Reflections on Windshield

Or there is a problem with windshields sloped at that type of angle. The reflection is still bothering me. To the point where I will be looking at a different style of car (one with a less angled windshield) in 4-5 years when I replace the new focus.

Reply to
Craig Bennett
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Try polarised (sun)glasses - should cut out all the reflections.

D.

Reply to
D

That has been suggested and shot down a couple times, and not a real solution as the reflections of the dash into the windshield happen in all sorts of light, including light where sunglasses would be more of a safety issue than a help.

If the top of the dash did not have dark lines in it (between the sloped portion of the dash and the raised rounded area over the instrument console, and around the passenger airboag panel) or was made of a less reflective material (the curved raised part of the dash does not show up in the windshiled, just the textured sloped top of the dash) there would be no issues.

Reply to
Craig Bennett

Thanks to you guys, the other day in my '03 I saw the reflections you've been talking about. :) For several seconds, while I was paying attention to them. Then they disappeared again, because I went back to looking at what was outside the car.

Reply to
Blinky the Shark

You are one lucky camper then. Sometimes I have to shift my head a few inches to the side to see around the reflected lines in order to read street signs.

Reply to
Craig Bennett

Ok, hadn't been following the thread earlier. The only time I notice the reflections on mine are in bright direct sunlight when I've forgotten my sunglasses. When wearing polarised sunglasses I don't see any reflections.

As an aside, what difference does height in the seat make. I'm 6'2" (1m87 for our metric friends) and like I say never really notice this problem. Have you tried adjusting seat height?

Biggest problem I have is with the quickclear windscreen at night which produces more glare from on-coming headlights than with windscreens without this feature.

D.

Reply to
D

it is definately worse in the bright sun, but it is there all the time when there is light for me. I have a Pueblo Gold vehicle (and I guess the same interior) - don't know if that makes too much a difference.

5'11, seat raised almost as high as it gets, and back as far as it gets. I could try adjusting the height and seeing if it makes too much a difference, but even if it does then it leads to a problem of I like the seat how it is. Heh, on a different note - it is so different than my old 98 Escort wagon - that car was so low to the ground it was crazy. No reflections on the windshield.. but it was a different angle and a smooth darker dash.

Quickclear?

I have not noticed any glare from oncoming vehicles at night. Though I have not driven the new car at night too too much. Winter is coming fast though so within a month or so I will be driving to work in the darkness and home in the darkness (or at least much darker) so my problem may go away till spring.

Reply to
Craig Bennett

Since I see driver height and interior color is now being discussed, I'll add that I'm 6'0" and my car's interior is grey. And I never wear sun glasses; I don't even own a pair. And I live in sunny Southern California, USA -- in a valley that set its all time high temperature record in late June with 119F/48C; "full sun" is no problem here. ;)

Reply to
Blinky the Shark

I found some matte black fabric hanging around the house. Actually, it is garden weed barrier. Tried laying it over the dash... no more reflection in the windshield at all anymore. Now I just have to find some way to

1) make it look nice. It will take a lot of cutting, and possibly some glueing of edges to make hems 2) attach it semi-perminantly - it will have to be removable for to be washed and when I sell the car. There are little grooves along the dash (closest to the window right where the black window defog vent area starts) and another at the start of the passenger side 3) make it safe - it will be covering the passenger airbag and both dashtop vent holes.

Still - kind of dissapointing to have to disfigure a brand new vehicle. Colour and texture does seem to be a real matter as far as the reflection.

Next project to tackle will be trying to make the windshield wipers more usable at low speeds.

Reply to
Craig Bennett

Cool beans, Craig.

Consider taking the project to a car upholstery shop. They'll have the material, the tools and the experience and skills to make something nice. Based on the shop I used for redoing the interior of my Triumph (my daily driver before I got the Focus), I'd think you could have something nice custom made for maybe US$100-$15 (convert as necessary).

...and I'd think it wouldn't as disfiguring as something you slapped together.

