Windshield Washer Fluid Staining Paint and Glass

JayceeP

JayceeP

New member
I posted this in the maintenance/detailing forum yesterday as well:

Freezing cold day: -8C/17F and windchill somewhere around -15C/5F.

Anyway it's been almost a month since the 4Runner has been hand washed (ONR'd). I drove to the self-wash bay and hosed off as much salt/road grime as possible.

Everything freezes by the time I get home. Pull into the garage, everything melts. I proceed to ONR and notice the areas where washer fluid overspray concentrated (windshield, panel above door, driver window etc) had a haze-like stain/residue. Even with strong pressure from a microfibre, it will not come off. Lots of rubbing with my finger on the glass seems like it makes it go away... Not practical for all glass and of course not the paint. It's not a huge issue but you can see it. It sort of looks like that haze a touch-less car wash leaves, but only in those very specific areas I mentioned.

I never experienced this with my black Jeep Wrangler and I was pretty up close and personal with that vehicle in terms of detailing. Either the gas station uses new chemicals in their product, or the 4Runner paint/glass is more vulnerable (which I doubt).

Anyone have this experience and what did you use to get the stain off the paint? I'm hoping my routine spring clay/polish/wax will remove it from the paint. Not sure about the glass. Any tips are welcome.

Note- I bought the 4R in late March and this is the first time I've seen staining on the glass and paint. I haven't had to buy washer fluid until winter rolled around so it's always been the dealer stuff until this past month.

Thanks and Happy New Year.
 
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Just a thought, but maybe you can try using the current washer fluid in the reservoir to "re-wet" the stains? Lots of times the same chemical can be used in itself to redissolved the dried up spot into it's previous liquid state :)
 
I went out to the garage to take another stab at these paint "stains." I tried the washer fluid and no luck. I tried a clay bar and no luck. I dug out the polish and pad and polished the panel just above the driver door and it worked. PIA that I'm going to have to do this, but, I guess I was planning to polish the whole vehicle in the late winter/early spring anyway.

I scrubbed a portion of the glass like hell with a microfibre towel and it started to come off. I'll have to find an aggressive glass cleaner to assist but I have a funny feeling it's just going to involve a lot of elbow grease. Another PIA.

I am going to buy a different fluid and also see if the dealer has any for sale because I didn't have any problem with theirs.
 
You can polish glass like you polish paint. The glass is actually a laminate with plastic in the middle. There is specific product for this but a good polish/cleaner like 3m and a foam polishing pad works. I am talking using a powered polishier.
 
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JayceeP said:
I went out to the garage to take another stab at these paint "stains." I tried the washer fluid and no luck. I tried a clay bar and no luck. I dug out the polish and pad and polished the panel just above the driver door and it worked. PIA that I'm going to have to do this, but, I guess I was planning to polish the whole vehicle in the late winter/early spring anyway.

I scrubbed a portion of the glass like hell with a microfibre towel and it started to come off. I'll have to find an aggressive glass cleaner to assist but I have a funny feeling it's just going to involve a lot of elbow grease. Another PIA.

I am going to buy a different fluid and also see if the dealer has any for sale because I didn't have any problem with theirs.
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That sucks...have you tried good old fashion windex? or maybe some isopropyl alcohol? Maybe it's just to f'in cold up there, wait till spring to deal with it :)

V8Man said:
You can polish glass like you polish paint. The glass is actually covered in plastic. There is specific product for this but a good polish/cleaner like 3m and a foam polishing pad works.
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I don't mean this offensively in anyway, but are you sure? The windshield on our 4runners sure feels like glass to me, lol. What kind of plastic is it covered in?
 
I just went through this with the Wife's Escape. 'Something' in her washer fluid etched into the glass and stained it, needed to be replaced. The same white power residue was on the car itself but would wipe off easily (4 coats of high end wax). The glass was a lost cause, it would come off the moonroof and side windows, but had to rub hard. Autobody shop said they have never seen anything like it. NOTHING removed it, cleaners, waxes, buffers, blades. I drained and refilled the washer fluid box 6 times to make sure whatever was in there was gone. Only thing we can come up with was some kind of bad chemical reaction between 2 different fluids that were used.
 
JayceeP said:
Freezing cold day: -8C/17F and windchill somewhere around -15C/5F.
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Don't really know if this is a factor. I've had my runner through a few winters now and haven't noticed anything like this.

JayceeP said:
Either the gas station uses new chemicals in their product, or the 4Runner paint/glass is more vulnerable (which I doubt).
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Which brand are you using? My guess is that the gas stations just slap their label on the stuff manufactured by someone else. Could be that they open it to new bids every so often and it has changed. I've only ever used the RainX and Toyota stuff and haven't had any problems. Usually Crappy Tire has the RainX -49C on sale in the winter and one of the dealerships here has the Toyota winter stuff on sale for around $4 too. Mind you, I've got silver and yours is shoreline blue so things are going to show up differently on each colour. Hell, it could even be a reaction between the washer fluid and the wax or cleaners you use.
 
[MENTION=85512]eddiebx[/MENTION], [MENTION=66300]Intruder[/MENTION], [MENTION=51186]philsey[/MENTION], I have usually always bought the fluid from Irving Gas stations, which is a huge outfit headquartered in Saint John, New Brunswick that covers all of Atlantic Canada, as far west as Ontario, and as far south as Connecticut.

The brand is Vision Plus and is made by Coastal Blending & Packaging also in Saint John, NB which likely means it's proprietary because that family literally owns that town. It's rated for -40C/F.

