There seems to be this completely un-removable film on the windshield - when it is raining, my wipers seem to leave this film of water smeared all over the outside of the windshield - I can tell it's a film and not the wipers, because there is a clear spot in the middle with no smears. It is only visible when it's wet outside. I have tried using plastic polish, polishing compound, Dawn diswashing detergent, and even Blue Magic metal polish, the only thing that worked was three doses of the metal polish (that's the clear spot). Is there anything else I can use that will clear the smears? (hey, that rhymes!)

 

could it be rain-x? put some more on there and maybe it would even it out? i doubt that's it but you never know what could do the trick...if it really bothers you that much make an insurance claim that it makes it difficult to drive and get it covered, atleast in mass glass is free. goodluck

 

does defroster help? film could be on inside of windshield also.

 

try some vinnigar maybe? what happened to me was that I accidentally sprayed some dash cleaner and it made the inside of the glass all foggy which took awhile to wipe off. or maybe you sprayed some armorall or some other stuff like that on it?

 

Actually, it's on the outside of the glass when it rains, the wipers smear the water all over, like as soon as the wiper goes over it the water disappears for as second and then the smear comes back.

 

put on your defroster, it's most likely streaks from not cleaning your windows properly.........or not, i dunno. lately, like within the past 3 days, i've been seeing two large spots on the inside of the windshield. They wipe off, leaving streaks of course. I've found that they're almost nonexstent or gone completely if i turn off the climate control completely. Turn the **** to off, make sure A/C is't on, set temp to neutral, and make sure none of the settings are on. I know with my old ford, if i left any of the climate control stuff on, then turned off the car, then turned the switches to off while the car was off, you'd hear sort of a hiss, like coolant or refrigerant or whatever was being released. I wonder if that's what the film is, since it happens right over the two center defroster vents.

 

Buy new wiper blades and scrape all the crap off your windshield w/ a razor blade. All those chemicals you're using are building up and need to be scraped off. It works.

 

that hiss is the vaccume pressure being released so that the blend doors can move to adjust settings.

 

Try using a REALLY strong window cleaner like toluene. Just be VERY careful with this stuff. Wear gloves, and do NOT let it touch anything other than the window. It will harm paint and will eat the rubber trim.

I did this just before I put rain-x on my car, and it's been about a year now, and the rain-x is still working great. The combo of cleaning with toluene and applying rain-x has outlasted the OE Bosch wiper blades.

 

0000 steel wool

 

buy new blades... i had the same problem... i would wipe, it would
smear and stay... i would turn off the wipers and it would slowly go away... once i turned them on, it would smear and stay again.

Finally bought new blades and its gone now.

 

Steel wool?? Won't that scratch the windshield?

 

you need to use the right type/type/grit?. You'll need 0000

 

Why use an abrasive at all when all that is needed is a good window cleaner?

 

you'll see,
I tried a number of cleaners...
steel wool work the best, i look at it this way...
glass isn't smooth on a micronic scale so paper towls
won't reach all the dirt like steel wool will.
And you won't have to worry about harming your paint or trim.

 

though i can see the idea behind the steel wool, i would probably try some cleaners first. There is a product out called Dirtex, they make 2 versions a mix and an aresol can. It has amonia in it, the stuff is really nice, don't get it on tint or your dash but you shouldn't need to worry about that seeing your doing your windshield. Its about 3 bucks for a big can at a True Value or Coast to Coast depending where you are in the states.
Good Luck.