[Dark_Knight_335]

I've always used the plain old blue stuff- just concerned with voiding the warranty on things like my windshield wash reservoir and pump.
While it may be a seemingly silly question, I figured it might be worthwhile to ask if there's anything special I would need to know about using different kinds of windshield washer fluid inside my BMW.
Thanks!

[gatoman39]

Isn't it silly how we've become brainwashed into thinking that unless we follow direct orders from the mothership, our vehicles may rendered useless? I use the rain-X washer concentrate a little bottle of it makes like 5 gallons, but you have to mix it. If you go this way, try and use filtered or distilled water as it will have less minerals in the water. I use the reverse osmosis water from under the sink. You can also use BMW's stuff if you are so inclined, but I honestly think it makes no difference...

OEM BMW Natural Care Windshield Wash Concentrate

[Dark_Knight_335]

Yeah I thought as much- thanks for confirming brother! And yes you're so right...

[BEAR-AvHistory]

I use the regular jug RainX. Works fine

[BMW335icoupe]

I use rain x in the big jug to keep at home just in case but most of the time I will just stop by the BMW dealer and have them refill it for free.

[Dark_Knight_335]

This green Rain-x bug and road grime stuff isn't better than the blue stuff- actually seems to be streaking more...meh. Lesson learned.

[Surly73]

Originally Posted by Dark_Knight_335

This green Rain-x bug and road grime stuff isn't better than the blue stuff- actually seems to be streaking more...meh. Lesson learned.

If your windshield has any build up of contaminants (you may not be able to see them) and then you apply Rain-X over top (either directly as Rain-X or by using a Rain-X washer fluid) then you'll see all kinds of nasty things because the Rain-X is bonding to the contaminants instead of the glass.

This could be what you're seeing.

Try using a glass stripper/polish like Autoglym Glass Polish and then see where you stand.

[Dark_Knight_335]

Thanks for that! Great tip- will try this!

[Clifton]

Originally Posted by Surly73

Try using a glass stripper/polish like Autoglym Glass Polish and then see where you stand.

!!!! DANGER DANGER !!!! Be careful using glass polish on your windshield. I have no experience with the above, but I thought I'd spruce up the tired windshield of my high mileage E36 M3 with some of Griot's glass polish. The immediate results were great, however, the next time I drove under city street lights at night, I was visually greeted with excessive spider webs (think swirls in the paint).

While it could have been attributed to a harsh product or user error, I ended up having to replace the windshield out of pocked ($1K).

[gatoman39]

Originally Posted by Clifton

!!!! DANGER DANGER !!!! Be careful using glass polish on your windshield. I have no experience with the above, but I thought I'd spruce up the tired windshield of my high mileage E36 M3 with some of Griot's glass polish. The immediate results were great, however, the next time I drove under city street lights at night, I was visually greeted with excessive spider webs (think swirls in the paint).

While it could have been attributed to a harsh product or user error, I ended up having to replace the windshield out of pocked ($1K).

what machine did you use?

[Clifton]

Originally Posted by gatoman39

what machine did you use?

My hand and new polish pad. The Griot's polish can be used with either.

[gatoman39]

Originally Posted by Clifton

My hand and new polish pad. The Griot's polish can be used with either.

Much like trying to remove swirls out of modern clear coats, trying to polish glass by hand is basically impossible. I know it says it can be done by hand but as you found out, that's not the case.

[Clifton]

Originally Posted by gatoman39

Much like trying to remove swirls out of modern clear coats, trying to polish glass by hand is basically impossible. I know it says it can be done by hand but as you found out, that's not the case.

Agreed, which is why I threw in the user error caveat. However, using machines can yield less than perfect results too. That is why I warn to proceed with caution before just going out and attempting to polish your windshield. It can be a costly mistake and create a safety/visibility issue.

[gatoman39]

Also would not try this on an old car. You mentioned an E36. If this happened recently that means the car was at least 13-20 years old. The OP's car is a 2011, so he should be good to go.

[Clifton]

Originally Posted by gatoman39

Also would not try this on an old car. You mentioned an E36. If this happened recently that means the car was at least 13-20 years old. The OP's car is a 2011, so he should be good to go.

The offending incident was not recent, but the car was 10 years old at the time. The Griot's product does state to "test on small area first", but it passed that test. It was not until I was heading into on coming street lights that I discovered the swirl damage.

As such, I will not use glass polish on the front windshield on any of my newer cars. Risk/Value is not worth it when you there are less abrasive alternatives.

