28 replies to this topic

[TheHippo]

Hey,

Been wondering for a while - can you put a dash of rain-x (or other rain repellent) in the washer bottle so its applied every time you spray the screen? Or does it need to be rubbed in more than that.

Cheers,

Dan
TheHippo

[oliver122]

im not to sure , but with rain x being a repellent i wouldn't of thought it would mix well with water , just my way of thinking but im sure someone would be able say better

ollie

[Artful Dodger]

dont do it, really only good on the screens of race cars. when you are travelling slow you cant see much!

[jimnali]

I agree with Artful. Rain-x seems to work okay until you use the wipers and then it smeers so badly you can't see anything.

[Big_Adam]

Don't do it mate, its crap. Just use water and new blades.

[sonikk4]

All of this rain repellent for cars makes me laugh. I used to apply it to RAF fighters in my youth (supersonic type not Spitfires) and it was a bit of a process for making it work correctly.

We do use it on civil passenger aircraft as well and the one common thing here is speed, lots of it something a mini is never going to really achieve unless you attach a rocket to it. Normal day to day driving is not really worth it and is likely to cause more problems than its worth.

Like said new wiper blades should be all you need.

[mini93]

I have no problem with rain-x at low speed and high speed, no problem with smearing either and no problem applying it
Dont use regular rain-x in your washer bottle... there is specific stuff to put in your washer bottle

[cliche]

got 2 bottles of the stuff. Never got round to putting it on. Won't bother now after reading the aforementioned comments. I'll stay with my Bosch wipers

[dklawson]

I totally and strongly disagree with the comments against Rain-X. I have used it for over 30 years. It is not particularly good on modern cars with their more aerodynamic shapes but on cars with the shape of a shoe-box the stuff is great. Of course... you may have worse and more frequent rain than I do.

Bad results with Rain-X come from poor application. Clean the glass first. Spray the Rain-X on and wipe it out with a clean, dry paper towel until it starts to form a haze on the windshield. Stop at that point and wait a minute or two. Go back over the glass with a second (NOT the same) clean, dry paper towel buffing to remove all the haze left when the coating dried. It will be great in the rain until you start using your wipers a lot. After a couple of hours using the wipers, most of the coating will have been scraped/washed away. Until I got my first "modern" car I used Rain-X on all my cars and always before starting a long highway trip.

As mentioned above (and as should be apparent from my paragraph above about how to apply Rain-X) do NOT put it straight into your windshield washer reservoir. Rain-X does make a product specifically to put in the reservoir but it is not the same as what is in the yellow bottles.

[cliche]

I totally and strongly disagree with the comments against Rain-X. I have used it for over 30 years. It is not particularly good on modern cars with their more aerodynamic shapes but on cars with the shape of a shoe-box the stuff is great. Of course... you may have worse and more frequent rain than I do.

Bad results with Rain-X come from poor application. Clean the glass first. Spray the Rain-X on and wipe it out with a clean, dry paper towel until it starts to form a haze on the windshield. Stop at that point and wait a minute or two. Go back over the glass with a second (NOT the same) clean, dry paper towel buffing to remove all the haze left when the coating dried. It will be great in the rain until you start using your wipers a lot. After a couple of hours using the wipers, most of the coating will have been scraped/washed away. Until I got my first "modern" car I used Rain-X on all my cars and always before starting a long highway trip.

As mentioned above (and as should be apparent from my paragraph above about how to apply Rain-X) do NOT put it straight into your windshield washer reservoir. Rain-X does make a product specifically to put in the reservoir but it is not the same as what is in the yellow bottles.

so I take it if applied correctly that I should not use my wipers at all, as it may rub it off - is it that good ?

[dklawson]

When the Rain-X is fresh and you are moving at more than 5 MPH real rain (not foggy drizzle) will easily blow off the windshield and you may not have to use your wipers. If you are driving slowly through drizzle or fast through a torrential downpour you are going to have to use your wipers. Don't think for a moment that Rain-X completely replaces wiper blades. However, it is a real boost to the lackluster performance of the wiper systems on all the British cars I have owned or driven. Rain-X is also not permanent. You DO have to re-apply it. However, wiper blades are not permanent either.

My friends who drive older American cars also swear by Rain-X. Try Rain-X. If you don't like the improvement you are only out a small amount of money. However, I don't think you will be disappointed.

Edited by dklawson, 15 October 2012 - 06:59 PM.

[cliche]

When the Rain-Z is fresh and you are moving at more than 5 MPH real rain (not foggy drizzle) will easily blow off the windshield and you may not have to use your wipers. If you are driving slowly through drizzle or fast through a torrential downpour you are going to have to use your wipers. Don't think for a moment that Rain-X completely replaces wiper blades. However, it is a real boost to the lackluster performance of the wiper systems on all the British cars I have owned or driven. Rain-X is also not permanent. You DO have to re-apply it. However, wiper blades are not permanent either.

My friends who drive older American cars also swear by Rain-X. Try Rain-X. If you don't like the improvement you are only out a small amount of money. However, I don't think you will be disappointed.

Thanks for the advice !

[mini93]

I drove through a huge storm with my wipers on intermittently, applied just the same as DK mentioned above. Was great. Were i used to work, we always used it on rally cars too. great stuff

[danie garry]

i used to use it, then i got a lil carried away with the fascination of the beading that i forgot to look at the road....ended in a lil crash so i dont use it anymore!!

[Skortchio]

Had the chance to see the results of Rain-x in real time a while ago. Just like in the washing up liquid adverts.

I was due to pick up a friend at the airport, but time got on and I wasn't quite finished so polished off the drivers side I'd applied and went out.

As luck would have it, it rained on the way there. I was pleasantly surprised to find that my windscreen looked just like the front of the bottle! My side, in light rain above 30mph the water rolled off on it's own but the passenger side was covered still.

The application technique seems to be the common factor here in good results, put it on dry letting it haze a little, few minutes later buff off.

On a side note, the anti fog stuff works very very well also.

In regard to putting it in your washer bottle, like they say, no don't do that

Edited by Skortchio, 15 October 2012 - 07:26 PM.