What`s the best spray window cleaner?

I like Sprayway glass cleaner for most situations. It`s cheap, available everywhere, window tint friendly, and cleans really well without any streaking. When facing really nasty windows I`ve found the Windex glass cleaner with vinegar to be very effective.

I`m sure some of the more automotive focused products work well, but OTC products which work well and can be found at virtually any store I go to have kept me from trying others.
 
I’m going to try to the Nextzett because Meguiars glass cleaner for me is leaving behind streaks on household mirrors although I do like it for piano black appliance surfaces.
 
Time for me to mix up another bottle of D120 to see what kind of results I’ll get. I use a variety of cleaners including 3D 50:1. That’s going to take decades to use up at that rate!
 
Bill D- Hey, while we`re discussing the D120 (or more precisely, before I forget again :o ) ...how do I mix/dilute the D120 you sent me?
 
IIRC—and that was years ago—I think I took yours from a bottle I already had mixed up so no need to dilute it. But I wouldn’t bet my life on it. If you are using a 24 or 32 oz bottle with dilution ratios on the side, just mix up a bottle at a 10 to 1 ratio Do try it on a small area first to be sure you don’t indeed have to mix it in a bottle
 
Guys, have any of you tried Meguiar`s Perfect Clarity glass product. It`s pretty darn good. I bought two more bottles at AAP today for $10...they`re running a special right now, should you want to try something new.

I`m still cranking away at my gallon of D120. Some of the guys really like the strong grape odor. I`m also finding much to like about the German products, but they`re $$$ compared to everything else.
 
I guess that one is yet another to put on the to try list. Might be worth it before going with the Nextzett
 
tom p. said:
Guys, have any of you tried Meguiar`s Perfect Clarity glass product. It`s pretty darn good. I bought two more bottles at AAP today for $10...they`re running a special right now, should you want to try something new.

I`m still cranking away at my gallon of D120. Some of the guys really like the strong grape odor. I`m also finding much to like about the German products, but they`re $$$ compared to everything else.
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I’ve got a bottle of the Megs Perfect Clarity and it was pretty weak at cutting through grime and bug guts. I relegated it to bathroom duty. The Nextzett stuff is a good deal considering you can dilute it 3:1. Perfect Clarity is on par with D120 as far as cleaning ability. My cars get tree sap on the glass and I need something strong to cut it, Nextzett does it quick and is tint safe.
 
If Nextzett can also finish off totally streak free at all angles, then it may very well be the ultimate glass 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
 
ShaneB said:
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
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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.
 
SWETM said:
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.
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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
 
ShaneB said:
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...
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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!
 
Accumulator said:
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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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
 
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.
 
Gary Wells- Glad you got it sorted out so well! Yeah, the directional wiping can be a big help.

ShaneB said:
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.
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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
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If it`s working well for you I`d just stick with it no matter what somebody like me experiences :D
 
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