Water repellant for outside of visor?

[Tim in Belgium]

Does anyone make a water repellant for the outside of a visor to help droplets bead up and run off?

I find it's normally ok in heavy rain, but last night I was going over the Yorkshire moors through the mist and the little droplets just accumulated severely reducing my vision. A wipe with the glove wasn't enough and with the visor up it stung my eyeballs.

Any tips appreciated.

[Baph]

White vinegar. Just use a small amount, it's like Fairy, goes a long way!

Works wonders for cleaning mirrors without them steaking too!

[sarah]

Does anyone make a water repellant for the outside of a visor to help droplets bead up and run off?

I find it's normally ok in heavy rain, but last night I was going over the Yorkshire moors through the mist and the little droplets just accumulated severely reducing my vision. A wipe with the glove wasn't enough and with the visor up it stung my eyeballs.

Any tips appreciated.

I've got Nikwax visor proof. I did some of my DAS last December when there was loads of freezing fog and i found having a glove with a suede(?) bit was fine for clearing my visor.

[Tim in Belgium]

Sarah, did the Nikwax visor proof seem to help?

And Baph I knew white vinegar was good for cleaning, but does it aid water repellancy too?

[hovis]

whats the differance between white & normal vinagar?

[svrash]

A silicon based furniture polish works for me, Mr. Sheen for example ;)

[Baph]

And Baph I knew white vinegar was good for cleaning, but does it aid water repellancy too?

Apparently it leaves a fine film on the visor (visible rainbow at least) which stops the water staying on the visor & encourages it to run off.

When Alpinestarhero wakes up (typical student :p) I'll point him to this thread for a better explaination.

There's 2 ways to make water run off a visor to my understanding. Stop it bonding with the visor molecularly (so the droplets run off almost immediately) or to make all the water droplets form a single body of water. The latter means if the water stays on the visor, you can see through it easier, but it's also heavier, so wind passing the helmet will push it off easier.

Hovis, click > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinegar#Types_of_vinegar.

[hovis]

Hovis, click > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinegar#Types_of_vinegar.

yes,yes.......but why not use normal viniger on the visor, it cleans the mirrors a treat in work

[Tim in Belgium]

Baph,

I'm well aware of hydrophobic and hydrophyllic options, all I want is a product that works or helps! So the white vinegar (which is effectively the same as autoglym's visor cleaner) and Nikwax visor proof may both be tried, along with a silicon spray.

[Baph]

Hovis, if you read the page, white vinegar is basically acetic acid diluted in water. Acetic acid is "ethanol acid" which is a corrosive (so helps to clean by corroding dirt) but more importantly, attracts water by hygroscopy. Obviously if it's already diluted (in white vinegar for example), hygroscopy is reduced, but still happens to an extent.

Malt vinegar (normal supermarket stuff) will do the job, but white vinegar is better at it.

Tim, wasn't trying to teach you to suck eggs :p In summer, I use fairy liquid diluted in water (in a bowl) to clean the visor, then white vinegar (again, diluted) to give anti-fog (inside visor) and water repellant (outside) properties to the visor. In winter I use Fog Off on the inside too.

[Tim in Belgium]

Cheers Baph for the info and product reviews :)

[hovis]

there was a thread on this b4, a few people said WD40 ? but a lot went against it

HTH

[BristolMatt]

Get a V-Wipe. It's like a little windscreen wiper for your index finger on your left hand. They're about £5 from any good motorcycle shop :) .
Loved it...until I lost it :(

[mac99]

I use visor rain repellent by these people storm water proofing (http://www.stormwaterproofing.com/biking_products4.html).

It's not perfect, but it does do something. It doesn't really help with the build up of spray/mist at slow speeds, but turn your head sideways at 60+ and all the water is just whipped off. It wears off pretty quickly as well, you need to reapply about twice a week in bad weather.

I bought it from the local Kawasaki dealership.

I'd previously tried some stuff for car windscreens that I'd bought from Halfords. It wasn't quite as good.

[fizzwheel]

The best thing I found was to have a clean visor.

I've got the iridium visor cleaning kit from www.thevisorhop.com (http://www.thevisorhop.com) whenever I clean my visor with that the rain seems to bead up really quickly and it runs off.

I found on foggy days that it was best to just let the moisture build up into big beads and then turn my head often so that the air pressure blows the water off.

[sarah]

i think the nikwax stuff helped but it was so foggy (and i am the slowest rider ever) that i didn't go fast enough for the moisture to get blown off my visor so had to rely on wiping my visor v frequently.

[chazzyb]

Go on, use malt vinegar! You'll get used to the smell after a while. ;-)

[Baph]

Go on, use malt vinegar! You'll get used to the smell after a while. ;-)
You had to tell them didn't you? Could of waited for the AR & the smell of vinegar! :rolleyes:

[northwind]

i like the Nikwax stuff, it does make a big difference- you know how usually you can tip your head and the water blows off? It just does that all the time. Or it would, if I ever remembered to reapply it!

[phil24_7]

I got some rain-x stuff that I used to use on the cage out in the garage, is this stuff any good??

[thedonal]

I used Holts anti fog and water repellant spray. It's OK, but needs regular re-application (especially on the inside). I've noticed that, and the Mars Care Anti-Fog stuff I got the other day seem to make the view a little misty themselves- especially on my new dark bisor- though I'm not sure if I just need to apply it a little more evenly and thinly...

The Bob Heath stuff is OK too (used to use it on my glasses and goggles when going paintballing). But it only comes in tiny bottles.

I'm strongly considering getting a fog city visor insert put on my screens soon.

[Alpinestarhero]

Watch this space; my chemistry project will involve modifying visor surfaces to make them highly hydrophobic :cool:

Then no need for putting on stuff which only washes off or wipes off

Matt

[hovis]

Watch this space; my chemistry project will involve modifying visor surfaces to make them highly hydrophobic :cool:

Then no need for putting on stuff which only washes off or wipes off

Mattwhats wrong with blowing stuff up?:smt073

[svJvJ]

http://www.getgeared.co.uk/acatalog/Glove_Rain_Wipers.html

[Raiden]

Rain X all the way.

[Alpinestarhero]

whats wrong with blowing stuff up?:smt073

Links to terrorism :rolleyes:

Matt