[Dark_Knight_335]

Upon further reflection, I saw no need to use any glass polish, as the car is barely 6 months in my possession, and spent the other part of its "life" in a storage dock. Seems fine after a good scrubbing with glass cleaner

[Surly73]

Originally Posted by Clifton

!!!! DANGER DANGER !!!! Be careful using glass polish on your windshield. I have no experience with the above, but I thought I'd spruce up the tired windshield of my high mileage E36 M3 with some of Griot's glass polish. The immediate results were great, however, the next time I drove under city street lights at night, I was visually greeted with excessive spider webs (think swirls in the paint).

While it could have been attributed to a harsh product or user error, I ended up having to replace the windshield out of pocked ($1K).

While it's often been a concern since I started using products like glass polish 10-15 years ago, I've never heard of anyone actually causing an effect like this without some kind of user error. I'm not trying to be offensive here - it could have been a little sand you picked up from near the trim or something.

The Autoglym polish is almost exclusively chemical action, not abrasives. Yes, you rub it in like a compound/polish, but.... I don't know about other products.

I have used Autoglym on a drill mounted LC white pad (poor man's rotary for small spot jobs) on a German vehicle that was "neglected" for 5 years or so with no harm done but usually it is by hand.

[Surly73]

Originally Posted by gatoman39

Also would not try this on an old car. You mentioned an E36. If this happened recently that means the car was at least 13-20 years old. The OP's car is a 2011, so he should be good to go.

Just as a data point, I polished the glass on my 1998 528i once or twice per year with Autoglym most recently, but a couple of other products before that, with no negative issues. On my cars the glass is always by hand because they never require anything more aggressive.

[Surly73]

Originally Posted by Dark_Knight_335

Upon further reflection, I saw no need to use any glass polish, as the car is barely 6 months in my possession, and spent the other part of its "life" in a storage dock. Seems fine after a good scrubbing with glass cleaner

You can't make assumptions that there are contaminants and deposits on a vehicle just because it's fairly new. (same goes for wheel alignments, but that's another thread )

Nevertheless, glad you've had good results. It's possible that this will come back once Rain-X starts to build up again if there are deposits. There are a number of "polishes" out there. As I pointed out in a previous post, their action is mostly chemical in nature and not abrasive. Sometimes the right tools are needed for best results. "Windex" simply doesn't cut it for challenging exterior conditions.

[Clifton]

Originally Posted by Surly73

While it's often been a concern since I started using products like glass polish 10-15 years ago, I've never heard of anyone actually causing an effect like this without some kind of user error. I'm not trying to be offensive here - it could have been a little sand you picked up from near the trim or something.

The Autoglym polish is almost exclusively chemical action, not abrasives. Yes, you rub it in like a compound/polish, but.... I don't know about other products.

I have used Autoglym on a drill mounted LC white pad (poor man's rotary for small spot jobs) on a German vehicle that was "neglected" for 5 years or so with no harm done but usually it is by hand.

No offense taken at all. Very possible that user error exacerbated the issue. Though the instructions were not advanced in any way - wax on, wax off using circular motion. If it required a more elaborate process beyond that, I would not have bothered.

I'm very anal so the car was washed spotless (multiple cleaning buckets and several mits) and I used a leaf blower to dry. New polish pads and I started with the windshield first.

The Griot's product says to keep away from plastics, paint and plexiglass so it clearly has abrasives in it. Auto Glass is not impervious to abrasives so if a polish has any level of grit, swirls can be added. No thanks!!!

There are various non-abrasive solutions (like vinegar mixtures) that I will use the next time I need to rid road grime.

[Surly73]

Originally Posted by Clifton

No offense taken at all. Very possible that user error exacerbated the issue. Though the instructions were not advanced in any way - wax on, wax off using circular motion. If it required a more elaborate process beyond that, I would not have bothered.

I'm very anal so the car was washed spotless (multiple cleaning buckets and several mits) and I used a leaf blower to dry. New polish pads and I started with the windshield first.

The Griot's product says to keep away from plastics, paint and plexiglass so it clearly has abrasives in it. Auto Glass is not impervious to abrasives so if a polish has any level of grit, swirls can be added. No thanks!!!

There are various non-abrasive solutions (like vinegar mixtures) that I will use the next time I need to rid road grime.

Hmm - doesn't sound like user error. I wonder what's in the Griot's stuff? I don't think I've recently tried vinegar. What I usually target is invisible contamination when I use a polish. I'll often see from outside the vehicles of other drivers rainbow-looking blotches left over as the wipers cross their windows etc... From inside these might look like very minor streaking or foggy areas when the wipers pass over but a) this stuff annoys me and b) if you put something like Rain-X on top of this it's going to be a nightmare Glass contaminated in this way can look spotless when dry and cleaned up with regular glass cleaner, but it's not.