Which car glass cleaner is best?

Open gallery Close News 5 mins read 11 April 2024 Follow @@autocar There’s a huge variety of glass cleaners on offer, so we’ve tested a broad range from the more affordable options through to the premium products. The cloth is often half the battle, so to ensure a fair test we used an identical, new, ultra-fine microfibre cloth with each product. Then we did what you’d do when you clean glass… We applied a fine spray to the dry (yet appropriately filthy) glass of our test car, and judged how well it removed dirt and grease for that crystal clear finish. The products or services referenced in this story have been reviewed independently by our experts. When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network. However, this will never influence our opinion or ratings. BEST BUY: Related articles NAME: RainX 2-in-1 glass cleaner and rain repellent Price per litre? £8.00 Enthusiasts such as yourselves, dear Autocar readers, are probably familiar with RainX; ever the friend of old cars, in particular, this stuff helps the water to bead up and run off. So it helps to keep your screen clear of rain even if your wipers are a bit, well…. vintage. Which makes it all the more impressive that it was also one of the best just as a glass cleaner, leaving a bright, smear-free finish with very little buffing and wiping. At this price, and given that it really can help with visibility out of your windows and windscreen, RainX is a must-have.  Autocar says: 5 stars Runner up:  Latest Reviews Citroen C5 Aircross Peugeot e-208 review View all car reviews Back to top NAME: King of Sheen Glass Sparkle Price £8.99 (500ml) Buy from Amazon Price per litre? £17.98 The King of Sheen cleaner smells a bit strong, but we’ll forgive it because it makes such light work of the interior and exterior of our car’s glass. It hardly needs any buffing to get greasy fingerprints and a film of dust of the inside of the car, and it cuts through mud splatters on the outside for a spotless finish. It’s not the cheapest, but it’s still good value - especially when you consider that you get a microfibre included in the price. You don’t need much spray to do a lot of glass, too, so it’ll last a really long time.  Autocar says: 5 stars Budget buy:  NAME: Autoglym Fast Glass Price £9.44 (500ml) Buy from Amazon Back to top Price per litre? £18.88 Autoglym’s glass cleaner does a great job of clearing greasy fingerprints, and even dried-on dirt and bird muck. It can also be used on touchscreens, and even plastic or acrylic windows. It’s not cheap, but of the premium cleaners this is up there with King of Sheen for effectiveness and crystal clear results with very little effort. It only missed out on the top spot here as King of Sheen is better value. Autocar says: 4 stars NAME: Turtle Wax Clearvue Glass Cleaner Price £3.59 (500ml) Buy from Amazon Price per litre? £4.20 (5l bottle) This is one of those ‘does the job’ cleaners. It took a bit of repeated spray-and-buff efforts on very dirty glass, but it still did a fine job overall and this is the cheapest of our products. It leaves a stringent, vinegary smell for a while afterwards, but ultimately it does what you want glass cleaner to do, and at a very good price. Back to top Autocar says: 3 stars NAME: Car Gods Glass Perfection  Price £10.99 (500ml) Buy from Amazon Price per litre? £21.98 The Car Gods glass cleaner removes grime and fingerprints from glass without much effort, and the subtle scent is a pleasant change from some of the others here, too. It’s a shame that the bottle leaked a bit in transit, so the packaging could definitely be better - and it’s not cheap. There’s no doubting the effectiveness of the cleaner itself, though.  Autocar says: 3 stars Back to top NAME Armor All Glass Cleaner Price £6.00 (500ml) Buy from Amazon Price per litre? £12.00 If you don’t mind the rather chemically smell, the Armor All does a decent job even on very dirty exterior glass, as well as on the typical dust film that builds up on a car’s interior. It does need some heavy buffing to get it streak free, so the cloth is doing some of the heavy lifting, but overall it’s not bad at all.  Autocar says: 3 stars CarPlan No.1 Super Glass Cleaner Price £9.00 (600ml) Buy from Amazon Price per litre? £15 The CarPlan cleaner was virtually scent-free, which is an unusual and refreshing change for a glass cleaner. It also does a good job of getting the glass fresh and clean, but while it does the job you expect, it also doesn’t really seem to cut through the dirt more easily, or leave any more o