using v. fine steel wool on windshield ???

Factual Questions
1

A friend said some gas station attendant showed her that windshields accumulate some grime that is difficult to really clean. He used a foamy substance detergent and then (he said) the finest grade of steel wool which (she said) worked wonders at making the windshield like new again.

I can imagine windshield owners who would go ballistic at seeing a ball of steel wool molesting their wind screen even if lubricated by some foamy agent.

I wonder if windshields today have some coating that could be damaged (but might wear off in any case with a couple years of wipers friction) ? I also wonder if it is a benign method of cleaning that greasy sludge that does accumulate ?

2

The folks that install new windshields use foamy stuff and brown paper towels torn from a roll. That’s good enough for me, they’re the professionals. If there was a real persistent dead bug corpse, I’d try a scrubby sponge, the kind you use on non-stick treated pots and pans.

3

Interesting concept. 0000 steel wool is very fine indeed. It would be interesting to see how it works on a sufficiently worthless windshield. I wouldn’t try it on a nice one. It is good for refinishing furniture. Here’s a video Super Clean Your Windshield... Super Fast! - YouTube

4

Back in the day when you bought gas the attendant cleaned the windows. That stopped about 40 years ago.
Windshield do get a grimy coating that can make wipers skip and clean poorly. While I have never used 0000 steel wool I have used a scotchbrite pad and a strong detergent.
IMHO a scotchbrite is probably more aggressive than 0000 steel wool.
Oh and Ranger apples to oranges. I’m talking about cleaning a windshield that has been on a car, the installer is clean a new windshield they just installed

5

I’d try a Magic Eraser before I tried anything else.

6

IMO it’s insane to use an abrasive on glass.

7

You quite likely use abrasives on the rest of the car’s surface. Car polishes, unless clearly marked otherwise, contain abrasives.

8

I’m not looking through the paint on my car.

9

Paint is more fragile than glass. I doubt you could damage glass with steel wool. The grit that I guarantee you is embedded in your wiper blades is more likely to damage the windshield than fine steel wool.

10

Speaking from personal experience, the green “pot scrubber” pads will scratch windshield glass. The non-stick safe ones are ok, though.

11

I clean glass cookware all the time using steel wool, and it does it no harm. Glass is pretty strong stuff, compared to mere steel. That said, I’ve never found a need to use anything stronger than a rag and windex on auto glass.

The outside of an auto window doesn’t have any coating. The inside may; I wouldn’t use steel wool on the inside. (If there’s not coating on the inside, then where is that plastic layer that keeps it from shattering all over when it breaks? It could be sandwiched inside; I don’t know.)

12

I use tea or vinegar on glass.

13

Considering that any form of steel is almost always harder than any form of glass, I can’t think that’s a good idea. I know people who use brass ice scrapers, though, because brass isn’t as hard as glass and supposedly can’t scratch it.

14

Apparently, this has been a detailer’s “secret” for years and as long as you use plenty of lubricant and do not “scrub” any one area for too long, it should not create any scratches. And it has to be the ultra-fine 0000 grade. Professional window cleaners and porcelain makers use it as well to clean and buff.

15

Some hardened steel alloys are harder than glass. Steel wool is not.

16

I have used SOS or Brillo pads many times on car windows with no damage done. I do make sure to wet the glass and the pad well and I don’t press very hard. Works great on dried-on love bugs! I would never use Scotchbrite or any other abrasive pad, however.

17

The inverse, actually - glass is commonly harder than steel. While the comparison between various hardness scales are a little funky, the hardest tool steels top out at Rockwell numbers around 65 (though there are some that hit 70-72*) - an Rc 72 value is (roughly) equivalent to a Mohs hardness of 4.5. The softest glass glass compounds are Mohs 4.5 - with more typical glass compounds at Mohs 5.5 and the hardest commercially-available glass coming in around 6.5.

  • Yes, there are a small handful of weird alloys that have been reported to have (converted) Mohs values above 6.5 - that I know of these are so brittle as to have little value commercially (at least in widespread use).
18

I have some 0000 steel wool at home (to start campfires with a 9V battery). I’ll test it out on a sheet of glass this week and return with the results.

19

I’ve been using 0000 steel wool on mirrors and windows for years (also to buff furniture wax). Including my car’s windows. No streaks, no bug spots, no film to cause glare. At first the glass feels sticky, but that disappears as you continue to work with the steel wool. I have glass balusters on my deck that are a cinch to keep clean with steel wool. I think the results are similar to those with Invisible Glass, but less work and way cheaper.

20

I used to work at a VW restoration shop back in the day and we used steel wool on the headlight lenses regularly. It would remove the white fogging, which I assume was microscopic pits and scratches, and make them clear again. We would also use it on the chrome bumpers. In both cases we were using some type of rubbing compound, most likely a wax of some type. YMMV and all that.