How to Give Those Old Windshield Wipers a Fighting Chance
There are few things as frustrating and dangerous as not being able to see the road you are driving on. Our beloved vintage rides do occasionally get caught in the rain, and especially if you are typically a fair weather cruiser in a vehicle that lacks modern wipers, that water can really put a damper on your vision. Luckily there are plenty of modern chemicals designed to help keep water off your windscreen, but do they all work the same, and is there one that works better than the rest?
Glass alone might be plenty smooth, but that does not mean it’s also hydrophobic. Water can still sheet up and cause all kinds of optical problems. Inclement weather often comes with dark skies, bright headlights, and the stress of just trying to survive the thunderdome of the roadways to get your beloved vintage ride home. Windshield wipers have advanced significantly over the years, but retrofitting modern wipers onto vintage cars has yet to catch on, so we are left figuring out other solutions to keep up.
Many years ago I was told that slicing a potato in half and rubbing it on the windshield would help water bead up and slide off. That tricked worked when I got caught in a storm and my motorcycle helmet visor was not shedding water fast enough to keep my vision clear. After that day I came to believe in hydrophobic coatings, the same ones that YouTube channel Project Farm just put to the test to see which is best.
The name recognition of Rain-X is hard to beat, but apparently the function of Rain-X is not nearly as unassailable. Of the nine different coatings tested, several had far better water shedding properties, but also came with finicky multi-step application process. That amount of prep work did seem to correlate with effectiveness when tested with a hose, though two wipes with some windshield washer fluid to simulate cleaning a windshield between storms and suddenly a few proved to be fairly delicate. Even more cleaning with car wash soap of bug and tar remover left all but four still shedding water like new.
Is this perfect real world testing? Not really, but it does give us some insight into a few products that can help us enjoy driving our vintage cars with more visibility. Personally, applying some type of hydrophobic coating to the windshield is part of my pre road trip checklist. Several of the brands across all price points in this test performed admirably, and buyers can make their call based on budget and how much rain their classic is likely to see.
Will these coatings making driving in the rain fun? Maybe not, but it can at least give us a chance at making it home safe and not missing our exit because that sign was just a green blob on the other side of the windshield right up until it wasn’t. Between keeping a windshield clean and using a water repellent like those mentioned in the video above, driving in the rain doesn’t have to be a horrible experience—but cleaning the car afterwards might still be.
And if you were trying to figure out what the car in the feature image is, it’s a 1957 Zundapp Janus. Kudos if you got it right.
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Rain-X has a great history, invented in a bathroom and brought to market, produced and distributed in a family venture. Thanks again to Howard Ohlhausen and his sons.
I use Rain-X on all my car windows and outside mirrors, which really helps to provide a better 360 view in the rain.
Rain x on the side windows helps the windows glide up-down a lot more smoothly. Maybe helps the life of the mechanism
Love Rain-X, but it needs to be used properly to get all the benefits. Read the instructions is my best advice. I use on my bike helmet shield, ’04 GTO, and ’04 Tahoe winter whip. In the GTO and Tahoe, any speed over 40mph and the wipers are unnecessary. On my bike, anything over 30mph and I don’t need to use the shield wipers on the back of my gloves. But you must prep the surface and follow the Rain-X instructions. Really, this stuff works if done correctly.
Would Collinite Wax work?
What about the old “Simoniz Glass Wax”. I used to use that all the time but can’t find it anymore
I owned a rare Zundapp Janus 250 for over 40 years. Regret selling it.
David, I can’t believe you sold that car! I hope it went to a good home.
Something I noticed years ago on the daily and/or winter cars: never turn the wipers on if the windshield is dirty or iced up. Either act shreds the fine edge of the wiper blades.
On all of my vintage cars, I find an original set of blade fills then replace the rubber with silicone blades using the original metal inserts from the old rubber. Works great, just cut them cleanly to the correct length.
So, C Eck – Where do you get silicone blades? Or, is that what all new blades are made of now?
Thanks
Jeff B
silicone wears out faster than rubber and rubber tends to be cheaper. if you live in an area where the weather doesn’t fluctuate too much and you don’t get much rain then silicone might be worth it.
On my 1934 Plymouth coupe hot rod, I also use Rain-X on the inside of my windshield to keep it from fogging up when I have the windows up in the rain.
Young’uns don’t know how frail the ‘beefroasters’ used to be. Motor cyclists used to coat the inside of Climax goggle lenses by cutting a raw potato and wiping the juice on. Hilarious to see done, but it did work.
