Hello,

I recently purchased some Rain-ex, That stuff that is supposed ot make your windows non-stick to water and keer them clear. I found it ok in light mist on an open road as the water just blew off the window.

However as soon as it rained properly and the wipers were needed as well, it caused a sheen of water under the wipers aming the visabillity WORSE.

Whatsmore after one wash the stuff is allover the palce and needs to be re-applied or REMOVED!

It is great on the side/rear windows though.

What do you think?

Dave.

 

Yep!

I think Rain X is great at high speed ( maybe from 50mph)

But if you only do town drive at low speed : forget it...

 

I bought some wax polish from my local glass shop, the rain just rolls straight off.

Dan

 

i use a new product called flash off.

Motoring news did a test of all the products available and this came top by a long way.

i have no smear probs at all.

you can buy it from EARS in macclesfield, dont know other distributors.

 

I like Rain-X.
Have you tried using the screenwash also. This may stop the problem you have.
I do notice some smearing in light rain but it does not bother me to be honest, its noticeable for about a second.
I usually have my wipers on intermittent when I now instead of being hypnotised by the rythmic movement of the wiper blades.

 

Always worked for me. Even in Rainy / Misty Seattle

Richard

 

Great on side & rear windows and mirrors, but never use it on the front-due to the smearing you have described.

PS - Autoglim glass polish takes it off quite well too.

D.

 

Agree with you on the rear/side windows.
What, if anything, do you use on the front then.

 

The main problem that I found with Rain-X was on those cold damp mornings when the car's covered in dew.

Without Rain-X, you do one wipe with the wipers and you're done.

With Rain-X, the windscreen seems to continually mist-up on the outside meaning intermittent wipers for a few minutes.

Its the dog's proverbials when overtaking lorries in the wet though.

Paul L

 

This sounds strange but bare with me If you have the screen misting up with Rain-X on try this.

Pete Croney showed me this trick, pour warm water over the wincscreen as if you have ice, even if its only misted up, it really does work ?

Strange but true

 

But not if you're overtaking a lorry in the wet!
Are the problems of misting mainly occurring in the mornings though?

 

I tried the halfords equivalent, and my comment would be don't apply the stuff when the air is damp, and don't use too much. I made a complete hash of my rear window with smears all over the place. Now I need to cut the stuff off and try again... Maybe.

 

Yep the misting problems are if the car is left out at night, you wipe the screen with the wipers but it keeps misting up, if you pour warm (must stress warm not hot) water on it stops it.

 

Thanks for the tip, Ian.

I'll give it a go.

Paul L

 

I tried Rain X on all my windows. As we get a lot of rain up here in Scotland, I thought it would be a great help.

I found it great in heavy rain or at higher speed, but the misting problem in light rain, or at town speeds was very annoying. I spent a logn time with screen cleaner, and eventually found that rubbing compound was the quickest way of removing it effectively.

I think the stuff is great for the rear window though. I used to use it on the side windows, but gave up with it. In certain conditions, the water beads up, but doesn't run off the window, meaning side visibility is poorer than an untreated window, where the water forms a continuous film which can see though more clearly.

Good for lights etc as well, as it means the headlamp washers can actually clean some dirt off

 

If you are inhappy with Rain X try Rain Wizzard. Buy it from Halfords and it always works fine for me.

Comes in a nice package that the missus will like.

Kind regards

Ben

 

Bajie,

Best thing for front, I've found, is nothing at all. Give the screen a really good clean with a good glass cleaner and then use nothing but clear water in the washer bottle.

Sounds crazy, but you'll get less smearing, no juddery wipers and clear view. Only problem is freezing in the winter, but then if its that cold screenwash antifreeze isn't going to work anyway.

Cheers

D

 

The smearing problem is well known. I have just removed the rain X from my windscreen with Halfords glass cutter and some elbow grease.

Remember rain X was developed for jet aircraft canopies which dont have wipers.

 

Throughly good product especially side and rear windows. However i have some concerns on the front screen though. I have found that after intial application one needs to regularly keep the front screen re applied. have had no problems with wipers etc.

Dont like rain wizard....not as good to apply and worse still to remove.

 

I use the Halford equivalent (the one in the dodgy looking bottle). If applied onto a clean window it works well. Smearing problem seems to happen only with dirty wiper blades - a couple of squirts of screen wash seems to sort this out.

Seems to lasts about 3 months; off to buy some more this lunchtime.

Andy

 

I use some stuff called Rain Racer which I picked up at the motor show a few years back. It does exactly what it says on the tin (bottle actually), but it does smear a bit when the wipers are on and it does wear off eventually.

Interestingly enough one of the other benefits if you apply it regularly is that frost is much easier to scrape off.