Surviving in the 911 in heavy rain... fog, glare, slow wipers, water blotches.

[dimeified]

The past 2 days I have been at a Soundweb London BSS training seminar, which took place about 1 + 1/2 hours from my home. It rained pretty hard both ways, and the way home it was night time. My car is almost undrivable in the rain due to visibility issues, and i was wondering if others have this and how they deal with it.

1 - Window fog on inside of window. I actually solved this, my cheap $8 leather gloves wipe the window clean and it lasts a long time.

2 - Glare. I think i may need to claybar my window, there are so many specs on it that catch the light of oncomming cars headlights and make it difficult to see.

3 - Slow wipers. On high setting the wipers will wipe and return in a little less than a second. I am sure this is normal for the 911, but it seems slow compared to modern cars, which would wipe twice in just over 1 second.

4 - Wipers. I stopped off at a gas station to replace the driver wiper thinking it wasnt doing a sufficient job, because water lines would appear on the windshield in certain spots as the water passed. Also water that dropped on the window in some spots stayed there and it was like the wiper glided right over it. I replaced the wiper arms last year so im sure the springs are good. After replacing the drivers wiper the problem remained.

Add to this half of the reflectors for the lines in the road were missing and the white paint was bearly visible on the garden state parkway. The visibilty was incredibly poor because of all the above listed conditions. Has anyone dealt with this before? How did you fix it? I dont remember any other car of mine ever being this terrible in the rain.

[TheGanzman]

I've dealt with it before; my solution - MOVE from New Jersey to SoCal - problem solved!

[Canada Kev]

Originally Posted by dimeified

The past 2 days I have been at a Soundweb London BSS training seminar, which took place about 1 + 1/2 hours from my home. It rained pretty hard both ways, and the way home it was night time. My car is almost undrivable in the rain due to visibility issues, and i was wondering if others have this and how they deal with it.

1 - Window fog on inside of window. I actually solved this, my cheap $8 leather gloves wipe the window clean and it lasts a long time.

2 - Glare. I think i may need to claybar my window, there are so many specs on it that catch the light of oncomming cars headlights and make it difficult to see.

3 - Slow wipers. On high setting the wipers will wipe and return in a little less than a second. I am sure this is normal for the 911, but it seems slow compared to modern cars, which would wipe twice in just over 1 second.

4 - Wipers. I stopped off at a gas station to replace the driver wiper thinking it wasnt doing a sufficient job, because water lines would appear on the windshield in certain spots as the water passed. Also water that dropped on the window in some spots stayed there and it was like the wiper glided right over it. I replaced the wiper arms last year so im sure the springs are good. After replacing the drivers wiper the problem remained.

Add to this half of the reflectors for the lines in the road were missing and the white paint was bearly visible on the garden state parkway. The visibilty was incredibly poor because of all the above listed conditions. Has anyone dealt with this before? How did you fix it? I dont remember any other car of mine ever being this terrible in the rain.

Lines and other markings on the pavement in rain are difficult to see regardless of the vehicle.

I use Rain-X or Rain Away on the glass of all my vehicles. I think its an awesome product. It coats the class in some kind of polymer so that the water beads up and rolls off the wind shield. You only need wipers in heavy rain. In the dark with no oncoming drivers, you don't even notice any water on the glass at all. When there is traffic, you will probably want to use your wipers as the headlights will refract through the beads and be oh so annoying.

-kevin

[old man neri]

+1 on rain-x-ing the snot out of your windshield. They also make an anti-fog product for the inside that I have yet to try. Rain-x the side windows as well, that will also make a big difference.

Don't forget that you also must periodically spray washer fluid on the windshield to get rid of road grime (builds up fast in the rain due to spray) and whenever you fill up with gas; wipe the wiper blades with paper towel. You will be suprised the amount of black crap that comes off those things. In the rain on the highway all the cars are kicking up the tar, oils, and dirt that are on the road surface. If you have ever driven a white car you can see the black lines form on the paint where the water runs off the fenders and what not.

Is your windshield badly pitted? It may be time for a new one.

[RWebb]

2 - may need new windshield but try the clay bar

3 - may need to lube & clean the mechanism -- mine are slow too - been planning to lube mine

[911Urge]

I have heard there is another wiper arm (for the 964) that has dual springs that holds the wiper blade down to the windshield better. May be an outside option to look into.

[yelcab1]

My solution is a BMW M3. save the Porsche for fair weather.

