"Anti-rain": is it possible to permanently protect the headlights from dirt and slush
Many drivers are familiar with "anti-rain" preparations applied to the windshield and improving visibility in "wet" bad weather. But how good are these tools for improving the performance of car headlights that get very dirty in slush? Portal "AutoVzglyad" found the answer to the question.
If anyone does not know, we recall that the first “anti-rain” type auto chemical products appeared on our market more than 20 years ago. Then the trendsetters were American companies. Then manufacturers appeared in other countries, and the “anti-rain” range itself expanded noticeably.
Suffice it to say that at present, almost all autochemical brands, both foreign and domestic, have similar compositions. The latter, by the way, are often ahead of foreigners, both in trade confrontation and in terms of the quality of their products.
Today, in retail sales, you can find more than two dozen automotive "rain" products manufactured by various companies. A significant part of these products, by the way, has repeatedly been subjected to comparative tests. Which is understandable, because not all drugs in this category correspond to the declared indicators.
True, most of these comparative tests have one significant drawback: the researchers are trying to evaluate the positive effect of "anti-rain" exclusively on the windshield of the car. Of course, this approach to evaluating the performance of the product is fully justified, since good visibility of the road in bad weather is the key to safe driving. However, the passive safety of the car, especially at night, largely depends on the illumination of the road.
Passive safety
In slushy weather, this indicator will definitely be determined not only by the power of the onboard light sources, but also by the external state of the headlights, that is, how dirty they are (photo below). Obviously, the more dirt settles on the headlights while driving, the worse the illumination will be.
The question naturally arises: how to reduce the degree of pollution of the head lighting equipment? The answer is very simple - with the help of the same "anti-rains". Each of these products, according to the descriptions, should prevent wet dirt from sticking not only to the windows, but also to the exterior side mirrors, as well as to the headlights of the car. But does “anti-rain” give at least a minimal effect when processing headlights?
After all, it is one thing - an automobile windshield triplex based on quartz, and quite another - plastic block headlights made of a polymer (the so-called polycarbonate glass).
Just from it they make head lighting equipment for many modern cars. Moreover, to a greater extent than the windshield, it is exposed to dirt while the car is moving.
Dirt check
Therefore, in the course of the current test, it was decided to evaluate only the anti-mud effectiveness of "anti-rain" when exposed to polycarbonate. To this end, experts from the AvtoVglyada portal and colleagues from the AvtoParad website purchased five samples of Russian production in car dealerships (photo below).
Four of them are fully anti-rain sprays from the brands Runway, AVS, Hi-Gear and Ruseff. But the fifth product is a rather extraordinary composition called Pro-Brite Antidirt, designed to protect not only windows, mirrors and headlights, but also the body.
An original methodology was developed to evaluate the effectiveness of purchased drugs. In accordance with it, for each test sample, we prepared a separate control plate made of polycarbonate glass.
All plates are fixed size and slightly curved to mimic the real surface of the headlight. Then the plates were treated in turn with a specific preparation, after which a certain amount of liquid artificial pollutant was poured onto each of them. The latter was a tinted organic substance based on water, fats, oils and vegetable microfibers.
Criteria for evaluation
After such a procedure, the control plate was placed vertically and compared with the original sample, that is, glass, which was contaminated without pre-treatment with “anti-rain”. The evaluation criterion is as follows: the less dirt (in comparison with the "original") left on the polycarbonate plate, the better. Such a visual comparison (photo below) made it possible to divide the test participants into groups and thereby position each sample in terms of efficiency.
So, as shown by comparative testing, the treatment of polycarbonate glass with “anti-rain”, performed in the framework of the methodology proposed above, gave a positive effect.
True, only four drugs were able to demonstrate this quality: sprays of the trade marks Ruseff, Hi-Gear, Runway, and Pro-Brite. As shown by visual comparison, against the background of the original sample, which was not subjected to anti-dirt treatment, the noted quartet of products could significantly reduce the degree of contamination of the control plates on which these compositions were applied.
It is possible to draw conclusions
By the way, in terms of creating anti-mud protection on polycarbonate, these four preparations also differ somewhat. Among them, sprays from Ruseff and Hi-Gear were recognized as more effective, which, in fact, became the winners of the test.
Second place, respectively, was shared by products from Runway and Pro-Brite. As for the “anti-rain” brand AVS, its use on polycarbonate glass turned out to be ineffective within the framework of the method described above. It is possible that this preparation will be useful in the treatment of the windshield of a car, but this can only be found out in the course of individual tests.
Thus, summarizing the results of comparative tests, we state the fact that the vast majority of "anti-rain" can also be used to treat car headlights. The polymer protection formed with the help of such preparations can really reduce the pollution of head lighting equipment in slushy weather.
Which product to choose - this, as they say, depends on personal preferences. And the price also plays an important role. So, the most expensive of the products we have tested is Runway “anti-rain” (from 140 ₽ per 100 ml). It is followed in descending order by sprays from AVS and Hi-Gear (120 ₽ per 100 ml), as well as a remedy from Pro-Brite (75 ₽ per 100 ml). Well, the most attractive in terms of price (from 65 ₽ per 100 ml) turned out to be “anti-rain” from Ruseff. In general, the price range is quite large, and here everyone can find the right product for their wallet.
