cloudy windshield

[Bruce L.]

I have been following the thread on scratched glass recently but I don't feel this is my real problem.My glass is just cloudy. No matter how much I clean it with Windex it comes back cloudy. All the glass on my car is tinted. The windshield is a replacement and the rest is original. I can get it looking presentable ( not perfect) but within a few days it is cloudy again. Things that make you go Hmmmmm? any help Thanks Bruce

[Ed Jennings]

Re: cloudy windshield

Bruce, Not sure this will help, but I had a real problem getting the glass on my cars clean. I used glass cleaner repeatedly on them and they still looked dirty and streaked. Someone put me onto alcohol, (rubbing type). I keep it in an old Windex bottle. Does a magnificant job. I live in an area where there is a lot of pollution. Hadden't noticed the problem until I moved here. Don't know if you could possibly be having a similar problem.

[Jerry Clark]

Re: cloudy windshield

Hi Bruce:

Two possibilities come to mind other than just dirt, if you have a restored interior with new vinyl it can give off a gas when exposed to UV that will cloud the inner windshield. Secondly, your safety glass is separating from the anti shatter layer. In the first case the gas will eventually disappear with age in the second, it's new glass time.

jer

[Gary Bishop]

Re: cloudy windshield

I have heard that you should not use a window cleaner with amonia in it on tinted windows. I wonder if this might have caused the problem.

[Dino L.]

Re: cloudy windshield

Bruce, Any glass cleaner with either ammonia or alcohol based will clean the inside of the glass. If you have a film like smoke or residue, RAINX makes a glass cleaner that is like a rubbing compound that cleans the residue, then you can use glass cleaner. The RAINX products are usually used on the exterior to remove road grime and tar before cleaning and putting on water repelant. If you really mean it is cloudy than your windshield is suffering from delamination. A process where the two pieces of windshield glass are separting from the PVB (poly vinyl Butyral) inner plastic layer. This typically happens when the edge of the windshield was not proerly sealed due to poor bending of the glass or for other reasons. It is quit ecommon on early C1 cars to see this delamination on the wrap at the A-pillar near the edge of the glass. I have rarely seen delamination in the middle of the glass, if that is the case you really have optics to worry about and more importantly headaches to deal with...What is the DOT code on the windshield, an original LOF part will be DOT 15....if you have had a repo made check along the edge covered by the rubber molding?

[Bruce L.]

Re: cloudy windshield

My glass doesn't seem to be delaminating. This problem is on all the glass in the car. It just appears to be cloudy or gives you that film when you drive into the sun. I will try the suggested cleaning methods you all mentioned and see if I can improve the situation. Thank you for your help,

Bruce