Best car glass cleaners 2024
Which formula will leave you seeing clearly?
Keeping your car’s windows smear-free can be a right pain, with the slightest blemish or streak being visible – and even dangerously distracting – while driving.
Treating the glass inside and out makes a real difference to the way your car looks, but getting a perfect finish can be hard work.
How we tested them:
We tested the glass cleaners by smearing Vaseline and spraying vegetable oil onto the surface of a scrap car’s side window, which had been painted black on the underside to highlight any dirt.
We also left a drop of limescale-laden water to evaporate overnight to see how the various cleaners coped with stubborn water marks left after cleaning the car. In addition to each product’s cleaning ability, we also gave marks for ease of use and value for money.
Reviews:
Bilt-Hamber Trace-Less
- Price: Around £13
- Size: 1litre
- Website: bilthamber.com
The way Trace-Less cuts through grease is impressive and it takes cleaning glass to another level, on the inside at least. When you spray the liquid onto the window, it clings to the glass instead of running. You can then attack it with the supplied cloth, which picked up most of our dirt on the first wipe.
The cleaner then evaporated, leaving a smear-free finish without needing extra polishing. But it struggled to shift the water mark, and the pear-drop smell can become overpowering in a confined space.
Used - available now
2021 BMW
1 Series
36,663 milesAutomaticPetrol1.5L
Cash £19,390
2023 BMW
M5
12,154 milesAutomaticPetrol4.4L
Cash £68,990
2016 BMW
5 Series
29,784 milesAutomaticPetrol4.4L
Cash £21,490
2017 SEAT
Ibiza SC
50,238 milesManualPetrol1.2L
Cash £7,250Simoniz Clear Vision Glass Cleaner
- Price: Around £4
- Size: 500ml
- Website: holtsauto.com
The Simoniz comes in no-nonsense packaging and doesn’t claim to have nano tech or fancy fragrances in its formulation. This keeps the cost down, making the Clear Vision the cheapest product of the products we tested. It’s widely available, too, so you can pick it up in a supermarket rather than pay delivery charges.
It cleans very well and only needs an extra wipe in some situations, because it doesn’t evaporate as quickly as our winner. It would be the cleaner we’d reach for most everyday situations.
Scholl Concepts ICE Glass Cleaner
- Price: Around £12
- Size: 500ml
- Website: scholl-concepts.co.uk
ICE’s most distinctive feature is its thick viscosity, and Scholl goes so far as to call it a gel. This means it won’t run, even when sprayed liberally onto glass, preventing drips onto dashboards and touchscreens. This makes it good for interior glass, but it really excels on the outside, too.
It cleaned our grease away easily, was most impressive on the water marks and made short work of other dried-on debris. Scholl also claims it applies a polymer layer to prevent the build-up of dirt, which helps justify the high price.
ValetPro Glass Cleaner
- Price: Around £6.50
- Size: 500ml
- Website: valetpro.global
As with the Simoniz, Glass Cleaner takes a no-nonsense approach and seems to be equally effective for it. After a liberal squirt, it cleaned the greasy blobs and limescale-laden water mark in just one wipe, leaving behind minor smearing that was banished with a second pass.
You must keep the bottle moving while you spray, because ValetPro is very watery, so it could drip if you squirt too much in one area. While it looks good value for money in this test, the Simoniz performs just as well for less cash.
Now that your glass is clean, discover our list of the best trim cleaners...
