Creative solutions to window fogging?

This morning I suffered some serious fogging in a torrential downpour in the Samurai. I made it OK but when my last paper towel fell into the passenger side filth pit (foot area) I felt like I'd intentionally set sail up a creek without a paddle and now I lost my life vest too.

In the AE92, my solution is to keep the windows cleaner than surgical tools and use the AC, or at least the fan on intake mode.

However the Samurai has no AC of course, and is in a class of its own where fog is concerned (I think the closer a car is to a simple metal box, the worse the fogging). Plus being an open vehicle, the windows only stay clean for a few hours at a time.

I plan to get some tint on the inside, that should help a bit. I'm also looking at getting clear film on the outside of the windows for even better insulation. Water passes through the Sammy more easily than air in many circumstances, so there's always extra moisture entering.

So any ideas? I've been thinking of extractor fans, removable electrically-powered AC systems (maybe the condenser could sit next to the spare tire with pipes running through the gaps in the rear window?), ice-powered condensation devices to help remove water from the air...anything's up for consideration. Just note that anything that requires forward motion won't work because I'm often driving in gridlock traffic.

Why don't you just put some chemical defogger stuff on the inside of the windshield? Use something like those Rain-X wipes and you should be good to go.

Margie

Until I bought my Prelude I had never had a car with A/C, so to combat the fogging issue I would run the heat (only as warm as needs to be to clear the fog) through the defroster vents and crack both front windows.

They do make a Rain X product for fogging, but I've never used it.

Turning on the heat in this climate makes the windows go opaque instantly. I did that once out of desperation, that wasn't fun. I actually plan to remove the heater cores from both vehicles, that should cut down the fogging a bit on both as it slightly decreases cabin temps.

I've been thinking of using the RainX inside the window, the only problem I've heard of is glare, which is another major issue in a country where everyone drives around with their high beams on all the time, and would rather get in a huge accident than go back to low beams...although in my experience RainX is totally invisible if it's polished on properly (which does take A LOT of work). So, I'm saving wipes and coatings as a last resort. Also the dirt could be an issue. I did try an "Anti-fog wipe" once, it did nothing at best. On the topic of coatings however, I was thinking of trying a helmet visor coating like Cat Crap...but again, as a last resort.

Did you also crack the windows when you turned on the heat? I would have worse fogging problems with the heat by itself, but once I opened the side windows the fog went away within a minute or two at the most. You are moving air over the inside of the windshield and having the side windows cracked helped draw the air over it even faster. At first, your heater may not be removing moisture from the air it is circulating, but once it gets going it will do a great job.

I had the windows up, I'll give that a try...right now I crack the windows as much as possible, which involves a lot of manual window cranking as I turn, and occasionally pull over to wipe off the fog.

For my vehicles, I found that a crack of no more than 1/2" was best, creating more draw across the windshield than having the windows open half way. Certainly every vehicle will be different with the air flow inside.

Good luck!

You can try cleaning them with any of the Citric acid based cleaners (you know the Orange cleaners). It will prevent fogging, but it also can make the window a bit "smeary" looking if there is too much on.

Maybe not the case in your situation, but one time I had a hell of a fogging problem that would not go away. Turned out there was a leak in the car and underneath the rear floor mats there were small pools of water. This raised the humidity in the car thus causing the fogging.

school buses and city buses just use 1 or 2 six to eight inch DC fans. That seems to work okay.

Fog-X. I've used it. It leaves a slight sheen, but much better than the fog to look through. Otherwise, carry a rag and wipe it down as needed.

aircooled wrote: Maybe not the case in your situation, but one time I had a hell of a fogging problem that would not go away. Turned out there was a leak in the car and underneath the rear floor mats there were small pools of water. This raised the humidity in the car thus causing the fogging.

Oh that is more than the case! There are WAY more than "small pools" in this thing, and there's nothing I can do about it.

The fans in these school buses, are they extractor fans?

I'll put Fog-X at the top of the list of treatments to try.

I just had to address this problem last week for the first time as I had a race in the rain and the spiffy cage in the racecar goes right through (what used to be the) heater core.

We applied Fog-X per the directions the day before and it worked well through a 20 minute practice and a 20 minute qualifier in the morning. Because we were concerned about applying too much, and because it worked so well to that point in a torrential downpour, we did not reapply before the sprint race that afternoon.

In retrospect, this may have been a mistake.

The race went green in conditions that would have made Noah say "oh E36 M3." I managed three laps before I decided that the fog coming in was probably just very localized cloud cover, and then another lap before I decided that the localization was on the inside of my windshield.

