MX5

I have something going on with my LS that I have never seen before. There is like a haziness or film on the windshield from the arc of the wipers, especially bad at the far left end of their travel. I tried to get pics but it doesn't really show up, but it's really annoying in person. The residue is whitish in color. The wipers and the glass are both in good shape, it's just this cloudiness in your field of vision. I've tried a few things to address it.....polished it with "cleaner wax"....scrubbed it with various different glass cleaners, both chemical and "natural"....razor bladed it (spray glass cleaner first)....then Rain-X'd it afterward. It can be made to look a lot better for a few days but it ALWAYS comes back. And with the Rain-X this is with very minimal use of the wipers even. Anyone else encounter this? Any suggestions for a dedicated glass polish?

StanVanDam

Rain-X is very well known to haze - google "rain-x haze". Even in the early 2000s, many cases of this hazing were documented at the time. I would not use any sort of wax, Rain-X, Aquapel, or any other water-repellents on factory Lexus glass, exactly because they all have been implicated in hazing and night-time glare.

Some Lexus glass is permanently water-repellent via a titanium silica compound embedded in the glass - on my 02 Canadian UL, it appears to be on all windows as they all bead exactly the same. Some newer Lexus models just have it on the windshield, some on the front side windows also.

Factory Lexus glass doesn't let you drive in the rain on the highway without using your wipers like Rain-X does, but it beads well enough and is zero maintenance.

It sounds like you need to use a stronger glass cleaner. As with paint cleaning/correction, you want to use the least abrasive/least strong method that corrects the defects. First change your wipers. Then try claybarring, if that fails, try Glass Science Glass Scrub, if that fails, try Chemical Guys Water Spot Remover.

If those don't work, use a random orbital machine paired with the Lake Country Tangerine cutting pad (you want a smaller diameter pad for finer control) and Meguiar's Ultra-Cut Compound M105. After the machine polishing, you will need to finish with a polish containing cerium oxide, such as CarPro Ceriglass.

I have never had to do any of that and do not know if any of those will ruin the factory water-repelling properties.

MX5

Thanks.
That is some good info. Can't believe I didn't think of the claybar.
This was happening long before I ever applied Rain-X just to be "clear" LOL

Not sure if they were doing the water repel glass back in 2001, but it is an Ultra so maybe - my GS has it on the front 3 for sure - clear difference between the front and rear door glass.