Been successful with this process on 100s of windows over the past few months.

    This approach also works amazing for matte finish decals as well
    Don`t know where I picked up this. But water goes as a solvent I think I read. And water in it self is a great cleaner and desolve a lot of stuff. Then of course with something added to it either aggitations or chemicals or both boost the effect. And with a great mf towel that has a great cleaning ability I`m not surprised that you have a great experience with distilled water only. Will be testing it out for sure.

  3. #33
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    Re: What`s the best spray window cleaner?

    Quote Originally Posted by SWETM View Post
    Don`t know where I picked up this. But water goes as a solvent I think I read. And water in it self is a great cleaner and desolve a lot of stuff. Then of course with something added to it either aggitations or chemicals or both boost the effect. And with a great mf towel that has a great cleaning ability I`m not surprised that you have a great experience with distilled water only. Will be testing it out for sure.
    I think a lot of the cleaning ability comes from the fact that you start with a wet towel. Anyone who has ever tried pouring water onto a microfiber towel knows they actually repel water until you get them damp, then they will suck up water like crazy. So spraying a window then wiping it with a dry towel I feel has the same effect, the cleaner picks up the dirt but the towel doesn`t immediately start to absorb it, hence the streaks. With a wet towel, ive found it picks up most of not all the grime and my drying towel actually stays pretty clean.

    Distilled water has become my most used product with all of my work. Ive probably used 100s of gallons of it over the past year
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  4. #34

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    Re: What`s the best spray window cleaner?

    Quote Originally Posted by ShaneB View Post
    I think a lot of the cleaning ability comes from the fact that you start with a wet towel. Anyone who has ever tried pouring water onto a microfiber towel knows they actually repel water until you get them damp...
    My MFs don`t do the initial "repel until.." until they`re compromised. My still-OK ones soak it up great while still dry and the ones that no longer do that get demoted to [crap]-duty.

    Not flaming/arguing/etc. at all, just mentioning a different experience. Like the ability to clean glass with just water; doesn`t work for me (nor do DIY mixes with IPA/etc.) unless in the form of steam, but that doesn`t mean the approach isn`t great for somebody else. Heh heh, I`m kinda envious that you can do it that way!
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  5. #35
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    Re: What`s the best spray window cleaner?

    Quote Originally Posted by Accumulator View Post
    My MFs don`t do the initial "repel until.." until they`re compromised. My still-OK ones soak it up great while still dry and the ones that no longer do that get demoted to [crap]-duty.

    Not flaming/arguing/etc. at all, just mentioning a different experience. Like the ability to clean glass with just water; doesn`t work for me (nor do DIY mixes with IPA/etc.) unless in the form of steam, but that doesn`t mean the approach isn`t great for somebody else. Heh heh, I`m kinda envious that you can do it that way!
    That`s interesting as pretty much every towel I`ve bought had the same characteristic of not immediately absorbing water. Do you wash your towels before using them? I wonder if it`s something I`m doing or not doing that gives me a different result. Altho I`ve washed a lot of my towels many times and they still will repel water so it makes me wonder why exactly.

    Funny how I`ve had a different result with cleaners and water. The distilled water deal came from desperation. Nothing else worked and I just gave it a shot and it worked. Been using it ever since

  6. #36

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    Re: What`s the best spray window cleaner?

    Shane you are right . The detail dept. were I work uses a similar system , and never any streakes.

  7. #37

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    Re: What`s the best spray window cleaner?

    A big sincere thank you to everybody who participated in this. The other day i had the 1st drive to the store and back with what appeared to be streak free windshield. I had some Spray-way on hand and went over the windshield twice with a MF towel and a little Sprayway and then buffed went over it 1 with a totally dry MF. )n the last application of Sprayway and the final buffing I went up and down only rather than circular motions and that helped also.
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  8. #38

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    Re: What`s the best spray window cleaner?

    Gary Wells- Glad you got it sorted out so well! Yeah, the directional wiping can be a big help.

    Quote Originally Posted by ShaneB View Post
    That`s interesting as pretty much every towel I`ve bought had the same characteristic of not immediately absorbing water. Do you wash your towels before using them? I wonder if it`s something I`m doing or not doing that gives me a different result. Altho I`ve washed a lot of my towels many times and they still will repel water so it makes me wonder why exactly.
    Yeah, I do wash all my textiles, including MFs, before the first use. A guy in the industry once said "if you ever toured a textile mill you`d *never* even touch them before a good laundering" and he was talking about really *nice* textiles

    My MFs do best with MF Detergents, although the household ones (NOT including glass towels) do pretty OK with Persil. IMO it`s a YMMV thing with all sorts of variables from water quality to the type of washing machine.

    I don`t mind the water repelency with my Polishing/LSPing/etc. MFs, but it`d drive me nuts with my Drying ones. When they start to do that, and laundering (with MF Detergents in the Sanitary Cycle and an extra rinse and then a vinegar rinse and then more rinsing) doesn`t restore the absorbency, well...that`s that.

    If I were cleaning my glass without Glass Cleaners that kind of thing would drive me nuts. It`s not a big deal with the Glass Cleaners though.

    Note that I *always* do a final buff after fogging the glass with my breath. That`s "just water" and it soaks into my Glass Towels fine even if they do repel it under a faucet.

    Funny how I`ve had a different result with cleaners and water. The distilled water deal came from desperation. Nothing else worked and I just gave it a shot and it worked. Been using it ever since
    If it`s working well for you I`d just stick with it no matter what somebody like me experiences
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