I tried everything and finally gave up. I just got rid of the doors and my bathroom looks much bigger! And much easier to clean.

I don't know how to get the water out completely a towel or paper towel should get most of it. Really it should drain itself if it's tilted towards the tub properly, but most aren't. If it molds or gets water marks I found that inexpensive denatured alcohol used with a toothbrush in the track gets it sparkling clean....it also makes any of the gold/metal looking trim look great. I helped both of my daughter's prep their places to sell and this stuff made the bathrooms sparkle. Found in drug stores in large bottles usually near the peroxide and bandages, or in some drug areas of supermarkets. Of course peroxide will get rid of mold, but doesn't seem to work as well on the water marks, built up residues. Alcohol also cleaned old the residue off the glass with a plastic scrubby..

mr clean sponge works for me for all the bathroom crap. even water residue on the doors and scum on the tub and shines the metal

I agree with 'HEYJOANNE". When I had my main bathroom done, out went the doors and in came shower curtains. So, so much easier to clean and even decorate.
Good Luck

When I had track doors, I just used a towel or a sponge to soak up the excess water. Then, I would spray it with Tilex Mold & Mildew (miracle product, but only spray it when you're going to leave the house for a few hours immediately afterward!!!) and it would get rid of most of the grime and scum left behind. That, and a Mr.Clean Magic Eraser. :)

A related question is how to keep my sliding doors to the outside clean - they don't get so much mold and mildew, but they get copious amounts of dust. I'd love thoughts on that.

Bleach?

I third HEYJOANNE, although the mastic attaching the shower door to the tub and walls is very difficult to remove. Goop Off works but is very toxic.

PS I meant that Goof Off (not Goop Off) removes mastic, not that it cleans shower doors. I hear that using bleach on aluminum can produce toxic fumes and that using ammonia on aluminum can pit the aluminum.

PPS Some people who can't remove their shower doors hang cheap shower curtain liners on the inside of them. The liners can be laundered as needed and keep the doors much cleaner.

I just ripped the doors out cause they were so gross. You might just wanna do that.

Toothbrush. Bleach.

In my old apartment I had those kind of doors and I did the inside shower liner idea. Worked like a charm for the 5 years I lived there. Never a gunky a track in sight all that time. My neighbor liked the idea so much she did it too. When I moved out I got perfect marks for my refund because the doors never got dirty.

A toothbrush and bleach cleaner will help, but I found on my shower door that the clear caulk was actually the problem. Moisture was getting under it and getting moldy. I removed it with a razor blade, cleaned thoroughly, and put down fresh white caulk. Looks 1000 times better.

Tilex. Clorox bleach spray.

Can you get it really clean to begin with? Maybe after you do, try dripping a little bleach in there (not too much) and NOT flushing it out as a sort of pre-emptive attack? If it doesn't ever dry out completely, you might just want to at least try to make it an inhospitable environment for bacteria.

A big, stiff-bristled scrubbing brush and something like Bartender's Friend (??) that gets rid of it. You probably need something with oxidation in it, but the reality is that once your metal starts rusting it will continue to rust.

Are you just needing to clean away gunk, or are you dealing with a rusted track that needs to be replaced?

Plug the track's drain holes with a bit of plastic-wrap. Pour vinegar into the tracks. Go to bed and sleep until morning. Unplug tracks. Wipe. Repeat.

Did what @HeyJoanne did. Get rid of the doors and use a shower curtain. This is a battle you can't win.

Live with it long enough, and you will ignore it.

Take the doors and track out and replace with a shower curtain on a tension rod. Even if you rent, your landlord might be willing to let you do this. Mine did!

I second the vinegar. If that doesn't work, go to the next level of chemical intensity. I would leave the bleaches as a last resort...

Windex sells a product for spraying in your shower after every use to keep mold and so on from building up. I'm sure there are other similar brands. I don't use it on the whole shower because then I go through a bottle too fast, and also I worry about whether it is really safe to step into puddles of whatever it is made of every time I shower. But I do spray it on that part of the door track after each shower. Since I started doing that a few months ago, the mold hasn't built up there anymore and it's stayed sparkly.

Dawn dishsoap.

I'm the dude who asked the original question.

Unfortunately, I would say taking out the doors is NOT an option at this point. This is apartmenttherapy after all, so I assumed most people were renting apartments. Our landlord is very strict about these types of modifications, so I'd prefer to keep things unmolested, if possible. Putting a shower curtain inside doesn't seem to be a good option either as the shower/tub is pretty narrow and I'm a 6'2", broad-shouldered person who's already feeling cramped inside the shower/tub.

Right now, I've sort of been using the squeegee to most of the excess water fill-up out of the tracks, and since I just moved in a few weeks ago, the dreaded brown mucky stuff has not had a chance to build up yet.

It sounds like I may just need to do preventative scrubbing/toweling/siphoning to clean it off. No miraculous apartmenttherapy solution for this! :( Thanks anyway!

I've had this before, to take off the gunk I used a toothbrush and rinse. If there is mold then I dipped the brush in bleach and removed it.

For easy maintenance: Keep a bottle of 50/50 water/vinegar and spray after every shower.

I never had problems since.

As much as shower doors annoy me, I don't think I could get rid of them for my shower, I have a rather interesting bathroom in my MCM 1960s house. I've heard it called a 'hollywood bathroom'. But basically, I have the original blue bathtub with sliding glass doors on BOTH sides of the tub. And on either side of the tub is a bathroom with a sink and toilet. It makes for some awkward bathroom moments with the husband from time to time but I adore my funky bathroom.

Anyways, the only good way I found to clean the tracks is to spray whatever bathroom cleaner you prefer into the tracks. I use something with bleach usually. Let it soak for a few minutes and then clean it out with Q-Tips. I don't do this too terribly often as it's a pain to do. I've also heard of some folks using a shop vac to suck up whatever gunk and stuff that gets stuck in the tracks.

The better and healthier, without odors or noxious or spoil the surface is cleaned with a steam cleaning machine, a vaporetta, that removes the fungi that form with moisture.

I just repainted my bathroom and it gave me a good opportunity for a good cleaning. My shower doors look like yours, and I just pushed the bottom of the doors towards the tub, and then the rail along the bottom lifts out. I just cleaned it, dried it, put it back, and then re-siliconed along the outside edge. You leave the inside edge with no silicone so water will run back into the tub. If you just slide the little rubber guide that the glass runs through to one end or the other, the glass should just carefully push in towards the tub.