Glass Cleaner as a detailer spray?

[Stimpy68]

On our Dutch Meguiar's forum someone posted a tip about using Glass Cleaner (Detailer line) as a detailer spray, his tip was:

Spray from a distance of about 1 meter a mist of Glass Cleaner on the car's surface, then take it off.

According to him it removes all kinds of dirt from the surface.

I think it's a load of .... you know what I mean, but is there any truth in his story?? Some people tried it, and said it worked.

I think that the glass cleaner removes the wax from the surface, and it can't be any good.

Can anyone shine a light on this matter (Mike?)

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Glass Cleaner as a detailer spray?

If you're trying to strip any fillers or wax off the paint then you can use glass cleaner, mineral spirits will work better.

If you're wanting to remove light dust, fingerprints and/or smudges and leave a nice looking finish then use the right product for the job and that would be a mist & wipe quick detailer, not a glass cleaner.

Remember,

"One man's ceiling is another man's floor"


What looks good in his eyes and is acceptable for technique may be shocking to the rest of us...

[Stimpy68]

Re: Glass Cleaner as a detailer spray?

Thanks Mike! That was just the same thing I was thinking!

[HealthyCivic]

Re: Glass Cleaner as a detailer spray?

From what I've learned, any real "dirt" needs a car wash and the light stuff I use Last Touch to remove.

[Stimpy68]

Re: Glass Cleaner as a detailer spray?

I'm with you all the way. I already knew that this tip he gave was a bit on the "funny" side. So I thought, why not ask Mike? And behold, he has the same opinion as I have (never doubted that in any way ).

Who in his right mind would use Glass Cleaner in this way?? It say's GLASS CLEANER

[BlueZero]

Re: Glass Cleaner as a detailer spray?

Like Mike said it will strip the wax off.

However the last two details I did I used it to help remove bugs. I read somewhere that it worked good and figured it does a good job removing them from the windshield why not try it. I don't think it hurts the paint at all. Just make sure you add an LSP after.

[Stimpy68]

Re: Glass Cleaner as a detailer spray?

That's true, it will remove bugs and tar and other stuff, that was my opinion too, but I commented on our forum that it also removes the wax. And that wasn't true according to some people.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Glass Cleaner as a detailer spray?

That's true, it will remove bugs and tar and other stuff, that was my opinion too, but I commented on our forum that it also removes the wax. And that wasn't true according to some people.

Sometimes on the Internet when you're dealing with a percentage of online enthusiasts that could be classified as AR to the extreme, it helps sometimes to position ideas in the extreme to make and clarify a point.

For example, if you have paint finish with a coat of wax and you take a clean microfiber and start to rub on the paint are you adding wax or removing wax?

The answer is you're not adding wax. This being true, what's the opposite of adding?

So simply rubbing a dry but clean and soft microfiber over waxed paint may not remove wax, but at least the potential is there to remove wax because you're certainly not adding wax in the process and one of 3 things is possible.

1) Your adding wax - Not possible since there's no wax in this scenario
2) You're doing nothing - possible
3) You're removing wax - possible


Now take this a step further, you have freshly waxed paint finish and you mist on some glass cleaner and spread it around and the wipe off the excess to a dry shine. One of 3 things is possible,

1) Your adding wax - Not possible since there's no wax in this scenario
2) You're doing nothing - possible
3) You're removing wax - more possible


Each person can decide what they want to use for a mist & wipe product but here at Meguiar's we recommend using glass cleaner to clean glass and we offer a number of different quick detailers or mist & wipe product for removing light dust, fingerprints and smudges.

Our glass cleaners are formulated to clean glass squeaky clean and our quick detailers rare formulated to remove light dust, fingerprints and smudges and leave the paint looking just detailed. It's the part of the formula that leaves the paint looking good, the looking just detailed portion that requires more than just cleaning ability and ingredients.

There's more to a quality quick detailer than just the ability to remove unwanted things... in the case of our quick detailers there's something being added to the surface at the same time, something that a glass cleaner can't do for paint.

Make sense?

[Stimpy68]

Re: Glass Cleaner as a detailer spray?

To me it makes a whole lot of sense and it already did!
I will pass it on to the forummembers on our forum.

Thanks for clearing this up for out forum members, sometimes they don't believe me, so I have get some help from the "man"

[J. A. Michaels]

Re: Glass Cleaner as a detailer spray?

Mike's aexplanation just makes so much sense. I would never think to use a glass cleaner as a qd. After all its a specific product. Glass cleaner. Can it help remove some contaminants? Sure. But you would have to re apply a lsp. So why would you use it as a qd? This was a new one for me. Thanks for sharing it.

[Larry A]

Re: Glass Cleaner as a detailer spray?

I think that glass cleaner will remove the wax . Most glass cleaners contain alcohol. There is no lube in glass cleaner , so glass cleaner with a towel on paint equals scratches.