For those of you running ''heaterless'' what are you using to demist the front screen when racing in the wet.

I have tried two stick on types but found they have fallen off after a few weeks.

 

I'm no help becuase I left in my heater core for this very reason, being from a part of the US that is a lot like the North Island.

Kirk (who had lunch in Wanganui ten or so years ago, if he remembers correctly)

 

rain x anti fog.

http://www.rainx.com/frame_auto_new.htm

Sebastien, for once more helpful than Kirk.

 

I have also seen installations of DIY kit aftermarket hot wire window defoggers and have considered doing that on my new car. I started an ARRC race in the rain so fogged up and unable to reach the blower controls that the only way I knew the green flag had flown was all the cars around me got louder and left me. Then I got a flat tire on a brand new tire on the second lap from a leaking new valve stem. Not my finest hour.

Actually I habitually call them "defrogers" but wouldn't want Sebastian to take offense.

 

that's right! no de-froggers allowed. And I also would like to ban playing the game frogger in the paddock around my car. It's just too demoralizing watching the cousin get run over by cars, or eaten by crocs.
I would have loved to have the defogger working in my car, but the shell came with no controls. The heater core is there, but no way to turn it on. Oh well.

 

Damn good topic. The NASA 25Hour in '03 was mostly in the rain. Being a wet-weather enduro newbie, I asked a lot of questions about that. Here, with no knowledge about there relative degrees of success, are solutions I can remember:

•Fog-X
•wiping half an orange on the inside of the glass (overall winning Porsche team...)
•wiping liquid dish soap on the inside of the glass
•small ceramic heaters from Harbor Freight or a large truck stop (plugs into a cigarette lighter)
•unobtainium anti-fog film that the NASCAR guys are said to use
•stock defroster
•aftermarket boat defroster
•a stick with a rag taped or tie-wrapped to the end

Just dreaming here, but my favorite, cost no object, solution would be to get custom glass made with the micro wire stuff like the Dodge Sprinter van has. VERY trick.


Modified by thawley at 11:47 AM 1/30/2005

 

Australian Supercars use the heated wires (like the rear window in a street car). A friend of mine had a non-heated rear window turned into a heated one for an older BMW that he was hopping up. It looked OEM and I am thinking of doing that on my windshield if I lose the heater, but like Knestis was, I am in the North West of the Americas and it is wise to keep your heater.

 

Once I saw this in a televised V8 race in the wet, from an in car camera. When the driver got to the front straight at Pukekohe he pulled out a squeegy on a stick from behind the seat and proceeded to wipe the windshield while screaming down the front straight and driving one handed. Probably not the safest thing to do.

I've been through the demisting learing curve (raced in NZ for 4 years, probably 25% of races were wet). Raced in California for 2 years, 0% of races have been wet.

I used different brands of anti fog, and also had a heated front windscreen. In combination these two items work as long as the car is bone dry inside, including your driving suit. (NZ car can run with the front windows up). However given that there usually is a frantic change to wet tires just before the start of the car, you usually end up with water in the car and a damp suit. The exhaust will heat the floor enough to make the inside of the car into a steam bath, and nothing will keep the windscreen clear unless you have the stock heater.

BTW I managed to get the heated strips on the front windscreen to stay on. The best approach was to stick the elements on a brand new windscreen before it went into the car. Even then the heater elements that you can buy and nowhere near as effective as those on the rear window (the OEM strips are thinner and are much hotter).

Other people tried marine 12V heaters, which seemed to help and directing air via ducts and hoses onto the windscreen, which also seemed to help. Creating a slot in the front of the dash (or removing the dash) so that hot air from the firewall can rise over the windscreen helps for very minor misting.

Other ideas? In the UK for a while cars were offered with de-icing elements embedded in the glass. These things were amazing, and could melt quite thick ice on the outside of the windscreen in less than 10 minutes. One of those windscreens might work if you can get hold of one, or the elements.

So my conclusion is to put the heater back in.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by rubber chicken &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">So my conclusion is to put the heater back in.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I figured it would come to that. The embedded element glass would sure be cool, though...

 

I've seen moer than a few enduro drivers using a stick with a rag taped to the end. Not the best solution. Leave the heater core intact if possible. If you're worried about leaks, bypass it in the dry, and replumb it when it rains.