Green Options for Auto Glass Washing Fluids

by Windshield Replacement Phoenix on February 1, 2012

There are many ways to clean your auto glass, and you should in fact do your best to maintain its cleanliness by giving it a regular wash.  However, before you take your car to the local carwash or start spraying all sorts of car glass cleaners on your windows, give a thought first to the chemicals that are usually in the formulations used for this procedure: a lot of these are actually quite harmful to the environment, which means you should be as sparing as possible when using them.  In fact, it would be best if you avoided using them on the whole and stuck to greener options.

For example, one may whip up one’s own auto glass cleaner with some regular household items.  Most automobile experts and car shop owners actually strongly recommend using homemade auto glass cleaners because you get to have control over how much of the active (or stronger) ingredients are in the formulation.  Furthermore, making your own auto glass cleaner is often by far the more inexpensive option when it comes to buying maintenance items and implements for your automobile.

The best homemade auto glass cleaner that may also be considered a green alternative to most of the commercially produced solutions available on the market is typically made out of a compound of water and vinegar.  Regular vinegar may be used, although cider vinegar is also an option.  The mixture strengths vary according to the expert, but the general rule is to add more vinegar as you come across tougher grime or streaks on your windshield or windows.  If you go, then, from a basic formulation of 3 parts water to 1 part vinegar as the standard, you can go with a half-half mixture for a stronger solution.

If you do not want to make your own cleaner, there are also some auto glass cleaners out there that are both non-toxic to the environment and biodegradable, making them other excellent choices for your automotive cleaning work.  An example would be the Bio-Green cleaner from the company Recochem Inc., which also happens to produce an environment-friendly windshield washer fluid and other such “bio” products.  You can just search online for more recommendations if you want to go with something that has been premixed for you.  Still, it should not be too difficult to make your own solution.

If ever it so happens that you need to use a commercial product for auto glass cleaning that is not environmentally friendly, you can just go with the principle that less is more: the less of the harmful chemicals used, the better not just for the environment but for you as well, given that you shall be breathing in any potential fumes and getting some of the chemicals on your hands or clothes.

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