GLASS CLEANERS
Steve Hole puts products through their paces
This time we turn our attention to automotive glass cleaners and if you thought the margins were fine when we chose the winners for our recent leather cleaners and conditioners test (CM, Dec 2021) then this one is incredibly tight. It was like trying to choose between Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo, or Jaffa Cakes and Custard Creams.
Just like with the previous test the contenders here are all products we have used with success and/or have been highly recommended to us. Of the 27 contenders here it’s possibly fair to say that 25 of them could easily have won!
We have looked at household name products, those that are popular on the detailing scene and even some from tiny boutique brands. Although you may think that 27 products amounts to too many, consider there are more than likely close to 300 automotive glass cleaning products available in the UK.
We have only looked at glass cleaners. Glass polishes, coatings and rain away products are beyond the scope of this feature although some of our cleaners tested do have elements of some or all of those included in their make-up. Therefore, you’ll find no dedicated glass coatings, polishes or rain repellents.
We also used a variety of cloths from good quality Costco Microfibres, a dedicated crosshatch glass cloth and one of those miracle cloths off the internet! On balance, the dedicated glass cloths performed better but we didn’t get as much use from these before they needed changing. A microfibre has a thicker pile and absorbs moisture better.
Care is needed when using some of these products as I noticed on the labels that some can damage eyes and/or your insides if used incorrectly so as always, we’d recommend nitrile gloves, and some eye protection is used.
What was quite apparent is that different brands take different approaches to ingredients used on their glass cleaning products including menthol, ammonia, soap and alcohol aka IPA (no, not beer, rather a panel wipe product officially known as Isopropyl alcohol), and some of them go to great lengths to introduce heady
