Smeary rain-x
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Discussion

Cledus Snow

Original Poster:

2,125 posts

209 months

Monday 22nd December 2025
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Help! I have a horrible smeary mess on my windscreen. I applied rain-x and I’ve been left with streaks all over my windscreen.
I’ve used Bilt Hamber traceless glass cleaner and Autoglym glass polish to try to remove it and the screen appears spotless until driving in the dark and rain and oncoming vehicle head lights hit it and I have a foggy film that I can’t see through.

Any ideas?

Stedman

7,363 posts

213 months

Monday 22nd December 2025
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Give Bilt Hamber Re-View a go?

gweaver

940 posts

179 months

Monday 22nd December 2025
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Stedman said:
Give Bilt Hamber Re-View a go?
Agreed. In my experience Autoglym glass polish isn't very effective at removing the water marks that become evident in dark and wet conditions.

Rain repellants can cause "ghosting" when you use the wipers, and wiper judder too. I've found that a good glass polish and fresh wipers gives the best visibility.

InitialDave

14,154 posts

140 months

Monday 22nd December 2025
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Glaco glass cleaner/compound is very good.

Ed Boon II

70 posts

2 months

Monday 22nd December 2025
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I've just done my windscreen with Soft99 Glass Compound which was crap and also Meguier's glass compound which wasn't much better.

It took 3 attempts in the end with both products and it's 75% better.

I also changed wipers to the PIAA jobbies as I find the Bosch Aerotwins don't last much longer than 6 months.

I think my windscreen had some overspray from Gyeon Wetcoat which is epic on bodywork, not so good on windscreens.

C5_Steve

6,938 posts

124 months

Monday 22nd December 2025
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Ed Boon II said:
I've just done my windscreen with Soft99 Glass Compound which was crap and also Meguier's glass compound which wasn't much better.

It took 3 attempts in the end with both products and it's 75% better.

I also changed wipers to the PIAA jobbies as I find the Bosch Aerotwins don't last much longer than 6 months.

I think my windscreen had some overspray from Gyeon Wetcoat which is epic on bodywork, not so good on windscreens.
With the Glaco did you use the cleaner first to decontaminate the windscreen? Surprised to hear you don't rate the coating as I did mine 5 or so years ago and it's only just started to smear a bit and need redoing.

The key is using the right product (from Glaco) to clean the windscreen and strip any coating first, then applying the compound as per the instructions. 10x better than RainX.

Robertb

3,134 posts

259 months

Monday 22nd December 2025
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A good compound will get it off... or failing that something like Carpro Ceriglass.


gweaver

940 posts

179 months

Monday 22nd December 2025
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Bilt Hamber Re-View, Soft99 Glaco Compound & CarPro Ceriglass are all up to the job of deep cleaning a windscreen by hand, it just requires some physical effort and often a second pass to get the parts you missed with the first pass.

In my experience Autoglym Glass Polish, Barkeepers Friend and water spot remover sprays aren't effective against water marks.

Ed Boon II

70 posts

2 months

Tuesday 23rd December 2025
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C5_Steve said:
With the Glaco did you use the cleaner first to decontaminate the windscreen? Surprised to hear you don't rate the coating as I did mine 5 or so years ago and it's only just started to smear a bit and need redoing.

The key is using the right product (from Glaco) to clean the windscreen and strip any coating first, then applying the compound as per the instructions. 10x better than RainX.
It was the cleaner that I used, I wanted to clear whatever was on the glass first before I added any kind of treatment as my wipers were juddering and leaving smears.

I’ll try again now that I’ve got a few days off and it’s dry outside.

InitialDave

14,154 posts

140 months

Tuesday 23rd December 2025
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That's very odd, I've used it multiple times and it's always been excellent.

Ed Boon II

70 posts

2 months

Tuesday 23rd December 2025
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InitialDave said:
That's very odd, I've used it multiple times and it's always been excellent.

Might help it I RTFM, trying again tomorrow.

C5_Steve

6,938 posts

124 months

Tuesday 23rd December 2025
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Ed Boon II said:
InitialDave said:
That's very odd, I've used it multiple times and it's always been excellent.

Might help it I RTFM, trying again tomorrow.
rofl

Yeah, it's slightly more specific than Rain-X but the results are much better.

This stuff to clean the glass (after washing it, as per the instructions):

https://soft99store.co.uk/collections/maintenance/...

Then this to coat it:

https://soft99store.co.uk/collections/maintenance/...

Job done.

Downward

5,077 posts

124 months

Saturday 27th December 2025
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My car went for a repair and since it came back the windscreen is coated with something that makes the screen not clean proper. Used BH cleaner and the Polish on it 4 times now and it’s still there. When you spray on the BH trace less glass cleaner you can see the oily film like when you get diesel on a road and it rains that rainbow type effect but nothing is shifting it.


C5_Steve

6,938 posts

124 months

Saturday 27th December 2025
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Downward said:
My car went for a repair and since it came back the windscreen is coated with something that makes the screen not clean proper. Used BH cleaner and the Polish on it 4 times now and it s still there. When you spray on the BH trace less glass cleaner you can see the oily film like when you get diesel on a road and it rains that rainbow type effect but nothing is shifting it.
Have you tried the soft99 stuff I suggested above? Took everything off mine as I've said. Not used BH but not needed to ever use anything else. I know the soft99 stuff will take off wax/Rain-X as that's exactly what I used it for.

zalrak

665 posts

106 months

Saturday 27th December 2025
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Cledus Snow said:
Help! I have a horrible smeary mess on my windscreen. I applied rain-x and I ve been left with streaks all over my windscreen.
I ve used Bilt Hamber traceless glass cleaner and Autoglym glass polish to try to remove it and the screen appears spotless until driving in the dark and rain and oncoming vehicle head lights hit it and I have a foggy film that I can t see through.

Any ideas?
No, but I have had the exact same experience this week. Screen thoroughly cleaned and Rain X applied as per instructions. First time it rained it smeared badly. Need to try and clean it off now.

marksx

5,165 posts

211 months

Saturday 27th December 2025
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IPA is good for cleaning windscreens.

(Not the beer biggrin )

C5_Steve

6,938 posts

124 months

Saturday 27th December 2025
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zalrak said:
Cledus Snow said:
Help! I have a horrible smeary mess on my windscreen. I applied rain-x and I ve been left with streaks all over my windscreen.
I ve used Bilt Hamber traceless glass cleaner and Autoglym glass polish to try to remove it and the screen appears spotless until driving in the dark and rain and oncoming vehicle head lights hit it and I have a foggy film that I can t see through.

Any ideas?
No, but I have had the exact same experience this week. Screen thoroughly cleaned and Rain X applied as per instructions. First time it rained it smeared badly. Need to try and clean it off now.
Rain-X is awful now. It used to be pretty good when it came in the little concentrated bottles but since they switched to the ready to use spray it's a pain and doesn't last long at all. Avoid.

21TonyK

12,742 posts

230 months

I had someting similar, no amount of "cleaning" with various glass cleaners or IPA would shift it. In the end I dug out some cerium oxide and went over it with a polisher.

Its certainly not like new (its 13 years old) but 100% better and at night with oncoming LEDs etc etc its not an issue any more.