How Do I Clean The Glass On My Car? (Plus 2 Bonus Steps Most People Miss)
Glass cleaning is a simple but necessary step to keep your car looking its best. Don’t over-complicate it! With a few simple tools you can achieve professional results. Find out how you can get these kind of results today in your driveway.
Materials
You don’t need many materials to clean your glass. Some links for product suggestions at an affordable price are at the end of this article. We do not make any money from links in this article, they are purely affordable suggestions.
Generally, you will need:
- Glass cleaner (ammonia free)
o You can buy this at your local hardware store
o Ammonia free glass cleaner is safe to use on tinted windows and less of a health hazard
- 2 microfiber towels
o Don’t just use any old towel you have in the house, they can scratch or leave lint on the glass making it worse by the end of the cleaning process
o Short, tight woven towels that do not lint are ideal
o You can buy towels like these from a local hardware store and are often labelled for use on glass
Bonus Steps Materials (optional)
- 3 microfiber towels (same type as the previously mentioned towels)
- Clay bar
- Spray wax
Process
1. Clean Your Car
Clean your car manually if you have the right tools available. You could also run it through a touch-less gas station car wash to remove debris, grime, residue, etc from the glass. This is necessary to prevent spreading the dirt around on your glass and removing heavy dirt that the glass cleaner can’t get off.
2. Apply
Cleaner
Make sure your car is not in direct sunlight. The chemicals will almost instantly dry on the glass and leave spots, making your glass worse than before you tried to clean it! Put your car in the shade or a garage first.
Apply the cleaner liberally to the glass you want to clean. We suggest doing one glass panel at a time. For example, just go through all the steps for the driver side window, then the passenger window, then the windshield, etc. You don’t want to let the chemicals sit on the glass for too long. You’re going to want a decent amount of cleaner on the glass to lube the surface for the microfiber towel.
3. Wipe
Take one of your microfiber towels and wipe the outside edges (the perimeter) of the glass first. Afterwards, you should just have the middle portion of the glass left to clean which you can then start at the top and wipe side to side until the cleaner is gone. This is the most common method for cleaning glass and can sometimes be called the “Box Method.”
To take it a step further, roll down your window a bit to get the gunk stuck to the very top of the glass that is often missed when cleaning car windows.
4. Buff
Next, the key to the streak-free look that everyone wants is to buff the glass. Take your second dry microfiber towel and repeat the box method process again on the glass you just cleaned. This is the extra step that most miss and wonder why their glass attracts so much dirt! Not to mention most people don’t use the right towels at the same time.
That’s the whole process. Not bad at all right? Keep scrolling to see what extra special steps you can take to take your glass to the next level.
Bonus Steps!
If you want to go the extra mile to get ultra-clean glass that stays clean longer then there are a few extra things you can do.
Clay Bar
The first extra step is to decontaminate the glass with an automotive clay bar. You can buy automotive grade clay bars at a local hardware store. Wherever you purchased your glass cleaner and microfiber towels will probably have them. You will also need 2 clean microfiber towels. Don’t use the same ones you used in the previous steps.
Once you finish the 4 basic steps we discussed previously you can begin this step. Spray some of your glass cleaner on the clay bar and some on the glass. Rub the clay bar on the glass up and down and side to side. You should be able to hear a rubbing or almost scratching sound (don’t worry your glass isn’t getting scratched). This is the clay bar removing the contaminants like traffic film, grime, and any other kind of embedded debris in your glass that the wash stage and glass cleaner couldn’t get off. Continue this until your glass sounds smooth everywhere. Take a look at the clay bar to see all the dirt you pulled off! Next, take your dry microfiber towel and buff the glass using the same box method discussed previously. Now that your glass is decontaminated, and you can move onto the next bonus step for further glass enhancement.
Spray Wax
Using a simple spray wax you can give your glass hydrophobic properties. This means when water makes contact with the glass it will bead off, maximizing your glass clarity. The spray wax will also make the glass easier to clean in the future.
For this step you will need an automotive grade spray wax from your local hardware store and 2 more dry microfiber towels. For this bonus step you are essentially repeating the glass cleaning process. Spray some of the wax on the glass and wipe using the box method previously discussed. Then buff the glass with your second dry microfiber towel. That’s all there is to it. With little effort and cost you can massively improve the performance of your glass and give it a cool feature!
Product Links (No Affiliation)
Some links to products that anyone can use. The goal is affordability and accessibility here. These are not necessarily the products we use in our day-to-day operations.
