Fogging

[efusco]

You definitely want the grilles. And complaints about reflections are ludicrous. Unless you spend all your time staring at your hood while driving, or have never driven almost any other model of car in existence, you won't even notice it.

The reflections are real, and a bit annoying, so I wouldn't go so far as ludicrous. I have even considered ways to dull the finish on the grills to reduce the reflection. Perhaps you haven't driven in the conditions it's most noticeable, but when it is it's quite noticeable.

That said, I'm glad I had the retrofit done. While the clean old grill does look nice, this change is hardly ugly. Fact is most people wouldn't give it a second glance and if the car had originally been built with what is now a retrofit we'd have never known any different b/c just about every car on the planet uses a similar design to direct air flow. The benefits are worth the change by a long shot.

 

[ChadS]

Just got the retrofit recently when my car was in for it's one-year service. I noticed the reflection; but only because I was looking for it - it's minor and low on the windshield; my wife is sensitive to stuff like that and she hadn't noticed.

The car is much quieter after than before...the grills don't seem to make any noise, and they have new pano and c-pillar brightwork bulletins that really cut down on the creaking.

 

[brianman]

You definitely want the grilles. And complaints about reflections are ludicrous. Unless you spend all your time staring at your hood while driving, or have never driven almost any other model of car in existence, you won't even notice it.

You do notice such things (including the original vents) in dashcam footage, but I agree it's probably not worth worrying about.

 

[kevincwelch]

I applied CarPro Fog Fight to my MS this afternoon. Some of you probably already know about it. I usually don't have too much of a problem with fogging since I preheat the cabin well before I get to the car and make sure A/C is on. I have the OG vents.

This stuff is easy to apply, but if you over-apply the spray, it takes a while to buff out. Check out the video on the website -- it really does work that well.

 

[Doug_G]

The fogging is more of an issue in extreme temperatures at highway speed, when there's a lot of very cold airflow cooling the glass. The upgraded vents are a major improvement.

If you're at -5C then you probably can just leave the HVAC setting on Auto.

At -15C the side windows will start fogging up unless you turn defog mode on.

At -27C normal defog mode will only clear the area around the rear view mirrors. That's certainly helpful, but you need to put defog on high to (mostly) clear the side windows. Interestingly at that temperature the outer 2" of the windshield also fogs up on the normal defog setting, but it doesn't really impact visibility.

I will say I've had gas cars that had far worse defogging capabilities than the Model S (with upgraded grilles). It would be helpful to have dedicated side window vents, but it's not an absolute necessity.

 

[mknox]

Mentioned earlier, but I have found that if I remember to over-ride the Auto Recirculation setting and put it on outside air, I have virtually no fogging problems. If I forget and leave it on Auto, I will invariably get some fogging depending on the temperature/humidity. I am convinced Tesla's auto setting is using Recirculate which is a huge no-no in the winter.

The problem is that when I use the app to pre-heat the car,it over-rides all my settings and puts the HVAC in full Auto and I always have to remember to over-ride the Recirc.

 

[brianman]

I have virtually no fogging problems. If I forget and leave it on Auto, I will invariably get some fogging depending on the temperature/humidity. I am convinced Tesla's auto setting is using Recirculate which is a huge no-no in the winter.

Just a small update...
I was out of town some for the holidays so some of winter my car got a break from driving. That said, I'm still in "AC off" mode for almost 3 months now. No fogging issues thus far.

 

[mknox]

I was out of town some for the holidays so some of winter my car got a break from driving. That said, I'm still in "AC off" mode for almost 3 months now. No fogging issues thus far.

I will also turn a/c Off if I think of it. I find it odd to find it 'On' sometimes even in the extreme cold. Every other car I've owned will not allow the a/c compressor to come on, even with defrost, if the temperature is below something like 40 F. I've heard it is bad for a/c systems to run in the cold, but maybe Tesla's system is different somehow.