Sounds like when scuba divers spit on the inside of their masks/goggles before using them. Probably not very PC when you need to do your bike goggles.
I have two problems with wipers on windshields. When i use Rain-X or any other hydrophobic treatment, the wipers seem to wipe cleanly, but there is just enough smearing that makes it tough to see when there are oncoming headlights, street lights, etc. Anybody got a solution for that?
Also, once an old windshield becomes pitted, I don’t have a solution for wiping cleanly then. Any solutions short of replacing the windshield?
I found the same problem when I used RainX on a 69 Camaro I used to drive daily. Had to clean it all off to stop the smearing and will not use RainX again.
Must be something better out there.
Jeff B
I have learned that the smear happens when you put too much rain X on the glass, use less and the smears will not appear!!
I used to have the same smearing problem, so after I apply the Rainex and dry the glass with a clean paper towel, I final buff the windshield with a clean microfiber cloth, and no smudging! After that, I spray some Bleach White tire cleaner on the dry paper towel and drag it along both sides of the rubber wiper blade, and you would be surprised how much dirt and oil is removed, and it extends the cleaning action of the blades. However, due to friction, the blades will eventually wear out, but this can double the change interval.
Old pitted windshield — scrub really hard with Bon Ami sink cleaner on a sponge. Will not hurt the glass. Can also replace Rain X on issues of smearing. It will NOT repel water — just makes the windshield super clean.
So you can do better than Rain-X but for the money it’s hard to beat would be a summary of the video.
Rain-X has had a spot on my shelf for years. Saves on replacing wiper blades and makes bug removal so much easier.
One added benefit of using one of these products is when driving in light drizzle. Less wiper action needed, and how much clearer the windshield is.
You tested a lot of different ways, which was nice. Although even just one simulation of real life – wipers a bit used, smearing a bit. Then use one of the top four to treat the windshield, and show the difference it makes. Those who haven’t used any of these would be running to get some.
Wofe uses Rain x on our glass shower doors, helps a lot
When I owned a 1954 Mercury with vacuum wipers I bought a rebuild kit that included all of the gaskets etc., lubed the insides with vaseline and they worked great after that! the wipers no longer stopped when accelerating and I found out that I even had variable speed!
I bought a car in 1995 (1968 Dodge Coronet R/T) that the original (deceased) owner had put some kind of coating on the windshield. For the next 23 years I drove that car, cleaned it, had it repainted, and stored it both indoors and outside. That coating NEVER lost its near-perfect hydrophobic abilities! I want to know what he used, because I have never been able to get that kind of effectiveness out of Rain-X. And my one experience with a potato coating was a miserable event that almost caused me to have an accident.
The current RainX is not the same as the original RainX. The original stuff seemed to be almost bullet-proof and lasted for a whole season – at least. What I purchaced a few years ago seems to last a couple months. I don’t think it is because of the wiper material or any difference in the glass.
I love NASH & AMC cars but one of the biggest down falls is they were slow to switch over to electric wipers. My 68 AMC still came stock with vacuum wipers. That being said, I became an early user of Rain X products. I wouldn’t even drive my squad car on patrol without stopping by my home and putting on a coat of rain X. I even sold some of my fellow officers on Rain X! When it’s raining out I put a quick coat of fresh Rain X on all glass surfaces before I drive it out of the garage and let the rain wash it off. Easiest way to apply it!
Vacuum wipers suck… or they SHOULD!!! Yeah, I couldn’t help that one….
The thing is vac wipers work wonderful. No intermittent function, but they are variable speed and can be slowed. The biggest problem people have with them isn’t due to the vac wipers themselves, it’s that they are 30+ years old! The seals in the motors wear, the old 70s and earlier grease gets hard, the vac booster on the fuel pump wears, and the engine develops less vacuum as it gets closer to worn out (but still runs good enough for an antique cruiser). If all that is in good condition they work as good as electrics. The wiper motor and fuel pump vac booster are the two biggest things. replace those with rebuilt units and you shouldn’t have a problem, not with a healthy engine anyway. A vac reservoir between the booster and motor helps a bit. A big reservoir instead of a booster helps, but only for 30-60 seconds when accelerating (depending on size of reservoir). Electric vac pumps that provide enough vacuum on their own are pricey — better to get a rebuilt booster fuel pump.
The other side of the coin is refreshing the wiper blades when replacement is not an option.
Dirt, etc., imbedded in the rubber reduces the flexibility of the blade. Soaking the blades in ammonia will loosen the dirt, restoring some of the original flexibility. I use a low-sided pan to contain the ammonia.