Rain, rain, go away!

[wmjinman]

Heh!!! You guys are cracking me up!!

Well, here's a bonehead manuever I just made: It's still stormy weather here, right? Rained all day yesterday, wind blowing this morning and through mid-day, and the weather forecast saying there was another storm out in the Pacific that would be hitting sometime this weekend. Right?

OK, so with all that knowledge, "Mr. Genius" here decided to go see if I could "A-B-A" test my mileage with & without windshield wipers. (I'll bet you can tell where this is headed already, huh?) Yup, you're right!!! I went out & did a series of 3 "out & back" runs for my "A" average, then stopped & took my wiper blades off & headed out again. I swear that within a half a mile, drops started appearing on my windshield!!! Well, I'm not gonna be intimidated easily, so I soldier-on. And of course, the rain got heavier. Before long, the streams of water are streaking up & over the windshield, etc, etc.

So - test aborted, wipers re-installed, and - oh, yeah - the rain stopped. !#$%^&*?!!

So there may be an alternate way to get your grass seed watered, Mech!!! (or maybe idiots just shouldn't try to do "no wiper tests" during stormy weather. HAH!!!!

Oh, by the way, I DID put some leaves under my wiper blades & they were moving around. Not furiously, but moving, so I'm not too sure if I learned anything from that or not.

[larrybuck]

All I can really say is that MOST of the time our rain in these parts is a slow misty kind
which only means that the puddles aren't as deep.

If you are by yourself (not talking throwing out hot air), you can usually get by at least at a constant 45-50mpg. w/o using the fan for your defroster.

Though I'm not driving enough these days to warrant it; this would probably be the time
to throw in a plug for RainX!!!

I have always liked the '70's, and '80's cars/trucks that have the recessed wipers.
Now one of you will probably tell me that there is a reverse airflow eddy just from that lip???

[user removed]

Been using rain-x for close to 40 years, grumpy wife complains about me not turning on the wipers, EVEN THOUGH YOU CAN'T SEE ANY BETTER WITH THEM ON.

regards
Mech

[wmjinman]

Originally Posted by Old Mechanic

Been using rain-x for close to 40 years, grumpy wife complains about me not turning on the wipers, EVEN THOUGH YOU CAN'T SEE ANY BETTER WITH THEM ON.

regards
Mech

OK, I'll show my ignorance here . . . I've never used "RainX" before. So how's it work? You spray it on your windshiled (I assume), and then it causes the rain to not blind you? What, it beads up and blows off faster or something? How about when you go to the gas station & scrub the bugs off with the squeegee? Do you need to reapply the RainX after that? Does it ever build up & cloud/fog the windshield or anything?

Another unrealted question: I have the stock clutch fan (I think) on my Jimmy. It looks like a little turbine, with like 8 blades or something, made of a milky white plastic of some sort and a really serious looking pitch on the blades. But I spun it by hand, so I guess it's that "viscous coupling" or whatever they call it. Now - is it costing me MPG by being a power parasite, and if so how much? If I just removed it, would I have problems and/or save any gas?

Thanks in advance,
Bill

[star_deceiver]

Rain-x is a silicone based product that causes the water to bead really easily so you can drive without using wipers. If you live in a place that receives LOTS of rain year round, this is a very good product.

BUT: If you live someplace where it rains infrequently, has dirty and grimy roads, lots of bugs, or winter, I'd avoid using it.

I used to use it years back in the early 2000's but stopped. Using the wipers with rainx applied causes a momentary haze as the wiper passes. Bugs and their splatter caused this to worsen. Road grime and winter sand and salt cause it to become useless. All of this combined causes the haze to worsen and linger longer. I gave up on Rain-X years ago and have no desire to test it again.

However, if you live in Vancouver, BC or Seattle or the Oregon coast or some other place that sees much precipitation and no winter, then you should give Rain-X a try!

Just my observation with the product!

[serialk11r]

With the rainy season well under way in the Bay Area, I'm starting to get extremely frustrated at the amount of fogging I am getting on the windshield. One thing I heard before was using detergent on the windshield to get the water droplets to disperse, but I did this and I just got a really wet glaze on the windshield that was pretty much just as bad.

Today I went to get some drinks and junk food from Safeway and I couldn't even wipe the windshield clear with paper towels, and had to resort to turning the air conditioning on for a few minutes while parked (wasting a precious 0.02 gallons of fuel) :/

Turning up the fan works but not immediately. With the fan on though (even without air conditioning on) condensation forms on the outside of the window, although this isn't a problem since I can just have the wipers turned on.

Does anyone know of any effective anti fog measures? I suppose this is one of the good points of open cockpit track day cars and motorcycles heh.

[star_deceiver]

Make sure you have the setting so that you're pulling in outside air, NOT recirc!!! Vent to the windshield, of course. Heat...

Some vehicles automatically turn the AC on when you switch the controls to windshield.

Also, buy a GOOD aerosol foaming glass cleaner and polish all the dirt away!

You can buy a good anti-fog for motorcycle faceshields, never tried one myself though.

[serialk11r]

Originally Posted by star_deceiver

Make sure you have the setting so that you're pulling in outside air, NOT recirc!!! Vent to the windshield, of course. Heat...

Some vehicles automatically turn the AC on when you switch the controls to windshield.

Also, buy a GOOD aerosol foaming glass cleaner and polish all the dirt away!

You can buy a good anti-fog for motorcycle faceshields, never tried one myself though.

Heat doesn't work when the engine is cold though >:/

My AC is fully manual control (on a side note, I hate auto climate control so much).

[wmjinman]

Originally Posted by star_deceiver

Rain-x is a silicone based product that causes the water to bead really easily so you can drive without using wipers. If you live in a place that receives LOTS of rain year round, this is a very good product.

BUT: If you live someplace where it rains infrequently, has dirty and grimy roads, lots of bugs, or winter, I'd avoid using it.

Just my observation with the product!

In that case, maybe I'd better pass. Around here, rain is the exception rather than the rule, but bugs, dust, and the spray from the salted/sanded roads to melt ice & help traction would force me to "wipe", anyway. Just thought of that - - better plan on keeping those blades REALLY handy if I ever do decide to go crazy & remove them, huh?

Thanks again for the info!

[konstant]

its a old story guys . Post some recent buzzes..