Cleaning windscreens using vinegar
Malawi Police Service (MPS) traffic officers and minibus drivers have a game that they play on the road. The game goes like this: A traffic police officer signals a minibus to stop.
He or she checks the driver’s licence, if he or she finds no problem with it, the next thing to check is the passenger capacity of the minibus.
If the driver has obliged with this piece of legislation, the police officer will take the game to another level—the roadworthiness of the minibus. Depending on the extent of the shortfalls, the driver may be allowed to drop the passengers to their destination, if it is not very far. It is at this point that the officer engages in an act that is of interest to us in the DIY world.
The officer will remove one or two disks displayed on the windscreen as required by law. The officer may either remove the certificate of fitness (COF) disk or the insurance disk as collateral, to ensure that the driver comes back to answer his case.
On what happens at the police station for the driver to get back the disks, I am not competent to discuss and this forum does not have mandate to do so. But the tendency of removing the disks leaves stains that, over time, make the windscreen look ugly. This is so because it is not possible to stick the disks in the exact location every time a driver has redeemed a disk from the law enforcers.
This situation is also true for the law abiding citizens, they also face this challenge when their disks have expired. This issue may look trivial to some but those who pay attention to detail will find problems with windscreens which have stains of old disks.
It is the desire of this column to see you maintaining the sparkling look of your windscreen. My humble self would love to see the windscreen of your car look as close as possible to the look that it had when friends and relatives gathered round it to admire your new acquisition.
All you need in this project is vinegar, water and a waster. Mix the water and the vinegar in equal parts and using the waster, apply the solution on the stained part and rub it off. The solution will weaken the dirt on the windscreen and it will restore the brightness of the windscreen like magic.
Jack, my colleague, gave me this tip. I checked it on You Tube and there are several video tutorials explaining how this is done. Many others have done it and benefitted. Why not join them?
Wishing you, dear reader, a safe drive in cars with sparkling windscreens. If you want it perfectly done, do it yourself. n
