So, like most people who 'care' about their cars, I used Rain-X on my windshield. I've had success with it on some cars, and other not as much, and will never use it again.
While it does work, and on the highway is amazing as you don't even need wipers, the water just runs up and over. (And works very well on side windows/mirrors/etc).
I would never use it on glass where a wiper reaches. (Side windows, etc, all good)
The problem is, it modifies the friction of the glass/rubber. And on many cars, it seems no biggie, no change. On my Model X, it resulted in wiper noise so loud I want to drive it onto a train crossing and watch from the sidelines as the train gently takes my car away.
I promise, in real life, it's 10x louder than the video. And... I'm over it. So, I tried (this was a while ago) removing the coating and in doing so, am fairly sure did more damage. I tried every product/chemical/concoction under the sun, and the video is how it stands today.
I noticed that there are now, micro-scratches on the glass, and can only assume this is what's causing the noise - 3 sets of brand new wipers later and no change. so it's not the wipers... (Best guess, 0000 steel wool did the scratching).
the scratches are ONLY visible at night from oncoming lights, if you look VERY closely, or at dusk, and also look very closely. The scratches I could live with, barely notice them unless you look just right. The problem is the wiper noise.
I keep hoping a nice happy deer will like my car and necessitate an insurance covered replacement, but that doesn't seem likely. (I've had like 3 in 20+ years).
Seems my choices are
1. find a place to try to polish the windshield - going tomorrow to get a quote/see if they can help
2. replace windshield.
I did use my dual action buffer and some correction compound and a medium foam disc, which seems to have made the surface smoother, but have not yet driven in the rain to know if it made any actual difference. This is the first time in history anyone with a black car wants rain... so of course it doesn't rain here for like a week.
While it does work, and on the highway is amazing as you don't even need wipers, the water just runs up and over. (And works very well on side windows/mirrors/etc).
I would never use it on glass where a wiper reaches. (Side windows, etc, all good)
The problem is, it modifies the friction of the glass/rubber. And on many cars, it seems no biggie, no change. On my Model X, it resulted in wiper noise so loud I want to drive it onto a train crossing and watch from the sidelines as the train gently takes my car away.
I promise, in real life, it's 10x louder than the video. And... I'm over it. So, I tried (this was a while ago) removing the coating and in doing so, am fairly sure did more damage. I tried every product/chemical/concoction under the sun, and the video is how it stands today.
I noticed that there are now, micro-scratches on the glass, and can only assume this is what's causing the noise - 3 sets of brand new wipers later and no change. so it's not the wipers... (Best guess, 0000 steel wool did the scratching).
the scratches are ONLY visible at night from oncoming lights, if you look VERY closely, or at dusk, and also look very closely. The scratches I could live with, barely notice them unless you look just right. The problem is the wiper noise.
I keep hoping a nice happy deer will like my car and necessitate an insurance covered replacement, but that doesn't seem likely. (I've had like 3 in 20+ years).
Seems my choices are
1. find a place to try to polish the windshield - going tomorrow to get a quote/see if they can help
2. replace windshield.
I did use my dual action buffer and some correction compound and a medium foam disc, which seems to have made the surface smoother, but have not yet driven in the rain to know if it made any actual difference. This is the first time in history anyone with a black car wants rain... so of course it doesn't rain here for like a week.