My gen 2 had windshield that was rain repelling and it worked exceptionally well. I hardly needed to use wiper while driving on highway as water would just beads up and get pushed right toff by air. When did they stop doing that?
Right, Rain-X works well on our 2007, but only at highway speeds, and I've had to re-apply it a couple of times.
On PRIME, at least for 2017 model, the front side window HAS water-repellent coating, but not on the windshield AFAIK.
The Gen2 was my parents' car. I was surprised by the windshield as well when I first took it over and was impressed that they treated it with RainX, although I know they are the type who would not even know the difference between water and washer fluid. As time passed, I realize that wasn't rainX because the repelling property never faded away as normal treatment would have. No other windshield I have come across behaved this way. Oh well. the car came from FL. if it was a dealer or aftermarket treatment, I'd very much like to know what it was because it worked REALLY well.
I wax my windows. I use Collinite. Have to have super clean windows and apply very minimal wax and buff as much as you can. But left with super repellent windows that last a decent amount of time. If you dont do it correctly you are left with a mess.
I think Aquapel was once discussed here, but there are likely other brands. Rain Repellent Glass Treatment - Aquapel Glass Treatment
The windshield on my prime beads water better than other cars I've seen, but it doesn't look like rainx. Maybe it has a subtle treatment? I tried rainx on the back, and it turned into a gummy mess as dirt collected on it. I've used it somewhat successfully on other cars without it collecting so much dirt, so I'm not sure what went wrong. Maybe because the rear is relatively flat, rain and dirt collect while I'm not driving and then can't self-clean. Either way it doesn't last long enough to be worth it, maybe 2-4 weeks. I've also tried collinite 845, but the beading effect isn't as strong as rainx and it doesn't last very long. Maybe a month. I'm interested in trying aquapel, but probably just for the rear.
I like Aquapel on all car windows. It does not put on the same type of film as Rain-X and lasts much longer. I had one car that I used Rain-X on the windshield and discovered that the windshield was at just the wrong angle. The Rain-X film created bad glare from oncoming lights at night. I've had no problems with the Prime and Aquapel. eBay vendors have good prices for Aquapel. All these products put some sort of coating on the glass.
