Silly question?
Is rain-x not all it's cracked up to be?
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I agree with stuart rarely, but he is right. Nothing, including wax, should go on to the windscreen.
Blue? I think a stone should hit your windsceen.
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I made the mistake if trying RainX, its terrable stuff left my windscreen very greasy and difficult to see out of when raining. I applied it carefully following the instructions on the bottle - which went in the bin!
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I agree with some of the problems people have experienced: However, I once drove through a French Thunderstorm (proper Mediterranean variety) with freshly applied RainX. I could see: the rain was so heavy it had most of the French stopped on the hard shoulder.
Tim{P}
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>>I agree with stuart rarely, but he is right.>>
Reminds me of the Bob Dylan song, the one on the lines of the times are a changin'...:-)
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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I think the general consensus is that Rain X is good for side windows but no good for windscreens. Basically it is designed to put a layer of film on the glass and the air turbulence to blow it off at speed. The problem is you need to be doing speed, there is no point in trying to get out the supermarket car park without using your wipers. So as soon as you use the wipers - the smearing begins.....
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>>I agree with stuart rarely, but he is right.>> Reminds me of the Bob Dylan song, the one on the lines of the times are a changin'...:-)
Dont get carried away, its a one off
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Blue,
Newsprint initially, followed by the newsprint and Vinegar. Change the wiper blades wall as the dreaded wax might be on them.
PU
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Try Silvo silver polish. DO NOT use Brasso.
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Apart from a solution containing Soda Crystals which I mentioned earlier as excellent for safely removing grease or similar deposits, I am very keen on AutoGlym's Glass Cleaner which is probably the best product of its type I've used in 41 years of four-wheel road use.
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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Well, the wipers do need replacing anyway as I've noticed the rubber has split on one of them.
Today I've tried scrubbing neat washing up liquid into the screen in case it is a greasy film, then I tried vinegar, then I tried Turps Substitute, then I finished off with Auto GLymn polish. None of it made any difference at all.
Tommorow I'm going to try boiling water (when the screen is warm of course) and very, very careful application of cellulose thinners to the screen if that doesn't work.
Failing that I may leave it to wear off by itself. Can anyone remember how long it lasts if left to it's own devices? I was thinking about 6 months would be right before it starts to disappear.
I know this stuff is useless, even when applied as per instructions it never works on the front screen, only ever good on side windows.
I'm a bit nervous about the wire wool idea in case it leaves a hazy finish on the glass, I may try getting some panel wipe first, but is that any different to cellulose thinners?
Oh, and does anyone know what Rain X is actually made up of?
Blue
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>>Then I finished off with Auto GLymn polish>>
Surely not?
Side and rear windows yes, but not on the windscreen....:-)
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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My two cents' worth: I've been using Rain-X and similar products for about twenty years now. I first used some of the product made for aircraft windscreens before the commercial product was available, but Rain-X or Rain Racer works just as well. There is also a liquid that is added to the washer bottle that helps preserve the coating. I have never had a problem with 'horrible smearing' or such like. You can get interesting effects under street lighting, but a flick of the wipers clears the droplets. In cold weather, when wiped, the droplets can form a sort of misty effect as they are so small. A touch of windscreen demist to warm the glass clears this immediately. For those with smearing problems, did you replace your wiper blades at the time you applied the Rain-X? Was the screen absolutely clean when applying it? Did you give it the second coat? I apply mine with a bare hand (remove rings first) as it is easy to feel when the glass becomes slippery. It's always interesting to see how much dirt comes off the 'clean' windscreen when polishing the Rain-X coating. When it gets a bit patchy under the wiper arcs, I just re-apply to restore clear vision under all circumstances.
Applied as directed, especially the 'second coat', it works like magic. Water congregates in tiny droplets at lower speeds, but with the wipers on intermittent, these are cleared before they are distracting. At normal speeds, the water just races up the screen without disturbing the vision, with the wipers turned off. I suppose there will always be those that hate it, but perhaps they've never seen it working correctly. In the UK, where I lived for five years, I used it on all my cars, and found it invaluable when driving on motorways in driving rainstorms, especially behind lorries kicking up spray. Clear vision, more relaxed driving, improved safety.
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Maybe I haven't ever seen it work right then, but I've seen it work badly so many times that I'm just not prepared to risk a second coat of this stuff, that would surely only prolong it's life on my windscreen. I should add that I'm only guessing that it's even Rain-X on the screen, but that seems to be the most popular one on the market so I'm huessing it's what was used.
I'm off to buy some new wipers shortly and hope that they help go some way to restoring vision.
Blue
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Now I know this is going to sound silly, but the best stuff for keeping windscreens smear free is car upholstery cleaner.
Just spray it on the wet widscreen following a wash & no smears.
A friend I use to drive Taxi's for use to do this & I promise it's 100%.
OK we use to wash the car at least once a day, but day, night, rain, snow & fog it was clean & clear.
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Like the liquid spray on cleaner I assume?
I'm willing to try virtually anything!!!
Blue
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That's the stuff we use to buy it from the £1 shop.
We never used it on the upholstery (unless someone was sick,) but a quick squirt on the wet windscreen & it drys smear free.
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I may have had a little luck!