Fortunately for the racers and the poor drenched corner workers the race got checkered just past half distance because I was driving on feel from lap four onwards.

Drive, drive, driver, rumble, rumble, bump! Okay, that must be the end of the straight, so let's try a left turn here....rumble bump, okay, that's the entry to the esses...

Next time we will try overapplying the Fog-X.

For Rain racing when I worked on the TransAm cars...we had a blower fan sourced from a boat equipment supplier (it's a blower fan for engine compartments on boats...same thing we used for brake cooling also, btw...and also probably the same things being sold as "electric superchargers"). I can't comment on how well it worked since I didn't drive the cars and we had very few occasions to use them.

I seem to remember someone saying that ivory bar soap, rubbed onto the inside of the winshield would help with fogging (this was by one of the other TA drivers). I haven't confirmed it...but it might be worth a shot.

Here, I really only have problems with fogging in the cool and damp weather (like...right NOW!) and the defrost/defog mode set to hot works just fine, once the car warms up. In the winter time, the air is dry enough that we mostly have to knock the frost off the outside of the vehicle.

Clem

Hillwilliam prescription for foggy windows:

Clean windows using shave cream and a pot scrubber.

Dry with a crumpled newspaper, preferably the business sections stock market report.

Apply RainX brand FogX.

Repeat for all windows.

Do they still sell those electric rear window defroster kits for cars that didn't come with from the factory? The ones with the adhesive heater elements? I remember that Roushe, or some team like that, used those to keep the windshields clear on their Trans-am cars during rain races. I always though it be great have heaters on the windshield too.

How 'bout one of these?

Mini Ceramic Defogger

· 12 Volt DC/100 Watts/340BTU
· Genuine PTC ceramic element
· Instant heat
· Defogs windows
· Warms hands and feet
· 5' lead wire with lighter plug
· Permanent base and suction cup
· One year warranty

Linky

That ceramic defogger looks neat.

I had a car with auto climate control but a bad a/c clutch, so I could never vent air to the defroster ducts without the computer engaging the clutch and mechanical shrieking of the compressor would follow. On that car I had luck with fox-x stuff. Initially when I applied it, I put on too much or didn't buff it enough. That stuff generates fog if its on too thick. It took an honest 20 minutes to buff it properly and it worked great for months. I have since repaired the compressor, but the technique that seemed to work (as opposed to the directions) was to apply it rather thick, wipe off until you couldn't see it any more and then wait for the conditions to come along to fog it up. It will fog up bad, but you will buff the fog x stuff again and the fog helps you see where you missed and where you need to buff the glass better.

Also, I have seen guys at the track with no defroster ducts left using a gas station style squeegee (sponge and rubber thing) with a towel duct taped over the squeegee end and a stick duct taped to the handle so they could reach the whole windshield while strapped in. You would see them wiping down the window every straight.

I bought a MGB GT once that had a little aftermarket ceramic space heater aimed up at the back window. I guess it would warm the cabin and defrost the rear window. I don't really know, cause I ripped it out the first day.

Rain-X, Fog-X or even take some shaving cream and clean the windows with it. It will leave a film on the glass that will prevent fogging but won't blur your view.

Of course...scuba divers use spit in their masks to keep them from fogging.

A winshield would take a lot of spit...

Clem

ClemSparks wrote: Of course...scuba divers use spit in their masks to keep them from fogging. A winshield would take a lot of spit... Clem

I was just going to type the same thing...

As with most things in life, a shotgun is a wonderful solution here.

Why didn't we think of that earlier! Pure genius

Puerile genius? I love it!

Clem

It's a Sami, Fold down the windshield. No fog, No glare.

Having an old air cooled bug convertible in the pacific northwest that got quite damp on the insides and had a very, very poor heating/airflow system, I tried just about everything to combat windshield fogging while it was my daily driver. Fog-X? Yeah right, that stuff is a waste of time and money, a squeaky clean windshield is more fog resistant than Fog-X. The most reliable, cheapest, easiest, and most effective method IMO is keeping a small terry cloth towel in the car. The "oh crap" handle serves as a great towel rack to dry it in between drives, otherwise the seat works well for a towel catcher. Since you can easily reach the windshield in that rig it is easy to do and immediately clear, plus it works on side windows as necessary. Once the system is up to operating temperature, putting the defroster vents on with the heat+fan on high and the windows cracked should negate the need for the towel on the windshield and eventually the whole cabin will dry out so the side windows will clear up too (if it's a long enough drive).

Bryce