I sent them an email inquiry to see if they changed anything recently.
[MENTION=47784]westwind77[/MENTION], that is a good point about the chemical reaction between different fluids. I guess it is possible.
 
philsey said:
[MENTION=92682]JayceeP[/MENTION]

[MENTION=47784]westwind77[/MENTION]



This would be helpful.
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I believe at the time hers had the Prestone De-Icer washer fluid in it. I normally only run the Rain-x De-Icer but my local store stoppped selling it so I bought some of the Prestone. Now, I know she had her oil changed at a local 'quick lube place' shortly before this so I wonder if they topped it off with some random brand that had a bad reaction with each other. I am running the Prestone in mine, but I'm the only one who tops it off. I ran that same Prestone is my company trucks and not issues there. It came from the washer fluid on her because you can see the spray pattern of white powered starting from each of the sprayers on the hood.

I will say where the wipers cleared the window it was 95% ok, it was where the wipers did not clean that it was like frosted glass.

It was just so odd that it destroyed the windshield but did not harm the paint. I would say the wax saved it, but even that surprises me.

I have found the Rain-x again locally and will be switching back to that. I will wait to mine gets low, use a small aquairum hose and suck it all out, fill with water, repeat a couple times, then fill with the Rain-x. After seeing hers I dont want to risk it!
 
westwind77 said:
I believe at the time hers had the Prestone De-Icer washer fluid in it. I normally only run the Rain-x De-Icer but my local store stoppped selling it so I bought some of the Prestone. Now, I know she had her oil changed at a local 'quick lube place' shortly before this so I wonder if they topped it off with some random brand that had a bad reaction with each other. I am running the Prestone in mine, but I'm the only one who tops it off. I ran that same Prestone is my company trucks and not issues there. It came from the washer fluid on her because you can see the spray pattern of white powered starting from each of the sprayers on the hood.

I will say where the wipers cleared the window it was 95% ok, it was where the wipers did not clean that it was like frosted glass.

It was just so odd that it destroyed the windshield but did not harm the paint. I would say the wax saved it, but even that surprises me.

I have found the Rain-x again locally and will be switching back to that. I will wait to mine gets low, use a small aquairum hose and suck it all out, fill with water, repeat a couple times, then fill with the Rain-x. After seeing hers I dont want to risk it!
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You know...now that I think about it, it might all make sense after what you said. There was this one time I thought I would try out that Rain-X orange stuff, and I didn't go through the pains of emptying out whatever was in the car at the time (it was a pile of shit car, so I didn't really care too much about it :)). That was the one time in my life I experienced staining from the wiper fluid and just blamed it on the rain-x, so I never used it again. Probably due to some kind of mixture reaction I guess. It was not as bad as your case however, I think it eventually wiped off, but I didn't really pay attention too much either cuz I didn't give a damn, lol.
 
I can't give any advice about the paint, but a quick google search seems to show its a really common problem with no real solution.

However, I'm an absolute freak about the condition of my windshield. I'll even clean my windows in between washes. I was having really bad issues with staining on mine and my wife's windshields over several vehicles. It was invisible when the glass was dry, but when wet made my windshield almost opaque. I don't know what causes it, but I live in NYC and drive a lot. There is a ton of crap in the air, and on the roads, and dropping from overhead. There are several multi-year construction projects going on near my home. Plus who knows what they actually put in/on your car during washes and quicklube visits?

After using almost every mechanical device I could find and every chemical I could get my hands on without a permit, and none of it working, I found that taking my truck to a detailer every so often and having him compound the windshield kept it fairly clear.

Fortunately, earlier this year, some rocks kicked up from a tractor trailer on the highway cracked my windshield, and I got it replaced by insurance. Since then I periodically scrub the new glass with Palmolive then Bon Ami, and rinse well. I also keep my wiper blades clean. So far it does the trick.

Maybe if some rocks on the highway break your windshield you can start over with it.
 
Lol. Yeah, I just haven't had it happen on my previous vehicle before. I did google it and found a lot of dated items- seemed to be specific to certain brands like Rain-X. I didn't dig around too much though. Oh well it is what it is!
 
I have a 2 month old Trail edition.
Just a few days ago I noticed spots on my windshield. Like dried water spots, however they wouldnt go away when using windshield wiper and fluid.
I tried cleaning with Windex and it required a huge amount of effort, pressure and repeptition to remove any of it.
It all seemed to start when I changed to Rain X orange windshield wiper fluid.
What the heck is in this stuff?
Is the Toyota windshield softer?
I have read many posts arounf the net about stained paint, clogged fluid nozzles, damaged fluid sensors, and all from the RainX fluid.

I feel like I should crawn under the truck and see if I can drain the fluid from the reservoir.
Now that I think about it, in my FJ Cruiser the fluid spray got weaker and weaker. I figured it was dirt or sand in the nozzles. But I remember I used RainX. Many people report RainX clogging the nozzles.
This is what I get for deciding to spend a little more on what I thought was a quality product.
I guess the cheap gas station crap is best after all.
Now I have to get these damned spots off.
 
I removed the RainX and went with standard fluid from the gas station.
I am still having trouble getting he original spots off.
I suppose its the polymer added to the Rainx.
 
I haven't used it on this vehicle but in the past when I used the Rain-X and noticed spotting as well. I stopped using it and use the Preston Bugwash now. Haven't had near the same issue.
 
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