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Austin Shackles

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Oct 17, 2009, 11:54:33 AM10/17/09
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Anyone know if wiper arms from a disco I will fit a disco II?

'cos if they will, I can fit such, then I can get trendy thin-bendy wipers
like I got for the Rangie (which seem to be very good, so far). The disco
II arms are weird ones which have non-standard wipers, which are not so easy
to get. They're also bigger and fatter than they have any need to be, for
no obviously-good reason.

The blades on it at the moment came from Hlafrauds, and I'm not overly
impressed with them, started off reasonable but now after a few months they
don't wipe cleanly, which is a PITA on wet nights. Bloody wiper blades seem
to get crappier every year...

--
Austin Shackles. www.ddol-las.net my opinions are just that
Travel The Galaxy! Meet Fascinating Life Forms...
------------------------------------------------\
>> http://www.schlockmercenary.com/ << \ ...and Kill them.
a webcartoon by Howard Tayler; I like it, maybe you will too!

Dave Liquorice

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Oct 17, 2009, 2:59:28 PM10/17/09
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On Sat, 17 Oct 2009 16:54:33 +0100, Austin Shackles wrote:

> started off reasonable but now after a few months they don't wipe
> cleanly, which is a PITA on wet nights. Bloody wiper blades seem
> to get crappier every year...

I don't often suggest products but have you tried RainX?

I was very sceptical about it from the ads but it does do what it
says on the tin. Put it on the old Discos screen and any water just
beaded up and wiped cleanly away. Above 40mph the beads just ran up
the screen, you hardly needed wipers at all.

It's a bit of slog to wash the screen, dry it, use the RainX cleaner,
then apply the RainX and polish that but it's well worth doing and
doing it properly IMHO.

--
Cheers
Dave.

Alex

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Oct 17, 2009, 6:00:16 PM10/17/09
to

I have used RainX for years, and it is one of those rare products that
does do exactly what it says on the tin. Fantastic stuff.

And for cleaning the window before the RainX, I have yet to find a
better cleaner than the Autoglym Glass Cleaner - rellay cuts through
the traffic flim.

Alex

Bob Hobden

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Oct 17, 2009, 6:02:03 PM10/17/09
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"Alex" wrote ...
"Dave Liquorice"
wrote:

>
Austin Shackles wrote:
>>
>>> started off reasonable but now after a few months they don't wipe
>>> cleanly, which is a PITA on wet nights. Bloody wiper blades seem
>>> to get crappier every year...
>>
>>I don't often suggest products but have you tried RainX?
>>
>>I was very sceptical about it from the ads but it does do what it
>>says on the tin. Put it on the old Discos screen and any water just
>>beaded up and wiped cleanly away. Above 40mph the beads just ran up
>>the screen, you hardly needed wipers at all.
>>
>>It's a bit of slog to wash the screen, dry it, use the RainX cleaner,
>>then apply the RainX and polish that but it's well worth doing and
>>doing it properly IMHO.
>
> I have used RainX for years, and it is one of those rare products that
> does do exactly what it says on the tin. Fantastic stuff.
>
> And for cleaning the window before the RainX, I have yet to find a
> better cleaner than the Autoglym Glass Cleaner - rellay cuts through
> the traffic flim.
>

Yes, but how long does it last? I found it didn't last long at all on the
car.

--
Regards
Bob Hobden
1986 90 Utility 2.5 petrol


hugh

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Oct 17, 2009, 6:18:46 PM10/17/09
to
In message <etpjd5hhosgvbt9fi...@4ax.com>, Austin Shackles
<austinDITCHTHIS...@ddol-las.net> writes

>
>Anyone know if wiper arms from a disco I will fit a disco II?
>
>'cos if they will, I can fit such, then I can get trendy thin-bendy wipers
>like I got for the Rangie (which seem to be very good, so far). The disco
>II arms are weird ones which have non-standard wipers, which are not so easy
>to get. They're also bigger and fatter than they have any need to be, for
>no obviously-good reason.
>
>The blades on it at the moment came from Hlafrauds, and I'm not overly
>impressed with them, started off reasonable but now after a few months they
>don't wipe cleanly, which is a PITA on wet nights. Bloody wiper blades seem
>to get crappier every year...
>
Have you tried wiping them with a cloth soaked in vinegar>
--
hugh
It may be more complicated but is it better?