I cleaned the screen with cellulose thinners and changed the wiper blades and the vision seems to have improved enough for me to not want a new windscreen. Still not perfect though.
It must be an amazing formula that they use in this stuff, even the cellulose thinners didn't break it down much if at all, as I was wiping the thinner over the screen I could see the formula repelling it just as easily as it repels water!
I have a sneaky suspicion that it may be Rain Wizard and not Rain X as I seem to remember that Rain Wizard was a longer lasting formula, I know one application seems to last about 6 months on my gran's car.
Blue
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>>did not "old wives" always say that vinegar and old newspaper was the way to clean glass properly?>>
The "old wives" bit is the newspaper, vinegar is great for cleaning glass.
Re Rain-X etc, use T-Cut, it does not abrade glass though will anything applied to it, even an overspray of paint or laquer can be removed from glass with T-Cut.
Be VERY careful with cellu thinners, it will damage paint, window rubbers and the glue that most windscreens are bonded in with if spilt.
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>>The "old wives" bit is the newspaper, vinegar is great for cleaning glass.>>
It IS a very old method of cleaning windows and, surprisingly, still quite widely used.
I would have thought the newspaper ink would cause more problems than it cures though.
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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I used rainex and my window wiper went hard, 1 month old. I used vinegar to wipe the rubber and windscreen, now working again as it should. Rainex is excellent for side windows.
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I knew that the thinners were a bit iffy, so I got a big wedge of ctton wool and applied a small amount to that in the garage, well away from the car to avoid any spills, then i just wiped that over the central bit of the windscreen and let it evaporate.
I was still nervous about it so I made sure that once I'd finished I threw a bucket of water over the windscreen and then stood and hosed the whole area down for ages to ensure that not even a trace of the thinners were left, and after that I used Fast Glass to get the windscreen nice.
I was quite amazed after that to see that the coating is still there! Although it's powers have weakened slightly.
Blue
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I think you should take it back.
I mean it's not on. You buy a nice looking Focus with all the kit - the perfect spec you were looking for, and the moron seller decides to put wax of all things over the windscreen.
Goods not of merchantable quality = refund.
--
Adam
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Noooo!!!
I couldn't even contemplate giving it back, it's my precioussss! :-)
Fortunately apart from the windscreen he has done a superb job of looking after it.
Blue
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Face it Chris - you never inspected it hard enough did you ;-)
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Adam
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If it continues to pose a problem I'm going to use T-cut, I was vaugely thinking about using it this morning nut then I didn't bother, wish I had now.
I didn't inspect it anywhere near well enough I suppose, I'm afraid I forgot all of my training when confronted with a shiny black motor fir myself! Must remember in future, check no. 39 inspect windscreen for traces of Rain X :-)
Blue
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Time worked for me and the vinegar and paper method a bit.
Keep wiping the blades with meths as well.
Mine are fine now reckon it took a month to restore visibility.
Good stuff on a bike visor though.
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I wasna fu but just had plenty.
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I always found using neat (as in undiluted) windscreen washer additive with a paper towel made a good job of cleaning such unwanted chemicals from the screen.
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Maybe my message was invisible.
Try Silvo silver polish .DO NOT use Brasso.
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New to this forum...so here goes
Rain-X is silicone based.
The only thing that will shift silicone is sodium hydroxide or some such similar caustic stuff.
White spirit or alcohol or trichloroethylene willl NOT shift it.
Thus...I would get some soda crystals or other strong alkali, dissolve in water (wear rubber gloves) get a rag and use elbow grease. That should get it off.
Red Baron
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>>I would get some soda crystals or other strong alkali>>
I've already mentioned Soda Crystals - twice...:-)
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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Thanks for the suggestions, sorry, I had forgotten the one about Silvo, there are so many different ideas floating about.
If it causes any further trouble I will try out some of the other ideas, but at the moment the screen seems to be acceptable so I'm tempted to let sleeping dogs lie for a while.
Blue
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Lot's of complex suggestions here, it is easy, T-Cut will gently abrade away the coating without effecting the glass underneath, gently apply it with kitchen roll, wash it off with soapy water then when dry de-grease with vinegar/kitchen roll.
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Blue,
If you havn't got it off by now, then you never will.
Other caustic stuff to try is dishwasher powder, but rinse thoroughly afterwards and don't get it on the paint...
Red Baron
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Blue
Have you tried the panel wipe yet?
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Sell the car to someone who may like Rain-X
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Surely this stuff is not permanent?
I've sent an email to Rain-X asking them how to get it off.
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I've been using rainex for years and never had a smearing problem when using wipers, it does what it says on the tin and gets rid of the rain. At speeds above 40 in heavy rain I don't even need to have my wipers on full time, intermittent wipes are more than enough - at motorway speeds wipers can be left off altogether.
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Hi Blue.
To shift Rain_X or the like use acetone.
When we repair chipped screens all traces of coatings have to be removed to get a good finish. Acetone will remove it no problem at all, use cotton wool, just make sure you keep it off the paint and rubbers. It evaporates away very quickly so there is no need to worry about hosing down the car afterwards.
(Glass-Tech)
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I used Cerium Oxide, which I bought as part of a kit from Machine Mart.
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=18842&...e
Steve.
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Edited by Rafdriver on 22/07/2017 at 17:03
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