52 of 56 people found the following review helpful
Good, not perfect.,
October 30, 2008 This review is from: WINDSHIELD TREATMENT -3.5 OZ.
What is good about this stuff?
- As others have pointed out, it makes glass hydrophobic, meaning it causes water to bead up. That means that water, and the dirt that comes with it, is easier to push off the glass with wipers, keeping the glass cleaner. Also, it is easier to see through wet glass when the water is beaded up, so you might not need to use the wipers as much. Also, if you are travelling at high enough speed (typically highway speed), the wind will blow water off the glass, so again, you might not need to use the wipers. (Interestingly, the more your windshield is "raked" or slanted, the higher speed you need.)
- It makes glass easier to clean. Dust and even snow and ice sweep off pretty easily. Dried bugs come off more easily.
- It lasts pretty long for what it is. There are other products, like waxes, that do something similar for auto paint, but wax wears off fairly quickly. If you tried to use something like wax on windshield glass, the wipers would rub the wax off quickly. RainX bonds very tightly to the glass, in a very, very thin coating, making it hard to wear off. Depending on how much you use your wipers, you can go quite a while without having to reapply it.
- It isn't all that expensive.
What is bad about it?
- It seems to use alcohol as a solvent (and not the good kind of alcohol either), so the fumes can make you dizzy, especially when you are doing a large area of glass.
- (The real problem) It works great when it is newly applied, but when it begins to wear off, it is worse than nothing. When the wipers begin to wear through the RainX coating, you get thin streaks where the water is sticking to the glass. It actually looks worse than if you had never used RainX at all. So if you start using it, you sort of have to commit to reapplying it once in a while, forever.
So I am a bit reluctant to start using it on a windshield. I would use it on all the other glass on a car though, because that glass isn't rubbed by a wiper, so the RainX treatment might last a very long time. I would use it especially on the external side view mirrors, because snow seems to build up on those pretty easily, and it is important to be able to see with them. I would also use it on headlight covers, provided they are glass (do NOT use RainX on plastic.) The RainX would help keep dust and dirt from building up on the headlights, so they would shine more brightly.
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40 of 42 people found the following review helpful
Miracle in a bottle,
March 4, 2006 This stuff is the best example I can think of, of a product that not only works but far exceeded my expectations. As one reviewer mentioned, it will cause wintertime ice to easily flake off. Ditto for summertime bug removal. It repels rain so well that it is a viable alternative to doing an expensive windshield wiper mechanism repair (for those of us that drive old cars). I work as a highway patrolman (er . . patrolperson) for a living, and quickly learned that windshield wipers tend to lift off of the windshield when when having to drive at 80-90+. No problem with Rain-X as this is where it works best -- aided by the wind to blow your windshield clear. MANY TIMES I have driven to a call at high speed, in blinding downpour rain, with my wipers turned off and seeing perfectly (and enjoying my coffee), while other traffic is stopped on the shoulder or crowded in under bridge overpasses (I still can't figure out the purpose of that) due to no visibility. And I find that it lasts for several weeks on a car that is not garaged. My highest recommendation. Three thumbs up! Oops - make that two thumbs up.
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Was this review helpful to you? 45 of 56 people found the following review helpful
Great in some situations, dangerously bad in others,
October 17, 2007 In heavy rain at highway speeds, Rain-X is amazing. Water blows off the windshield faster than the wipers can remove it. In light rain, or at slower speeds, there is little advantage to Rain-X.
Where Rain-X becomes a serious danger is in misty, foggy conditions or if there is dew on the glass. Under these situations, there appears to be too little water to form large enough beads for the wipers to remove, resulting in a heavy haze that will NOT be removed by your wipers(or quickly reforms). Driving into the low morning sun/oncoming headlights etc. with that type of haze results in inpenatrable glare that makes safe driving impossible. I have experienced this effect in different cars and using various forms of Rain-X (the above liquid and the premixed washer fluid.) Because of this very dangerous side effect, I cannot recommend Rain-X if you live in an area where dew or misty conditions occur.
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