Windshield rain coatings??

I bought a large box of Aquapel many years ago. No idea if it's still on the market, but in Northern New England it lasted 6 months on vehicles parked outside. On vehicles parked inside during the winter we got 8-10 months from an application. One upside was I could cover all of the glass on a vehicle with one applicator; this included the exterior rear view mirrors. Overall, I found Aquapel's performance to be excellent.

Wish he had used Glaco Ultra instead of the orange Glaco. Wonder how what would have held up vs the winner.

Redd wrote

Wish he had used Glaco Ultra instead of the orange Glaco. Wonder how what would have held up vs the winner.

I love this guy, but this set of tests is somewhat artificial.
Granted, there is no easy way to represent wear'n'tear on coatings of cars parked outside for 6-12 months, with all the bird poop, pollen, snow, and ice accumulating and abbraiding against the coating by the wiper blades.

I had personally tried Glaco Ultra and it did not last for me any longer than Griot's (2nd best for me), Stoner Invisible glass coating (not bad, but not the spray he tested), Adam's(meah), or Gyeon View (best I've tried so far), or McKeys 37 spray (meah).

For me "best" == longest lasting, which is ~12 months on cars parked outside throughout the year. Longer on those parked inside.

YMMV,
a

Redd wrote

Wish he had used Glaco Ultra instead of the orange Glaco. Wonder how what would have held up vs the winner.

I think he didn't use a few strong ones

julek140 wrote

I think he didn't use a few strong ones

He did.
But the wear'n'tear was proxied by spraying glass cleaner, bug & tar remover, wheel & tire cleaner, and degreaser.
It's better than nothing, but nature doesn't spray any of the above chemicals onto your windshield.

Thus the test is measuring coatings resistance to the chemicals, not to real-world accumulation of natural contaminants that abrade against the coatings courtesy of the wiper blades.

YMMV,
a

afadeev wrote

It's better than nothing, but nature doesn't spray any of the above chemicals onto your windshield.

Thus the test is measuring coatings resistance to the chemicals, not to real-world accumulation of natural contaminants that abrade against the coatings courtesy of the wiper blades.

This is very true! I'm almost two months into a real-world test on two cars comparing RainX vs. Griots Glass Sealant. I ran a strip of painters tape down the middle of the windshield on each car, and used each product as instructed on one side (alternating sides between cars, since the driver side gets more windshield wiper contact). My impression right now is that they are virtually identical, but it's been a couple of weeks since I had either car out in the rain. Both are parked outside full time.

Angelwax H2Go has been amazing for my needs.

I'm in LA, and we'll get spurts of rain for about 3 month period then never outside of that so I don't really get value out of single use products that last a year+. H2Go was $20 or so, lasts me the 3 months per application and the few sprays of it a year mean it'll last me until it goes bad which it hasn't over 3 years I've had it.

It goes on really easy. Pretty much like a sealant on paint and if it fails, then I just have to apply a few more spritzes unlike coatings where you really only get 1 go so you have to make it count. Highly recommend.

louielouie wrote

Angelwax H2Go has been amazing for my needs.

I'm in LA, and we'll get spurts of rain for about 3 month period then never outside of that so I don't really get value out of single use products that last a year+. H2Go was $20 or so, lasts me the 3 months per application and the few sprays of it a year mean it'll last me until it goes bad which it hasn't over 3 years I've had it.

It goes on really easy. Pretty much like a sealant on paint and if it fails, then I just have to apply a few more spritzes unlike coatings where you really only get 1 go so you have to make it count. Highly recommend.

I'm in LA too and what I do is run silicone wiper blades and these blades naturally leave a thin hydrophobic film on the windshield. I used the same PIAA wiper blades for 4 years -- they just won't die lol.

I tied most of the products mentioned and in my experience the Soft99 products - Glaco Glass Compound and Ultra Glaco sealant are the best performers.

I use Glaco twice a year when the season change and I do a deep clean. Make sure when applying the sealant to do an even coat or else your windshield wipers will skip due to the uneven surface. Do a square checkered patten. Don't scribble around randomly. Ask me how I know.

Personally, I would not recommend anything beyond a basic glass water repellent. While more aggressive treatments may work well in the short term, they can cause issues over time, as the glass may become dependent on them. This can eventually lead to problems such as increased fogging, difficulty removing streaks, and visible marks left by cloths during cleaning.

Gtechniq G1 has been my go to. I have had it on 5 of my cars at this point. I think Gtechniq says they last around 2 years. In my experience, they have lasted longer than that. It's been 3.5 years on one of my cars and it's still working great. Definitely not as great as freshly applied, but still working. Water behavior is fantastic.

I recommend "polishing" the window first. I just use a cutting compound and do a few passes on the polisher before applying G1. It's not really doing any glass polishing per se, but it's definitely cleaning it really nicely. The application is definitely a little more involved than other coating. But I think for the longevity I am getting, it's not bad at all.

been using Gyeon quick view works great .

I just completed a 3+ month test of RainX vs. Griot's Glass Sealant on two cars: our VW GTI and X5. Both are parked outside year-round. On each car I cleaned the windshield, and then cleaned them again with 90% alcohol. I then ran a piece of painters tape right down the center of the windshield from top to bottom, and did one side with RainX and the other with Griot's (following each products recommended installation process). I alternated the sides on each car, since the driver's-side window sees more contact from the wipers. Performance was identical in both cars from the start of the test to the end of the test. Both were still working better than nothing at the end, but I decided it wasn't worth continuing the test since neither product was superior to the other. Griot's gets the nod, as it's slightly easier to apply.

Update: I was going to copy the message above into a review on Griot's website for their Glass Sealant, but discovered that they've retired the product and replaced it with a more expensive "Ceramic Glass Sealant". Doh! Maybe I'll give that a try down the road, but for now I have a couple year's worth of Griot's and RainX to use up!

Adam’s glass sealant, apply some every few washes and you’ll love watching beads fly up the windshield, no wipers necessary.