Just wondering if anyone else living in cold/snowy areas are getting this issue. The bottom window of the trunk which is on the back just above the license plate seems to get so dirty I can't see through it anymore. I've gotten out of the car and used snow to clean it up and not even an hour later it was all dirty again.
anyone else have that issue or is my neighborhood extra dirty? lol
mine gets dirty also. i usually wipe it clean and its good for a few days. also when i fill up at the gas station i use the squeegee and the cleaning fluid on it and that holds up a bit better.
Good call! But how often do we hit the gas station in our "Gas Guzzling" CR-Z's? I go about every two to three weeks it seems like. Ain't it great! :thumbsup:
I've noticed that part gets super dirty. We've had a ton of snow this winter already & it's filthy all the time. I've just been running the defroster a lot (which helps melt the ice/snow & it runs down the back & cleans it off a bit) & wiping it off every couple fill-ups (as well as physically brushing it when I'm cleaning the snow off--which has been every few days). Oh, and I've ran it through the cheapo car wash a few times to get off the salt & clean up that back part.
Intrigued by the polymer stuff...some night's it's so bad I can barely see through it when I'm parking (street/parallel park it).
Due to the aerodynamics of the car, yeah, dirt collects on the rear end badly.
I've been using this stuff, Opti-Clean, that cleans it and leaves a layer of polymers on the car.. The polymers are hydrophobic so repel water and grime as much as possible.. And also they aren't really meant to bond w. the paint like a sealant, so it's easy to wipe away.. I'm not explaining it well, but basically dirt just falls off the car.
I've been seriously impressed.
There are other similar products from most of the modern polymer sealant companies....
-- edit -- actually, thinking about it, I also have a layer of the polymer sealant on the car.. Opti-seal in my case, but Zaino and the other polymer sealant brands are similar. They all shed water and dirt very well.. So if you haven't used one of them, I'd recommend it. This is the first car Ive ever used these polymer sealants on, and like I said a sec ago.... Ive been very impressed! dirt doesnt stick.
Just wondering if rear spoiler would help - anybody with a spoiler notice if theirs gets dirty quickly? They are also lower to the ground than a SUV so there may be no solution except a good polymer and frequent wiping.
i have the factory spoiler, and mine still gets dirty. i can see well enough to use it for reverse, etc. my car is garage kept tho, so that helps.... and i cant say if mine is better/worse than one w/o a spoiler...
I think the aerodynamics of our car is the problem with dirty rear. Its not just the window, it gets dirty where licence plate goes. Iv been noticing hatches get dirty in the rear fast.From my understanding, All the dirt and airflow that comes through bottom of the car turbulates and hits the rear window area and then leaves with the flow of wind thats coming fromthe top of the car.
I also have the factory spoiler and mine gets dirty with any wet on the road. I have treated mine with RainX and carry a cute little squeegee blade to run across the glass panel when very spotted.
The reason the back window is getting dirty so fast is because of what is called the station wagon effect. Water and dirt comes up from underneath the rear of the car and coils around to stick to the verticle surfaces (such as the small window). If you have ever had an SUV you may have noticed that the back of the vehicle always accumulated the most dirt. Same thing. The only solution is to have a spoiler on the rear which has a space between it and the body. This type of design grabs air and directs it down to counteract the air coming up from underneath the rear of the car. So far I have not seen this type of design offered. I installed a factory spoiler on my car but it is flush mounted so it is of no help. I am toying with the idea of remounting the spoiler a bit off the car but the thing is so flimsy that I think air pressure beneath it might just destroy it!
The reason the back window is getting dirty so fast is because of what is called the station wagon effect. Water and dirt comes up from underneath the rear of the car and coils around to stick to the verticle surfaces (such as the small window). If you have ever had an SUV you may have noticed that the back of the vehicle always accumulated the most dirt. Same thing. The only solution is to have a spoiler on the rear which has a space between it and the body. This type of design grabs air and directs it down to counteract the air coming up from underneath the rear of the car. So far I have not seen this type of design offered. I installed a factory spoiler on my car but it is flush mounted so it is of no help. I am toying with the idea of remounting the spoiler a bit off the car but the thing is so flimsy that I think air pressure beneath it might just destroy it!
Tried RainX, It doesn't help. The rear just collects dirt. The spoiler doesn't seem to help either. The rear window is useless. The wiper is for the most part useless. Get good with the side mirrors.
I wash this car several times a week and the rear is still always dirty.
Flaps won't help much- the crud isn't coming up off the road so much as being pulled around the sides of the body, and down off the roof, and being "pasted" onto the glass by airflow. Same as the backup camera's lens being a raindrop magnet.
Trivia bonus: VW did aero studies in the eighties- a roof rack would cost 15% in drag, and mudflaps -regular "stylish" splash flaps, not trucker flaps- cost 7%.
Trivia bonus: VW did aero studies in the eighties- a roof rack would cost 15% in drag, and mudflaps -regular "stylish" splash flaps, not trucker flaps- cost 7%.
That seems like an unrealistically exaggerated number for splash guards and since its from the 80s is very outdated automotive data.
We know now that adding surfaces and things that look like obstructions that would impede airflow or fluid dynamics can actually be a benefit, like the CR-Z having the plastic 'strakes' in front of each tire. Those actually create turbulence, or breaks up the linear direction of air in front of the tire that improves aerodynamic efficiency despite the fact that they would appear to the untrained eye to be plastic air stoppers. A few members incorrectly removed them thinking they were detrimental to aerodynamic efficiency when in fact they're the contrary, a benefit to aerodynamic efficiency.
Modern mud flap designs on large trucks for example can actually reduce drag to the point where its impact is nearly 0, the same with or without them and they can help prevent the recirculation of water and air improving vehicle performance.
Thanks for the F1 reminder--I never missed a race back when Senna was in the mix, but since then, I just keep up sporadically.
But, doesn't Formula 1 have a fix for dirty visors--Tearoffs. Our CR-Z babies need a tear-off diaper of sorts for that lower rear window. I'll start working on that now, Lol.:wink2: