Hi all, This subject has been covered before but I can't locate it. On the inside lower portion of my windshield, a seemingly greasy film forms and is difficult to clean up. Have about 15K on the car, vacuumed the AC filter twice. Have not tried Max heat with outside air yet. but just about everything else. Have a 2005. Has Toyota said anything on this? Oh have installed a cover on the dash for sun protection, it's shelving material, cut to size, nice for holding stuff as well as Sun protection also. This material is some sort of plastic mesh and it could be gassing. I took it off for a while but could not completely make a determination as to its betterment of problem. Could also be interfering with air flow to WS. Cheers, Andy.
Off-gassing is common in newer cars from the plastics in the dash. It is difficult to clean off, but will come off with normal cleaners and some elbow grease.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(andyprius\";p=\"110175)</div> Andy: Be careful how you cover the dash. The passenger airbag deploys from the upper portion of the dash, just above the upper glovebox. In a crash if the passenger airbag should deploy it could force the cover into the driver and passenger. Jay
Try Stoner Invisible Glass - it's truly an amazing cleaner. Nothing stops outgassing but a liberal application of tincture of time will slow it down.
A couple of thoughts: first, you shouldn't need to do anything to protect the dash - there are no soft plastics and hence nothing that will crack due to sun damage. The best way I've found of dealing with the film buildup on the windshield is to use Xylol (Xylene) and a cheesecloth. This gets the grime/film off the first time, no elbow grease required. Care must be taken when using this solvent, as it will readily dissolve plastics, including your dash.
:idea: After many posts recommending Stoner "Invisible Glass Window, Windshield & Mirror Cleaner" , I found it at Sam's (4-pack of 19 oz. spray cans for $9.88 ). It lives up to all the claims I've read, so I add my recommendation. Look for a tall (9½"), substantial spray can with a bright yellow cap.
Charles: I also have excellent results with the Invisible Glass cleaner. Hint: don't use paper towels, they usually leave streaks. Use clean white terry towel or bath towel instead, they wipe much better and don't leave any film or streaks behind. When you finally do toss them in the washer, don't use fabric softener or dryer sheets. Jay
I'm another agreerer on theuse of Stoner's. I did notice that it occasionally required more than one cleaning to get the windshield truly clean. Going back to styoner's website, I found that it said that up to three applications/wipings could benecessary as the product dissolves so much stuff. Works for me.
film forming xevious, Hope you are right about dash crackiing - my Prius now approaching 4 yrs and the dash looks new. But, I only recently started parking it outdoors, so now the test really begins. Please use lots of ventilation with xylene, especially as you are using it a way that rather maximizes your exposure. It is not good to get a snootful of this stuff. PS: no window film problems here either.
Followup... I, too, found that a 2nd cleaning with Stoner's was required to get the "Invisible Glass" result. This time, I used newspaper (black & white) and the results were great. First cleaning, I had used Microfiber cloth (Also found at Sam's) and believe it would produce good results... just took the 2nd cleaning.
