Windshield Treatment

Scene of the crime:  Thompson CT.  Issue:  Our first race in the rain with high humidity all weekend.  Issue:  Many, but that’s not important right now.  This one was related to our windshield treatment and dealing with the rain, humidity, and fog.

Our standard windshield treatment cleaning regimen for our windshield had proven good for normal driving and our first race.  This time we needed to add one crucial and so far bulletproof addition.

Lets review our window preparation process and we will also add in the tip we learned from “Everyone Racers” podcast and our friends at the Three Pedal Mafia lemons racing team.  

Outside prep:  Clean with microfiber cloth and favorite glass cleaner.  I usually work in the shade and in sections, especially as it gets warmer to minimize evaporation.  This will remove the bulk of the dirt.  Next steps is to repeat the process but to use a clay bar and warm – hot water to remove any mechanically or chemically bonded contaminants.  Repeat the first step with another microfiber cloth again to remove any loosened debris.  Dry with another (third) microfiber towel.  Last step is either to use RainX (yellow bottle) or to use a carnauba car wax to add a hydrophobic coating to make the water bead.  This will often eliminate the need for using windshield wipers at speed, pretty handy in a lemons race.   Buff off the RainX or car wax until clear.  It may take a few steps and try to end with full vertical strokes.  You should now be streak free and water should bead and roll of easily.    

  Inside Prep:  Clean the surface with three simple steps.  Clean the surface with a clean dry microfiber towel.  Then remove any oily contaminants with a wet “magic eraser” pad.  then use another clean microfiber towel and your glass cleaner of choice.  We use circular cleaning motion initially but always end with long vertical strokes to finish up.  

Inside defog:  We used to use the Rain-X in the black bottle, but this time it failed us for the first time.  What we had to do was use Barbasol shaving cream.  apply in a nice smooth coating and then remove thoroughly.  Once complete, the car was crystal clear for the rest of the day.  We saw many cars with the same issue come in and probably could have made a small business in prepping their windows.  

PS you can use paper towels if you don’t have the microfiber towels handy or clean, just use a lot and it wont work quite as well.  Fancy ones are great, but Walmart ones are fine for this.  For both, remove the tags to prevent streaks etc.  

PS2:  we are going to try the anti fog steps on the glasses of our drivers for the next race.  Hopefully it will work better than our scuba derived method.  

We hope this helps.  Let us know if you have another other questions or comments.  

Enjoy the Ride!

If you want any more details of a long and boring description of the chemistry/surface tension science of this, just let us know.  It is really good at helping you sleep.