Oh, great -- now you're probably going to tell me what's wrong with my wipers, too... ;)

Reply to
Blinky the Shark

I hope that US$100 was a misprint. Wow.. Definately not worth that much to me unless Ford was footing the bill.

Hehe. it is odd.. the way the wipers go it seems the passenger wiper is a couple inches higher than the driver wiper. This leaves a small verical line of water that drips down on the drivers side unless I am driving fairly fast. Also, seems that if I am driving slow, I also get a small stream of water coming up the windshield off the left of the driver wiper. No problems with the passenger wiper design.

I had 0 issues major, minor or otherwise with my Escort wagon. Everything seemed to be so well thought out, in its right place and working just so perfectly designed. I think this is why I am finding myself a bit irritated with the multitude of minor problems I am finding in the Focus wagon,

Reply to
Craig Bennett

Heated front windscreen - very thin zig-zag wires vertically placed ~5-10mm apart.

D.

Reply to
D

Sweet. I always wondered why those were only available on the read window. It would be a definate benefit in the winter over here. Sometimes I think I spend more time scraping the windows in the winter then I do driving :)

Reply to
Craig Bennett

Aye, it's pretty handy here in the Alps in the winter as well. Switch engine on, front and rear screen (and mirror) heaters on, scrape side windows and off you go in 2 minutes flat.

D.

Reply to
D

Not a typo. The $15 ewas the typo -- I meant $150. I thought you wanted something nice for your shiny new car. That's not much for a custom fit. :)

That beats them dueling for space and ending up all bent up. :)

Never noticed these things. If I press the squirt button (with the wipers not running), the wipers make a few passes after the the spray has stopped, then they too stop. Then, several seconds later, they make one more pass, to dispose of the little rivulet that runs down from the top of the area area where the two patterns overlap. Perhaps I'm easily entertained, but I think that's really hip. :)

Reply to
Blinky the Shark

I finally got *that* part of winter driving solved, and I don't miss it at all. :)

Reply to
Blinky the Shark

My winter frost routine is exactly the same. But be careful: check the wiper on the passengerside. The tip of this wiper is over a part of the windscreen which is not heated. Once I did not notice and using the wipers to remove the melted ice from the windscreen tore of a bit from the wiperblade because it was still frozen to the windshield. Thibaud

Reply to
Thibaud Taudin Chabot

Not much for a custom fit, I suppose. But I am not aiming fior something nice for the shiny new car, I am aiming for no reflections. If I had known how bad it would have been, I would have had the dealer give me the $200 discount so I could get this done.

True, but I did not have this problem witht he Escort wagon. I remember the wipers being different sizes, but never saw a problem with the trickle down the drivers side. Or up the drivers side

For sure - I love that second pass. It still impresses me. But I usually end up giving it a third pass and sometimes a forth pass in order to clear the viewing area.

I do notice the passenger wiper seems to be about 1cm longer than the window. Do not know why.. think I will try replacing it with a blade size or two shorter and the drivers side with a larger blade and see if this will give me any results. Well - when it is time to replace the blades I will try this. It may be a while.

Reply to
Craig Bennett

Sure, but no reflections even at the cost of ugliness? I thought you also wanted it to look nice.

What $200 discount is that?

I don't know about either of those. I tend not to pay attention to the surface outside the wiped zones. Is that where it's happening?

Incidentally, have you ever used RainX? Not that it's relevant to your issues; I just wondered.

Wait. The passenger-side wiper goes off the windshield because it's too long?

Reply to
Blinky the Shark

The discount to get the problem fixed :)

No. Well, the problem starts there. Then it trickles down in front of the drivers side for about 3 extra manual swoops of the blades. Unless I am doing more than 40km/h in which case it trickles up and is not a problem. But at that point I also get a trickle up from the left side of the driver side wiper. Heh, I just cannot win!

Nope. Never even heard of it.

Yeah. At first I thought maybe they (dealer/ford) got the blades on the wrong sides, but no - the passenger blade is shorter than the driver blade. It has a longer arm holding it up though. Maybe they got the arms on backwards?

Reply to
Craig Bennett

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