Windscreen cleaning / clarity problem MY13 Polo

[Guest001]

Rain sensing wipers work by pressure on the area NOT NECESSARILY RAIN A Leaf hitting it will start them off sometimes, or even a cloud of dust in the wind. That's how your screen gets scratched..

Methinks you are rather OCD LOL

[brad]

Rain sensing wipers won't activate if the switch is in the "off" position ?

Megs products? You need to get into some low-end pro gear rather than high-end amateur stuff.

Also, if you are focusing down the road then the condition of the windscreen tends not to matter unless you are driving into the sun.

[JonP01]

Rain sensing wipers won't activate if the switch is in the "off" position ?

Megs products? You need to get into some low-end pro gear rather than high-end amateur stuff.

Also, if you are focusing down the road then the condition of the windscreen tends not to matter unless you are driving into the sun.

Immediately after I got the car, since the wipers were not going all the time I left the wiper stalk in the position as delivered. It wasn't till I had a nice long few scrapes in completely dry weather a few days later when I realised the sensing wipers did not have to have rain to work (it happened when a large truck came in the opposite direction on a single lane each way country road and created such significant air pressure wave in front of my car that the wipers activated.

The other thing is that to get the wipers in the service position you have to run them across the screen. So it becomes quite fiddly because you really have to clean the wiper blades in the "working" position - not the service position - otherwise you are running dirty blades across the screen - and no matter how well lubricated the screen is you will still likely scratch it if the blades have dirt on them.

I don't like either of the features (rain sensing or that service versus working wiper positions). I would rather just have it like all the other cars I have had, even though I imagine the wiper position does something incredibly amazing and valuable to the aerodynamics and wind noise.

Yes, obviously I know the sensing wipers have an "off" position but it is very easy for someone to knock the stalk out of position, and even when you get back in the car you can't easily tell what position they are in if they have been moved. This has happened to me a couple of times and again it caused the blades to run across a dry screen. It is going to have to become a standard practice of mine to check the stalk position before I even put the key in the ignition when I get into the car.

This scratching (and the muck) on the screen were never a problem until now because virtually all my use has been in the middle of the day, but my circumstances changed recently and I am doing a lot of driving when the sun is very low and at night. That is why it has become an issue now.

Anyway, since I have already bought the expensive PolishAngel stuff I am going to try and polish the screen properly using a proper polisher and pads. It would be pretty hard to make it much worse and if for some reason I do, I will get a professional detailer to have a look. I have an old glass top coffee table I will practice on first. If I can't do that perfectly I won't proceed to try the car windscreen.

I would love to be able to permanently disable the rain sensing wipers so that if the stalk is in the relevant position, it does nothing. Does anyone know if they can be disabled? Seriously, all this feature has done is scratch my screen and it is more trouble than it is worth. Even when there is rain, they are way overzealous and clean the screen when there is still insufficient water to provide enough lubrication (and not enough water to even really need the blades to be going). Perhaps if there was an obvious light on the instrument cluster to say they were on that would be OK, but otherwise as I say, there have been several occasions where I have previously had them disabled and for whatever reason (accidental knocking when cleaning, accidental / intentional re-positioning by another driver, etc), they have come on numerous times when the screen has been bone dry. I guess I am lucky all the scratching is very shallow (so while it is bad with the low sun or at night, the depth should require only fine polishing).

Alternatively, if the rain sensing only actually worked when it was both raining and there was enough water on the screen to warrant the blades moving, I'd be happy with that, but I very much doubt one can "calibrate" them in any way - and of course the design as I have been informed does not work based on contact with water anyway.

[brad]

You must have a weird freakin body or method of entering the vehicle if you tap the wiper stalk as often as you make out.

semi-helpful content: I believe the sensitivity of the rain sensor can be adjusted by either the dealer or VCDS (can't remember which).

Rain-X or similar will help with lubricating the windscreen.

Focus further down the road - you won't even know the windscreen is there.

[Trex]

Hi,
I had a coating on the outside of the Tiguan windscreen. The wiper blades removed most but outside of the wiped area it was smokey.
I tried window cleaner, chamois, microfibre cloths but nothing worked.
I have used the magic sponges on stainless steel and found them excellent for that, but useless on the glass.

Eventually I was able to clean it off with a little rubbing using a Chucks brand microfibre cloth that I had for cleaning computer screens.
The cheap microfibre cloths from Reject shop were no use, but the Chucks one worked a treat, I guess there are lots of different ones.

Don't know what the coating was, could have been there from new, but it was resistant to most cleaners.

[brad]

Try toothpaste. put it on damp & polish it in. Allow to dry. remove with a dry cloth.

Next level up - bon-ami or Ajax applied damp , allow to dry, remove with dry cloth