At least once a year I give my Montana High Country a really, really good bath. For the last 2 weeks, that's what I've been doing, getting ready to take off for another 2 months soon.
So, got the entire trailer washed, roof treated with Roof Conditioner, even a small bit of touch-up paint too in spots.
I noticed, after all this work, that the frond windshield still looked bad. I washed it again (Dawn Dishwashing liquid, long brush and lots of water). Still, looked dingy
I then tried using Windex and paper towel, and it changed nothing. So, now I studied the window real careful and it looked like there might have been water leaks inside the window, causing the foggy, bumpy, dirty, dingy look. But, not willing to give up yet.
I rubbed one spot with Windex real, real hard, and let it dry. Then I niticed, that one spot was realy, really clean! Down to the glass.
Looking more careful, I though, if I used a nylon kitchen scrubbie and straight vinegar, that grimy stuff would come off. Well, it did, but it was a LOT of rubbing.
That's when I realized, a flat utility razer blade knife, window scraper would do "it" a lot faster.... And it did! But then when scraping with the blade, I realized..... this was not dirt.
There was a film on the outside of the windshield. No, it was not the window tinting. It was more like packaging plastic that would come wrapped on some electronics one might get. Only this stuff was really, really stuck on.
It was extremely thin, but extremely hard to remove. Over the last 5 yars, I suppose the plastics in it finally gave in to UV sun rays, soap, heat and cold, causing it it turn foggy, spotty, and look awful.
The razer blade, window scraper worked marvelous. The film would come off, but immediately settle back on the glass. So, working in small, very small sections, I'd scrape, then follow up immediately with the vinegar and scrubbie. Then follow up again with a terry cloth towel (a corner of it) soaked in the vinegar, wipe and then dry with the other end. This kept the film stuff from re-sticking back to the window.
Has anyone else encountered anything like this before? I was kind of set-back on this one. I'm just wondering if that film on the glas should have been removed at the factory and was missed, or .... was the window so dirty a harden film developed on it's onw. (I don't think that's the case). The window has been washed dozens and dozens of times over the last 5 years.
So, just wondering, anyone else encounter this before?
Here's some photos.
Frist, how do you get set up so you can comfortably reach the top of the front camp, and the top of the window. Simple solution:
Here's a close up of the difference in the window, when I started using the window scraper and compared to what it looked like before doing anything. You can clearly see this coating of "something" on the window and how horrible it was beginning to look:
Here's the window when I was about half way finished:
Here it is (almost done)...
Here it is .... DONE!
The window ... alone ... took 3 days, probably spent 20 hours working on it, standing on the ladder, washing multiple times and hours scraping, rubbing, wiping, and finally removing the residual "stuff" that returned back to the window.
Whatever that gunk was, it's nasty! But, now, it's forever gone. That front cap looks sharp again!
I used WD-40 and soft paper towel to remove tar spots and hardened bugs (worked good), and wiped all the water spots off. I've never put wax on this camper. The Resist-all treatment is STILL holding strong!
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