SteveG

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Oct 17, 2009, 7:07:59 PM10/17/09
to
Austin Shackles wrote:
> Anyone know if wiper arms from a disco I will fit a disco II?
>
> 'cos if they will, I can fit such, then I can get trendy thin-bendy wipers
> like I got for the Rangie (which seem to be very good, so far). The disco
> II arms are weird ones which have non-standard wipers, which are not so easy
> to get. They're also bigger and fatter than they have any need to be, for
> no obviously-good reason.
>
> The blades on it at the moment came from Hlafrauds, and I'm not overly
> impressed with them, started off reasonable but now after a few months they
> don't wipe cleanly, which is a PITA on wet nights. Bloody wiper blades seem
> to get crappier every year...
>

Austin, I think the windscreen on the D2 is about 50mm deeper than the
D1's but you can probably overcome that by fitting slightly longer blades.

I could be totally wrong, of course ;-)

--
Regards


Steve G

Austin Shackles

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Oct 18, 2009, 3:17:17 AM10/18/09
to
On or around Sat, 17 Oct 2009 23:07:59 GMT, SteveG <_@_._> enlightened us
thusly:

It's the arms I was on about, though. And yes, I can try it, just was
wondering if anyone had done so and could tell me the answer to save me
effort :-)

The corollary is has anyone come across screenwash that actually *works*.
I've been using Halfrauds pink "premium" one, which ain't bad for getting
stuff off the screen, but doesn't solve the smearyness problem, except for a
very brief period after applying it.

The screen needs replacing anyway, mind. damn-near collected a red
ex-post-office LDV the other day, which had the sun exactly behind it, so
right in my face, and all the scratches and pits on the screen make it
bloody-nigh opaque. I can only assume it's been used in a desert somewhere.

Which reminds me. Heated front screen - how noticerable are the heater
elements, when for example the sun's in front of you in the winter? It'd be
kind of nice to have one, but not atcually essential, and if the wires are
visible they'd annoy the heck out of me.

Muddymike

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Oct 18, 2009, 5:23:59 AM10/18/09
to
> Which reminds me. Heated front screen - how noticerable are
> the heater
> elements, when for example the sun's in front of you in the
> winter? It'd be
> kind of nice to have one, but not atcually essential, and if
> the wires are
> visible they'd annoy the heck out of me.
> --

I had one in a Ford and the wires were really annoying.

Mike


Dave Liquorice

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Oct 18, 2009, 5:20:01 AM10/18/09
to
On Sun, 18 Oct 2009 08:17:17 +0100, Austin Shackles wrote:

> The corollary is has anyone come across screenwash that actually
> *works*.

Holts blue concentrated stuff (from Costco) made up to a decent
winter concentration which IIRC is 4:1 water:stuff and protects down
to -10C seems to work pretty well. I use that concentration all year
not the pathetic summer concentration. Bit daft having two
concentrations, you need a strong one in the summer to shift the bug
splat and a strong one in the winter to stop the stuff freezing.

> Which reminds me. Heated front screen - how noticerable are the heater
> elements, when for example the sun's in front of you in the winter?

Hardly noticeable. They are fine wiggly wires running vertically you
get some speculars from them but due to the wiggle but the double
curvature of the screen it's normally only a patch about 6" round
that has the worst effect. It's damn good in the winter when you have
frost inside or out or just light condensation inside. Mind you the
"defrost" setting of the aircon is one of the best I've ever had as
well. I'd not be keen on having a car without a heated screen now but
then at 1400' on the North Pennines we do still get snow measured in
feet and ground frosts into double figures fairly often. Had the
first of this winters ground frost here last week or was it the week
before, the gritter is out fairly often...

> if the wires are visible they'd annoy the heck out of me.

You can see them when you first sit in the drivers seat but as with a
lot of things your brain filters them out after a while. Either that
or they as so fine and relatively close that they go out of focus and
disappear when looking at where you should be.

Try the vinegar trick that does work. Though it sounds more as if
your screen is shagged. RainX might be worth a go the polymer (or
what ever it is) may "fill" the fine scratches and make them less
noticeable. Certainly cheaper than a new heated screen...

