Dirt from the road, tree resin and bird droppings – in the summer everything ends up on the windscreen. You need a summer window cleaner to remove the dirt. We tested five windshield wiper fluid concentrates.
The advantage of the small bottles with concentrates for windshield wiper fluid: they are very economical and produce less plastic waste. They are therefore relatively durable.
That’s how we tested
The test took place in the Sonax development laboratory. The laboratory is equipped with a fully automatic test set-up for window cleaners. This guarantees identical conditions for each test session. Before the test, the window is polished twice and then cleaned. When testing summer window cleaners, two types of dirt are used: The so-called hydrophobic dirt (‘urban dirt’). This consists of soot, silicones, drying aids from car washes and unburned hydrocarbons. This is sprayed onto the windshield with nozzles. The insect poop is similar in recipe to a homemade eggnog: cleaned egg white, egg yolk, ethanol and glucose are mixed together. The viscous insect dirt is dripped onto the window, smoothed and dried with a hair dryer. All cleaning concentrates are mixed evenly with tap water: 1 part concentrate to 100 parts water.
Ten washes are carried out per detergent and per type of dirt. 50 milliliters of the tested mixture is sprayed on the window per wash. A high-resolution camera registers this. Software analyzes the cleaning for each type of dirt. The faster a product reaches 63 percent, the more points it gets. In addition, test subjects determine the smell. The reaction of paint and plastic is determined on heated test strips. They also looked at the reaction of the cleaners to hard water.
The test results at a glance
All tested concentrates are mixed in a ratio of 1:100, which means that you need ten milliliters of concentrate for one liter of cleaning mixture. And don’t worry: the shelf life of these products is about ten years. Only color and smell can become weaker. No product achieves a ‘very good’. This is because the concentrates require slightly more wipes than ready-made mixes to get the windshield clean. For everyday use, however, this is negligible.
Tips for using window cleaner concentrates
- since concentrates contain few preservatives, the cleaning water can become contaminated with germs. You can disinfect the water tank with alcohol-containing winter cleaners.
- it works best to use distilled water.
- with normal tap water, the cleaning surfactants can bind to limescale.
- first fill the water in the tank and then add the concentrate in the correct dosage.
The test winner in this test was the Sonax Xtreme window cleaner 1:100. Although you see a short stripe formation during the first wipe, the concentrate convinces with a very high and fast dirt dissolving power. The cleaning performance with city waste is 100 percent, that with insect dirt is 97 percent. The Sonax Xtreme window cleaner 1:100 achieved 85 out of 100 points and therefore received the grade 1.7 (good).
Conclusion on the summer window cleaner test
The high concentrates are the first choice in summer: the dosage is a bit awkward, you also need water. In return, they save a lot of money and plastic waste.
Sonax Xtreme window cleaner 1:100 |
|
| Price (€), provider | €21.29 (amazon.nl); €31.00 (bol.com) |
| Price per liter ready-mix (€) | €0.85; €1.25 |
| Contents | 250ml |
| Label/fragrance | |
| Understandability / readability (max.: 1 point) | 1 |
| Safety instructions (max.: 1 point) | 1 |
| Fragrance/points (max.: 3 points) | Sea fresh / 3 |
| Point total (max.: 5 points) | 5 |
| Cleaning power diluted 1:100, depending on the type of dirt | |
| Cleaning performance hydrophobic dirt (‘urban dirt’) (max.: 40 points) | 34 |
| Insect dirt cleaning performance (max.: 40 points) | 31 |
| Point total (max.: 80 points) | 65 |
| Material compatibility | |
| Plastic (polycarbonate 80 degrees, 24 hours) (max.: 5 points) | 5 |
| Lacquer (80 degrees, 2 hours) (max.: 5 points) | 5 |
| Hard water stability (max.: 5 points) | 5 |
| Point total (max.: 15 points) | 15 |
| Cost | |
| Average amount per cleaning process of both types of dirt | 2.5ml |
| Average price per cleaning | €0.21; €0.31 |
| Total points (max.: 100 points) | 85 |
| Conclusion | Short streaking on the first swipe. Very high and fast dirt dissolving power. 100 percent cleaning of city garbage and 97 percent of insect dirt. |
| Judgement | Good |
Liqui Moly window cleaner super concentrate |
|
| Price (€), provider | €17.19 (amazon.nl) |
| Price per liter of ready-to-use mixture (€) | €0.69 |
| Contents | 250ml |
| Label/fragrance | |
| Understandability/readability (max.: 1 point) | 1 |
| Safety instructions (max.: 1 point) | 1 |
| Fragrance/points (max.: 3 points) | Citrus fresh / 3 |
