Wet Motorway Cars

[Taff]

I do 50thou a year in the Beamer and it is magnificent in the wet. auto wipers are a dream and it feels rock solid, even with a high cross wind. far better that my Galaxie does, whihc, on ww crossplies is terryfing

[Largactil]

My old Pug on 135/60/13 Arrowspeed's was quite unpleasant on a soggy M Way - Hitting standing water at 80 definitely had your nipsy twitching. 

 

~700kg got blown all over the place with side winds too.

 

Enjoyed the challenge in a perverse way, but it was much better on 14" 106 wheels...

[Asimo]

I am a big fan of RainX.

It is especially effective at motorway speeds, wipers aren't necessary for much of the time. I like the way the water pools together into big sperm-shaped blobs which slide up the screen above a certain critical speed

[Bobthebeard]

I am a big fan of RainX.rainx.jpg

It is especially effective at motorway speeds, wipers aren't necessary for much of the time.

Tried it once or twice. Effective, but made the wipers judder a lot when actually used.... Maybe just me?

[dollywobbler]

I cannot stand Rain-X on a windscreen. I find it smears and makes the wipers judder. I use it on the side windows though, so they clear at speed.

[Spiny Norman]

I always thought you weren't meant to use Rain X on the windscreen?

I use it on the side and back glass and it certainly does what it says on the tin.

[Junkman]

An apple cut in half and gently wiping the windows with the cut side has the exact same effect as Rain-X for a fraction of the cost.

It's been done in motorsports for decades before Rain-X hit the market.

[Squire_Dawson]

So, has any shiter taken to the stormy roads in a vacuum-wiper equipped automobile?

[Luckythirteen]

I use the Rain-x window cleaner. Hopeless on the flat's windows (it smears on those), but fine in the car, inside and out. Clean the edge of the wiper blades with it, no judder. Demists easy too, which is a bonus on a Renault with a sunroof.

Paw Thirteen swears by half a spud on the inside of his visor. Seems to work. Ish.

[Bobthebeard]

I use the Rain-x window cleaner. Hopeless on the flat's windows (it smears on those), but fine in the car, inside and out. Clean the edge of the wiper blades with it, no judder. Demists easy too, which is a bonus on a Renault with a sunroof.

Paw Thirteen swears by half a spud on the inside of his visor. Seems to work. Ish.

Hmmmm...... Half a tater or half an apple.....

Decisions decisions....

Going to try both in the interests of fairness. If my windscreen starts to turn green you both know who you are and trust you will feel suitably ashamed.

[Luckythirteen]

I'll need to ask him exactly how you do it, because there is a particular way. If you get it wrong, the visor goes milky white and crusty, and you have to clean it off and try again.

If he's anything to go by, don't try it after a couple of cans. It will go wrong.

 

Update: unfortunate text from paw.

"Keep it dry and do it gently" I quote. Fuck's sake, I don't even.

I assume he means keeping the cut face of the spud dry.

[forddeliveryboy]

RainX good on headlamps in winter, if you haven't wipers like on a seventies Saab. Although eventually the salt crud does build up and dry on. I wonder if things will be better with LEDs, where there's little or no heat?

[Asimo]

So, has any shiter taken to the stormy roads in a vacuum-wiper equipped automobile?

I was brought up in Zephyrs and pre-Transit Ford vans with vacuum wipers and was terrified by the impossibility of seeing through the rain except on a trailing throttle. Dad was a full throttle sort of driver, especially on the new fangled Motorways so I don't know how we survived. He swapped the last Zephyr for a Vauxhall Velox which had the opposite problem, engine driven wipers: more revs, more wipe. All this bodgery to save the cost of wiper motor, crazy!

[barefoot]

Yes, many years ago went up to deepest, darkest Derbyshire in an Austin Grey Rabbit and had to pull over and stop during a heavy downpour.

[Barry Cade]

Demon shine is brilliant on glass too- works just like rainX

[Guest Breadvan72]

I once had the wipers fail on an old car while driving through a Monsoon style rain storm near Milan.  I was on a crowded Autostrada, far from the next junction. The solution was to drive faster.  I kid you not.  

[NorfolkNWeigh]

Yes, many years ago went up to deepest, darkest Derbyshire in an Austin Grey Rabbit and had to pull over and stop during a heavy downpour.

Ok,I give up. I feel like the only kid in class who doesn't know what the latest drug/ sexual reference means .

What the flip is an Austin Grey Rabbit ?

[New POD]

Cavalier 4x4 Gsi ?

[mercrocker]

I think its a particularly dull coloured Federal spec Golf.    Or a Seven.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

The Golf from Texas I can sort of see, but a seven? What a Lotus, a BMW ? I'm getting more not less confused.

[rml2345]

Austin Seven special maybe?

[NorfolkNWeigh]

Aaahhh

[forddeliveryboy]

Yes, many years ago went up to deepest, darkest Derbyshire in an Austin Grey Rabbit and had to pull over and stop during a heavy downpour.

 

Once returned to darkest Yorkshire from Hants in an Citroen 11BL and hit the mother of downpours on the M1. Worried about the water killing the electrics and emboldened by newish 165 Michelins, wipers which went faster the faster you went as well as prodigious qualities of relative youth, I made use of an almost empty outside lane. It was nearly dark enough (4pm, August) to see the 6v selective yellows as well as the dim speedo illumination and the black machine sliced through the water as if it wasn't there.

 

Very satisfying, since I'd duelled with a rep-driven (poorly driven, too - he'd manage 90 on the straights but since I was doing 75+ and slowing little for the corners he never caught up in time for the next bend) Merc SLK from Banbury to Daventry (who'd eventually managed to get past on a short dual between roundabouts near the Timken factory) but gave him a friendly acknowledgment when I passed him as he gripped the wheel no doubt with rising BP, in the middle lane at 70, maaaasif wide tyres threatening to do a barnes wallace at any moment.

 

But I do think pulling over and having a fine Havana por even a cuppa would have made just as much sense.

[Junkman]

I once had the wipers fail on an old car while driving through a Monsoon style rain storm near Milan.  I was on a crowded Autostrada, far from the next junction. The solution was to drive faster.  I kid you not.  

 

The solution is not to drive Italian cars.

[forddeliveryboy]

The solution is not to drive Italian cars.

 

 

The solution is to stop for food and wine when it rains, if you drive an Italian car. Or something equally fun.

[barefoot]

Ok,I give up.

What the flip is an Austin Grey Rabbit ?

I thought everyone called them that, it's one of those little round 948cc A35 things.

[Luckythirteen]

Dammit! I was hoping it would have 'eat me' written on it, and cause magical adventures.

Or at least make work interesting...

[oman5]

I

 

I thought everyone called them that, it's one of those little round 948cc A35 things.

I'm glad someone asked, I've never heard that either. it's usually "noddy car" or "peanut" I've heard them called.