Windshield cleaners??

chemgeek said:
Silicon (or silicon dioxide or silicon carbide) would be really bad for acrylic--too abrasive. o_O On the other hand, silicone (a polymer) is pretty inert, and provides a slippery, wax-like surface that is ideal for cleaning and preserving acrylics.
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Just to be clear, I'm not someone who cares, but there are many that are hyper-paranoid about silicone (the polymer) effecting their ability to repaint or do other repairs where the slippery-ness causes things to not stick. I even read a report here on POA of a paint shop that refused to work on siliconed planes (though I suspect they also have no idea how widely used it is in various cleaners/polishes).

I didn't mean to imply that it would harm any surface. I don't like it on windshields due to leaving a residue though.
 
172andyou said:
Just to be clear, I'm not someone who cares, but there are many that are hyper-paranoid about silicone (the polymer) effecting their ability to repaint................
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If a painter can not strip an airplane with a little pledge on it..........it is a painter not worthy of his title.
 
I think Orville and Wilbur used Lemon Pledge on their plexiglass goggles. It has been used forever on windshields. I have used it for 20 years.

I did buy some stuff called RVR for rain rejection. I clean the WS with water and a drop of detergent, dry, use Pledge and finish off with RVR. Works well and rejects the rain well.
 
kgruber said:
If a painter can not strip an airplane with a little pledge on it..........it is a painter not worthy of his title.
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I don't disagree. Just letting people know.
 
jd21476 said:
Really? Lemon pledge on your windshield. Ive neve heard of using it on plastics. Does it leave it clean without a film build up or anything? Do you use it one the inside as well?
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I have used it and hated it. Left a mess that just seemed to smear around and required to much effort.

I like spray away in the blue and white cans.
 
We use deionized water and some specialized soft cloth at work on canopies. If the DI won't do it, then we move to DI and 50% isopropyly alcohol. Rarely do we ever have to do anything more than that. At something well beyond $50k for the canopy glass, we are quite careful about what even gets near it.
 
shopping
 
Auto quik detail spray works well for windshields, prop, and leading edge. I use Meguiars, but any decent brand with a bit of carnauba in it will do.
 
I'm convinced not to use Pledge anymore. From now on I'm using a mist of goat milk blessed by a Hindu monk and dry with a kitten.
 
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I read in an old manual that you can clean oil off a windshield with stoddard solvent (a type of white mineral spirits). I even had an old IA recommend it.

I have some stoddard solvent but I’m happy using water with a few drops of dawn dishwater detergent. Has anyone actually used stoddard solvent on plexiglass?

gary
 
I fly fixed wing and helicopters in the Ag industry for multiple operators and the most common I have used is pledge. For one particular operator we were told to use WD-40 on the bubble of Bell 47 helicopters. It worked surprisingly good and was much more effective at cutting through bugs and grime than any other product I have used. A product named "Awesome" from the dollar store is also common for some operators and works fine too. I have personally never seen damage from any of the products we used and that's from cleaning the windshield/windows (glass or plexiglass) 10-20 times a day.
 
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