| Total points (max: 5 points) | 5 |
| Cleaning power diluted 1:100, depending on the type of dirt | |
| Cleaning performance hydrophobic dirt (‘urban dirt’) (max.: 40 points) | 34 |
| Insect dirt cleaning performance (max.: 40 points) | 22 |
| Total points (max: 80 points) | 56 |
| Material compatibility | |
| Plastic (polycarbonate 80 degrees, 24 hours) (max.: 5 points) | 5 |
| Lacquer (80 degrees, 2 hours) (max.: 5 points) | 5 |
| Hard water stability (max.: 5 points) | 5 |
| Total points (max.: 15 points) | 15 |
| Cost | |
| Average amount per cleaning process of both types of dirt | 3.5ml |
| Average costs per cleaning process | €0.24 |
| Total points (max.: 100 points) | 76 |
| Conclusion | Thin streaky film appears briefly during the first swipe, but disappears after the second swipe. Very high dirt dissolving power: 100 percent city dirt, 75 percent insect dirt. |
| Judgement | Good |
Dr Wack CW 1:100 window cleaner |
|
| Price (€), provider | €10.29 (amazon.nl) |
| Price per liter of ready-to-use mixture | €0.43 |
| Contents | 250ml |
| Label/fragrance | |
| Understandability/readability (max.: 1 point) | 1 |
| Safety instructions (max.: 1 point) | 1 |
| Fragrance/points (max.: 3 points) | Orange oil / 2 |
| Total points (max: 5 points) | 4 |
| Cleaning power diluted 1:100, depending on the type of dirt | |
| Cleaning performance hydrophobic dirt (‘urban dirt’) (max.: 40 points) | 33 |
| Insect dirt cleaning performance (max.: 40 points) | 23 |
| Total points (max: 80 points) | 56 |
| Material compatibility | |
| Plastic (polycarbonate 80 degrees, 24 hours) (max.: 5 points) | 5 |
| Lacquer (80 degrees, 2 hours) (max.: 5 points) | 5 |
| Hard water stability (max.: 5 points) | 5 |
| Total points (max.: 15 points) | 15 |
| Cost | |
| Average amount per cleaning process of both types of dirt | 3.5ml |
| Average costs per cleaning process | 0.24 |
| Total points (max.: 100 points) | 75 |
| Conclusion | Streaky film layer that appears after a few seconds on the first swipe. Very high dirt dissolving capacity. City Garbage Unloads Dr. Wack 99 percent, insect dirt 78 percent, after the tenth wash. |
| Judgement | Good |
Mannol 5022 window cleaner concentrate 1:100 |
|
| Price (€), provider | €2.71 (autodoc.nl) |
| Price per liter of ready-to-use mixture | €0.11 |
| Contents | 250ml |
| Label/fragrance | |
| Understandability/readability (max.: 1 point) | 1 |
| Safety instructions (max.: 1 point) | 1 |
| Fragrance/points (max.: 3 points) | Citrus fruits – fresh / 3 |
| Total points (max: 5 points) | 5 |
| Cleaning power diluted 1:100, depending on the type of dirt | |
| Cleaning performance hydrophobic dirt (‘urban dirt’) (max.: 40 points) | 32 |
| Insect dirt cleaning performance (max.: 40 points) | 22 |
| Total points (max: 80 points) | 54 |
| Material compatibility | |
| Plastic (polycarbonate 80 degrees, 24 hours) (max.: 5 points) | 5 |
| Lacquer (80 degrees, 2 hours) (max.: 5 points) | 3 |
| Hard water stability (max.: 5 points) | 5 |
| Total points (max.: 15 points) | 13 |
| Cost | |
| Average amount per cleaning process of both types of dirt | 3.5ml |
| Average costs per cleaning process | 0.04 |
| Total points (max.: 100 points) | 72 |
| Conclusion | Short streaky film after the first two erase cycles. 100 percent cleaning of city garbage, 75 percent of insect dirt. Slight swelling of the paint is visible, but can be brushed off with a wipe. |
| Judgement | Satisfying |
Caramba window cleaner 1:100 concentrate |
|
| Price (€), provider | €23.81 (amazon.nl) |
| Price per liter of ready-to-use mixture | €0.95 |
| Contents | 250ml |
| Label/fragrance | |
| Understandability/readability (max.: 1 point) | 1 |
| Safety instructions (max.: 1 point) | 1 |
| Fragrance/points (max.: 3 points) | Muddy-dirty / 0 |
| Total points (max: 5 points) | 2 |
| Cleaning power diluted 1:100, depending on the type of dirt | |
| Cleaning performance hydrophobic dirt (‘urban dirt’) (max.: 40 points) | 32 |
| Insect dirt cleaning performance (max.: 40 points) | 20 |
| Total points (max: 80 points) | 52 |
| Material compatibility | |
| Plastic (polycarbonate 80 degrees, 24 hours) (max.: 5 points) | 5 |
| Lacquer (80 degrees, 2 hours) (max.: 5 points) | 5 |
| Hard water stability (max.: 5 points) | 5 |
| Total points (max.: 15 points) | 15 |
| Cost | |
| Average amount per cleaning process of both types of dirt | 4.5ml |
| Average costs per cleaning process | €0.44 |
| Total points (max.: 100 points) | 69 |
| Conclusion | Strong streaky film after the first wipe, which disappears after the second wipe. City garbage cleaning up to 100 percent, insect dirt up to 81 percent, but insect cleaning takes a long time. Very unpleasant smell. |
| Judgement | Satisfying |
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl