Windshield Hazing/Streaking

[geswek]

This is a carry over from another forum; thus a lot in translation--I'll try to summarize the problem and where we are at this time.

Quick Summary

Two weeks after I bought the car, I took it to a detail shop to have a 6 month wax put on it so that she'd look really good--being that it was Tuxedo Black. The shop did a superb job in my opinion, however an issue started happening. The rain season was getting in full swing here and every time it would rain, my blades would start hazing and streaking the windshield to the point it would become a concern when trying to drive.

I spoke to detailer and he informed me that they did not put Rain-X on as that is an additional service I did not allow. Their window cleaner is industry standard blue crap--whatever the hell that is, probably Windex LOL.

Photos illustrating some areas

I don't know if this will help -- here are some photos. The first two, I traced in red--this is where i have heavy marking and as you can tell the Invisible Glass spray didn't adhere to the window like all the other places. The last photo, I don't know if you can see it well--the whole window is smeared. That's AFTER wiping off the Invisible Glass with a microfiber towel.











What We Have Tried So Far

• This has been over the course of I think 2 weeks now.
• Ford replaced my blades twice; no change.
• Ford detail shop clay bar the windshield; no change.
• Detailer looked at the window and found no issues, he even cleaned it again.
• I ended up picking up Invisible Glass per a forum member, cleaned the windshield and replaced the blades with Rain-X Latitudes.
• Took the car to another detailer who used steel wool and some solution; didn't find anything.

Where Are We Today

I just got back from car wash (I live in apartment) where I took alcohol pads and dawn dish shop. I ended up using a scrubbing cloth and dawn soap on the entire windshield; I did it twice and scrubbed for nearly 15 minutes--I put my back into it. I then cleaned the wiper blades with 70% alcohol wipes four times.

I tried to simulate rain--that was a little hard; but it was streaking still. I got pissed off and bent my driver arm a tiny bit; seems to streak a whole helluva lot LESS now when using the washer fluid--before it was very visible. It's supposed to start pouring in 3 hours; I'm going to get out and see if it will streak again.

I'm leaning towards it actually being that the arms were putting too much pressure on the blades. I talked to my mate who bought a blue SHO for his wife, we picked up our SHO on same day--he and her are not having this problem--at all.

[DJE624]

I have been following this since the beginning.  It is very perplexing to say the least.  I hope somebody here has had a similar problem and can come up with a new solution. 

[geswek]

Thanks Dave.

I think we may be on to something -- just need it to start raining which it should shortly.

My mate at Ford said he's heard of vehicles where the arms are not at right angle and thus put serious pressure on blades. He said there really is no spec for it--they typically try some things and very least lightly bend the arms outward (which I did). LOL.

Here's to hoping this works!

Photo from car wash LMAO; people were staring at me like "WTF is this guy doing with dish soap?!" LMAO.

[SHOdded]

Hmm.  If it is pressure from the wiper arms, maybe it IS affecting the sound screen in the glass like you had mentioned elsewhere, causing it to become visible.  Is there a way to check its' integrity?

[geswek]

Hmm.  If it is pressure from the wiper arms, maybe it IS affecting the sound screen in the glass like you had mentioned elsewhere, causing it to become visible.  Is there a way to check its' integrity?

eh; no sure what you mean.

The car isn't old enough to have eaten away the actual glass.

Of course; my 2012 Focus had the sound screen too and I didn't have these issues.

I don't want to get ahead of myself, but I am thinking it was blade pressure.

[DJE624]

I think Mark mentioned blade pressure too.  Sounds like a logical move forward. 

[mjhpadi]

Yeah, this perplexing to say the least....I never thought of too much pressure, but it could be.  Thanks for posting the photos...can understand why you are upset about this...I would be upset myself.  I do have the Rain-X blades on my car, and I can say, I don't like them as much as I did the original blades.  I think I'm going to go back to Motorcraft when I replace them.  I'm really puzzled by this, sure hope you can find the cause and get it fixed soon. 

[geswek]

It didn't work -- we got hammered this morning and the window instantly streaked/hazed.

I got frustrated and took the car to dealer--I'm rolling around in a Fusion at the moment.

Here's to hoping the figure it out -- along with the metallic clicking in my steering and the clicking when moving forward/backward slowly.

[DJE624]

I hope they call soon and report success!

[geswek]

I hope they call soon and report success!

I feel bad; I gave my friend a big ear full--he's service manager there. It's hard to be the pissed off customer while not trying to ruin your friendship either.

Ugh.

He takes care of me on so many things --

Hopefully it works out and they figure out the issue.

[mjhpadi]

Sorry, I don't have any ideas about the clicking in the steering, but the windshield thing is really weird.  I was thinking about what you said about the dude that used steel wool and a solution to remove stuff...again, going back to my experience with dive masks, I know that if you don't get all the release oils off the glass, the stupid thing will continue to haze (fog) for months even with heavy use.  I'm still thinking that the Comet thing with a sponge should be given a try, although at this point I'm not sure that would work.  But the Comet is abrasive enough to remove the oil and most anything else on the windshield.  I sure hope they can figure this out for you..good luck. Lastly, I know that with dive masks we always apply a defogger to the interior of the mask to keep it from hazing during a dive, but it won't work om the exterior because the water would wash it off fairly quick.  Again, good luck with this hope it gets solved for you.

[geswek]

Sorry, I don't have any ideas about the clicking in the steering, but the windshield thing is really weird.  I was thinking about what you said about the dude that used steel wool and a solution to remove stuff...again, going back to my experience with dive masks, I know that if you don't get all the release oils off the glass, the stupid thing will continue to haze (fog) for months even with heavy use.  I'm still thinking that the Comet thing with a sponge should be given a try, although at this point I'm not sure that would work.  But the Comet is abrasive enough to remove the oil and most anything else on the windshield.  I sure hope they can figure this out for you..good luck. Lastly, I know that with dive masks we always apply a defogger to the interior of the mask to keep it from hazing during a dive, but it won't work om the exterior because the water would wash it off fairly quick.  Again, good luck with this hope it gets solved for you.

I'm tempted to try that next, including coca cola.

If I do I'll just go to car wash and try it--since there is high pressure hose that I can sue to get comet off quickly.

[PopolZ]

have you tried simple green or another natural degreaser???

[geswek]

have you tried simple green or another natural degreaser???

Not yet; I tried dawn--it says it cuts grease 2x harder than others or my money back.

[mjhpadi]

I used Dawn for cleaning my detailing pads and microfiber towels before I wash them but I've not used it to wash, it does a good job removing wax from the pads and towels, and oil off hands, but I've never used it to clean off a windshield...Nor do I recommend it for use with dive masks because it's really hard on rubber/silicone.  But I do use it for dishes, and it works great on them!