Does it seem that you spend more time in your car driving around then you spend at home? Although home is where you would rather be it just doesn’t seem to work out that way. With children going to and from activities, work and just running around doing household errands we seem to spend hours a day in our vehicle. Since we are spending so much of our time in our vehicle we would at least expect to have a clean windshield.

Have you ever been driving down the road only to come upon a great big juicy bug that gets squashed on the windshield? Even with repeat washings with regular windshield cleaning solution the bug still remains on the windshield annoying you. Try something a little different to remove the bug from your windshield. In the summer months you may add three cups of vinegar to your car’s reservoir, which will remove bugs and other hard to remove objects that end up on your windshield. You will be left with a clean sparkling windshield every time you spray.

When cleaning your vehicle try using vinegar. First you can place a mixture of vinegar and water in a spray bottle and use on your vehicle’s windows inside and out. This mixture could be used instead of using window cleaner. To clean your vehicle’s interior such as the dashboard and steering wheel then try using warm water mixed with three tablespoons of vinegar. Simply use this vinegar mixture by cleaning the surfaces with a soft cloth.

Keeping your windshield ice-free can be somewhat difficult especially if you have to park outside over night in the winter months. I wish we could just skip the winter months and that would be one way that we could keep our vehicle’s windshield frost and ice-free. Since we can’t get rid of winter let’s eliminate the icy windshields. By using a mixture of three parts vinegar and one part water you will have what it takes for a frost and ice-free windshield. Place the mixture of three parts vinegar and one part water in a spray bottle. After parking your car for the night spray your windshield with the vinegar mixture. With this mixture you will wake to a frost free and ice-free windshield.

With very few exceptions, little by little, motorcycle riders clean their windshields to death. Take a stroll around the parking lot outside a restaurant where a motorcycle gathering is going on. Look through all the windshields. Except for the brand new machines, almost every windshield shows evidence of well-intentioned abuse by the bikes' owners. (While that's what keeps those of us in the business of supplying aftermarket windshields and accessories in business, it's largely unnecessary and can be avoided with a bit of care.) Sure, you need to keep your windshield clean, both for appearances and safety, but you don't need to go about it the wrong way!

First of all, you should know a bit about your motorcycle's windshield, especially the Gold Wing. Unlike most automobile or truck windshields, it's not made of glass. The original equipment Honda Gold Wing GL1500 and GL1800 windshield is made of hard coated polycarbonate. Most other manufacturers shields are the same. While polycarbonate is great stuff, if you use cleaner containing alcohol or ammonia (including Windex® or Pledge®), you start softening the hard coating , exposing the windshield to greater tendency to scratches or pitting. Windex, Pledge and other alcohol-based household cleaners work great on glass, but aren't meant for synthetics.

Second, if you grab one of those service station scrubber wands, you don't know what kind of abrasives are imbedded in its spongy or squeegee surfaces. It's worth it to carry your own cleaning materials. At service stations, the temptation is to do a "final wipe-off" with those handy paper towels. Resist the urge! Paper is processed wood pulp. You're essentially scrubbing your windshield with a handful of ground-up twigs! Is it any wonder your windshield quickly goes from crystal clear to a crazy-quilt pattern of swirls and whorls that's especially annoying when riding in the rain or in the glare of on-coming headlights!

Alcohol or high-petroleum-content cleaners are even more destructive to aftermarket windshields made of Lexan®. Spritz a little alcohol on one of these windshields and it immediately turns milky white. I had a customer tell me he destroyed his windshield while refilling his fuel tank. The hose nozzle sprung loose, gushing gasoline all over the inside of his Lexan windshield. Was he angry!

Here's how I tell my customers to clean their windshields.

Step 1. Use a wet, not damp, wash cloth or hand towel you keep for that purpose in a plastic zip-lock bag inside your travel trunk. Allow the water to soften the dried-on bugs. Work crosswise and up and down; if you use a circular motion, you tend, unconsciously, to increase the rag pressure and scrub harder than you need to. Also, if there's any grit on the cloth to gouge the surface, circular scratches are more annoying to the eye than straight ones. (By the way, I don't use diaper material because the tightness of the weave tends to pick up and retain grit.) Soft terry cloth is the best for the initial soaking and wiping.

Step 2. With the windshield still wet, sparingly spray on some of Sumner Laboratories' product called 210®. Using clean tee-shirt material, gently wipe the windshield dry, again, using straight back-and-forth motions. Sumner's 210® is available through many motorcycle and plastic supply houses ( and Tulsa Enterprises carries it too!) It's specifically formulated for use on Lucite or Lexan. Besides being anti-static and anti-fog, it helps seal the pores of plastic and leaves a protective coating. From Tulsa Enterprises, a seven-ounce can of 210® costs $6.50 plus shipping. Sumner Laboratories' 210® Plus scratch remover can improve lightly scratched surfaces. As with any product you've not tried before, do a test sample in a small (preferably out of the line of sight) area of the windshield to see if it makes things better or worse.

Of course, in the final analysis, for severely scratched and pitted windshields, the best thing to do is start over with a fresh one, promising yourself to give it better care than you gave the last one. Just as investing in a fresh set of motorcycle tires makes a world of difference in how your motorcycle rides, by making the relatively small investment for a new windshield, you can improve your whole outlook on life!

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