On the old Disco it lasted at least a couple of years and the
re-application isn't quite as hard work as the first one.

--
Cheers
Dave.

Austin Shackles

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Oct 20, 2009, 1:49:35 PM10/20/09
to
On or around Sun, 18 Oct 2009 10:20:01 +0100 (BST), "Dave Liquorice"
<allsortsn...@howhill.com> enlightened us thusly:

>Try the vinegar trick that does work. Though it sounds more as if
>your screen is shagged. RainX might be worth a go the polymer (or
>what ever it is) may "fill" the fine scratches and make them less
>noticeable. Certainly cheaper than a new heated screen...

migth try rain-x. latest thing I tried is cleaning the screen with
degreaser, ditto the wipers, will see what happens next time it's raining.

Screen is indeed shagged. If it comes to replacing it, chances are the
council will strew chippings all over the road soon, and it'll get broken
anyway, so the insurance will pay for it. Might try for a deal with
autoglass or whomever to get a heated one on the sly - though it shouldn't
need it here, the motor gets warm enough on 5 or 10 minutes idling to melt
the frost anyway.

does having ineffectual aircon (needs re-gassing) affect it's
drying/demisting ability?

Dave Liquorice

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Oct 21, 2009, 3:06:50 AM10/21/09
to
On Tue, 20 Oct 2009 18:49:35 +0100, Austin Shackles wrote:

> migth try rain-x. latest thing I tried is cleaning the screen with
> degreaser, ditto the wipers, will see what happens next time it's
> raining.

The vinegar trick works as well, donno how or why mind.

> Screen is indeed shagged. If it comes to replacing it, chances are the
> council will strew chippings all over the road soon, and it'll get
> broken anyway,

You know what sods law says, you'll wait a year for the redressing,
give up replace the screen yourself, then they'll redress the road,
the new screen will get broken and the replacement will leak like a
sieve cause of all the buggering about with the glue layer that holds
it in.

> though it shouldn't need it here, the motor gets warm enough on 5 or 10
> minutes idling to melt the frost anyway.

Ha, I sat in mine one frosty morning waiting for the heater to get
warm on idle after a few minutes drive. The chill was off the air but
that was about all, warm it was not and it didn't get any warmer in
the 10 mins I waited...

> does having ineffectual aircon (needs re-gassing) affect it's
> drying/demisting ability?

I was going to say that demisting with cooled air probably will be
better as the cooling will make the air drier (assuming no air
frost). But I'm pretty sure it blows heated air in demist mode, of
course it could chill the air to dry it then warm it back up, that
would be very dry air and be very effective at demisting. I don't
know if it does do that though.

--
Cheers
Dave.

Austin Shackles

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Oct 25, 2009, 6:05:53 PM10/25/09
to
On or around Wed, 21 Oct 2009 08:06:50 +0100 (BST), "Dave Liquorice"
<allsortsn...@howhill.com> enlightened us thusly:

>I was going to say that demisting with cooled air probably will be
>better as the cooling will make the air drier (assuming no air
>frost). But I'm pretty sure it blows heated air in demist mode, of
>course it could chill the air to dry it then warm it back up, that
>would be very dry air and be very effective at demisting. I don't
>know if it does do that though.

I know it's been said that aircon makes for better demisting, I assume
that's because of the drying aspect.

question is, does inept aircon with no gas still dry the air?

andrew

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Oct 25, 2009, 6:11:12 PM10/25/09
to
Austin Shackles wrote:

> question is, does inept aircon with no gas still dry the air?
>

No because the drying effect is achieved by dropping the air temperature
below the dew point of moisture in it, this condenses over the AC cold bits
(the evaporator) and runs onto the road and the now cold but drier air is
then re heated by the engine coolant and possibly the condenser though I
doubt this in an auto application where there is lots of waste heat
available.

AJH

Austin Shackles

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Nov 4, 2009, 1:18:02 PM11/4/09
to
On or around Sun, 25 Oct 2009 22:11:12 +0000, andrew
<ne...@sylva.icuklive.co.uk> enlightened us thusly:

ah.

bugger. I may have to get it fixed before next summer, then...

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