[dimeified]

I'm only 25 and have been in my career for only 3 years, so buying another car, let alone an M3 is not an option. But if you would like to donate your 2007 Lexus IS250 Grocery Getter, pm me...

[dw1]

I have a solution similar to yelcab1,

but I respect M3's too much to subject them to the winter salt, slush, etc., or some idiot sliding into it on slick surfaces.

and I don't think they are the best cars in the snow, anyway.

So my winter car is a turbo Saab, late 90's vintage.

Not only is the hatchback useful for carrying larger Porsche parts, but with dedicated winter tires it will go through almost anything. And it's a lot less expensive to fix after a winter fender bender than a 911, or an M3.

-----------------------------

On a more serious note: Have you tried white vinegar on the windows? It cleaned many previously unremovable spots on my 911 windshield.

I've also had good luck with the windshield polishing compound sold at most auto parts stores.

Do you have fog lights? How is the aim on your headlamps? I though I would have to live with marginal visibility until I re-aimed my lights - that made a big difference.

Also, ever since I made sure the blowers were working properly, and learned how to properly use the heater/vent controls, I've had no interior fogging problems on my '87.

Disassembly and cleaning of the instrument glass some months ago took care of my instrument fogging problems.

[Hugh R]

One thing I like about my basterdized ROW with aftermarket A/C is I get conditioned air to the dash vents which helps a lot with fogging. RainX and the interior antifog stuff work great.

[dimeified]

Originally Posted by dw1

I have a solution similar to yelcab1,

but I respect M3's too much to subject them to the winter salt, slush, etc., or some idiot sliding into it on slick surfaces.

and I don't think they are the best cars in the snow, anyway.

So my winter car is a turbo Saab, late 90's vintage.

Not only is the hatchback useful for carrying larger Porsche parts, but with dedicated winter tires it will go through almost anything. And it's a lot less expensive to fix after a winter fender bender than a 911, or an M3.

-----------------------------

On a more serious note: Have you tried white vinegar on the windows? It cleaned many previously unremovable spots on my 911 windshield.

I've also had good luck with the windshield polishing compound sold at most auto parts stores.

Do you have fog lights? How is the aim on your headlamps? I though I would have to live with marginal visibility until I re-aimed by lights - that made a big difference.

Also, since I made sure the blowers were working properly, and learned how to properly use the heater/vent controls, I've had no interior fogging problems on my '87.

Disassembly and cleaning of the instrument glass some months ago took care of my instrument fogging problems.

very informative, thank you for the info. I would like to reaim my headlights, i could only see the lights shining a car length ahead of me. Also, the white vinegar idea, i should look into this too besides claybar.

My fresh air blower kicked the bucket and i havnt had a chance to swap it out yet. So many other issues with the car to sort out first.

edit: i do have fog lights but i dont remember if i had them on. i usually have them always on so whenever i turn on the headlights they come on too.

[Milu]

Why do you have your foglights on all the time?

When cleaning your windscreen don't forget to clean the inside as well. It makes a big difference sometimes.

[peter_soj]

Originally Posted by Milu

Why do you have your foglights on all the time?

When cleaning your windscreen don't forget to clean the inside as well. It makes a big difference sometimes.

I think he means on the car all the time, not shining all the time

But I could be wrong.

[mthomas58]

The solution to interior window fogging is to run the A/C along with your defroster/heater/blower set up to pull the humidity out of the cabin.

[Milu]

Originally Posted by peter_soj

I think he means on the car all the time, not shining all the time

But I could be wrong.

Originally Posted by dimeified

edit: i do have fog lights but i dont remember if i had them on. i usually have them always on so whenever i turn on the headlights they come on too.

It may also be worthwhile to clean the interior ofthe lens and the reflector.

[88911coupe]

Thoroughly clean interior and run the a/c with heat. IIRC it will fog up horribly for a couple of minutes so what I've done when faced with this situation is pull off the road for a couple of minutes to let it start working. Also carry a microfiber towel too speed up the condension removal since they are very absorbent.
I agree though, the HVAC systems is my my 911's totally sucks compared to any car I have. My daily driver is a new A4 and it's heaven compared to the 911.

[plain fan]

I've used the Rain-X Antifog stuff before and will never use it again. Instead of not fogging up it created massive condensation inside the cabin on the windshield. Just my experience, but the Rain-X is amazing and with the slope of the windshield anything over 40 mph for me eliminates the need for using the wipers.