Using Distilled Water To Clean Windshield?


Thread Starter #16
Joined
Sep 18, 2009
Messages
4,020
Likes
91
Location
Bokaro/Bangalore
I just bought one litre of Distilled water (Rs. 18) from shell petrol bunk.

Just confused what to mix it with, Shampoo (i read good review about it) or Colin??
 
Joined
Dec 22, 2009
Messages
1,414
Likes
16
Location
Pune
Not Shampoo, unless you plan to wash the car immediately after every spray.
The accumulation at the base of your wind-shield on the cowl will smell after some time.
Colin is good.
Even dish-washing liquids, mild, are OK.
 
Joined
Dec 22, 2009
Messages
1,414
Likes
16
Location
Pune
Ooh. Good question. [thinking]
I am not sure how much the typical bottle of colin measures, but I pour about 1/4 each time into an empty washer tank, and the capacity of the washer tank in the Fabia is just about 2 litres.
I find I get a good result with that.
The problem with the Fabia is that the spray nozzle is very fine, and the pump pressures I think are higher, so if I put in a more stronger solution, the result is very sudsy.
 
Joined
Apr 16, 2010
Messages
78
Likes
8
Location
MH 10
somewhere i read that
Honda uses specially made windscreen washer fluid for there cars which contains 100% detergent like material which they top up at regular service intervals & don't recommends 100% water as it create scaling in nozzles & reservoir tank & hampers windscreen washer pump
what about skoda?
 
Joined
Oct 23, 2009
Messages
9,164
Likes
330
Location
Chennai
Hmmm this is new to me , can any Honda vehicle owners confirm this , especially Archit and Akash??

And Skoda can be confirmed by Aditya?
 
Joined
Sep 22, 2009
Messages
6,377
Likes
489
Location
NYC
About what vvk1987 has told, i cant surely commment on that. Windshield washer fluid is somewhat soapy just like Colin,even smells the same. They usually top it up while service.

For Alto i use Colin.
 
Joined
Apr 27, 2010
Messages
1,613
Likes
133
Location
MH 01 / MH 43
Okey guyz. I top-up my DZire's wiper tank every week. Once in a month I put one packet Shampoo (the Rs2 or 3 one) mixed in water. No side effects till now works great than using only normal water you get some liquid in some car accessories shop. I remember I got some liquid long back with a set of wiper blades I bought for my Indigo long long back the brand was Syndicate donno if we get now also.
 
Joined
Dec 22, 2009
Messages
1,414
Likes
16
Location
Pune
somewhere i read that
Honda uses specially made windscreen washer fluid for there cars which contains 100% detergent like material which they top up at regular service intervals & don't recommends 100% water as it create scaling in nozzles & reservoir tank & hampers windscreen washer pump
what about skoda?
Most A.S.S will put in a washer detergent if the service is in the "Good" range.
And re scaling, that normally happens because of hard water (calcium salts etc in the water) and I suspect the addition of detergent would not help. All you can do to prevent that would be to use distilled water, which is how I suspect this thread got started!!
 
Joined
Aug 17, 2013
Messages
57
Likes
53
Location
Bangalore
Guys,
AFAIK, distill water available in petrol bunks is for the batteries. (they contain very small amount of acid to assist charging).
NOT TO BE USED FOR WINDSHIELDS.
Hard water not to be used for windshields as they leave peculiar marks on the glass.

Packaged drinking water or normal clean soft water may be used with shampoo mixed for windshields.
 
Joined
Jun 14, 2013
Messages
427
Likes
281
Location
Coimbatore
In my experience, you can use Shampoo with water for quick cleaning of the windshield if its dirty. But it doesn't yield very good results when used in the windshield tank. I would rather suggest you to buy wind shield washer which is anyways not too expensive.

This is how I take care of my windshields:
1. While washing, first wash the roof and let the dirt flow down
2. Wash the windshield with separate clean cloth
3. Wipe of excess water the windshield with clean cloth and while still wet, use a news paper (poorer the quality the better, since they have higher affinity for water)
4. For windshield: Currently using SONAR brand with very diluted form

At times, I have used Colin too to clean the windshields - but when you are using news paper technique Colin is seldom required.
 
Joined
Feb 8, 2011
Messages
3,863
Likes
1,169
Location
Chennai
This is what I do.

  • I generally wash my car once in a week.
  • As soon as was is over, I open up Windshield reservoir tank and top up with ordinary water (metro water) till the neck of the tank. Spark's reservoir tank has long neck.
  • Take small amount of water in mug.
  • Mix Rs.1 (or Rs.3) shampoo and dilute it till it got dissolved in water and become soapy water.
  • Fill the gap in reservoir tank.

That is it. This is what am doing from 2008 (from my M800 days) and never faced any problem.
 
Joined
Jul 2, 2014
Messages
330
Likes
226
Location
Where friends are
Hard water not to be used for windshields as they leave peculiar marks on the glass.
Basically hard water should not be used because salts in the water may get crystallized & deposited in tiny opening of windshield washer nozzles ( I reside in hard water area, & we have highest incidence of urinary stones, bathroom accessories need services 3-6 monthly) & thereby 1) misdirect the jet or poor jet (when partial deposit) 2) complete block the jet 3) latter might hampers windscreen washer pump, 4) deposit in tank might damage the tank, 5) salt accelerates rusting over metal parts.
 

Top Bottom