Front Windshield Distortion

[flyeaglesfly]

This is one those things I never noticed until someone pointed it out. After that, I found it on my car, and it drove me nuts. Then... I noticed it on my wife's Hyundai that we've been driving for 5 years without ever noticing. Then ... her windshield cracked, and the replacement had a similar issue in slightly different spots, but it was there nonetheless. With that, I just decided to stop worrying about it.

For me, it was on the passenger side, only visible to the driver (not the passenger), and only in certain conditions that were super infrequent in my normal day to day. So... I just don't go looking for it anymore, and I barely notice it. I say barely because if I'm turning and the right thing is on the other side of the windshield then I do see some rippling (if I stare it at, I just get dizzy and angry).

Trying my hardest to not let it annoy me but my head says otherwise. thanks.

It took me a few solid weeks of consciously trying not to care about it (yeah, that's kind of counter-intuitive), but eventually it left my mind and now it's not really a thing for me anymore.

The only long term side effect is that I no longer read posts that start with "is anyone else having this problem?" and I go on living in gleeful ignorance

 

[Rylet]

I personally feel the windshield is at too extreme of an angle and it will sometimes give me headaches.

Maybe more people on noticing the distortion more on the Model 3 due to the super slanted angle of the windshield to begin with.

 

[gaduser]

My M3P has some distortion in the windshield.

I noticed that it seemed to have a film on it during a rain, and when washed. It appeared to have had something spilled on it that ran down in streaks.

Therefore, I cleaned the windshield very thoroughly. That didn't help, so I carefully hand polished a section resulting in no improvement.

When clean and dry, I cannot see the aberrations.

When wet, the "streaks" are visible.
That happens because the index of refraction of the water is different than that of the glass, thus causing a reflective interface between water and glass. That makes very small imperfections visible.

There seem to be actual streaks of glass on the surface of the windshield. I can just barely feel them when carefully running a fingernail over the glass.

I haven't yet discussed this with Tesla. The downside is that every time I drive in the rain, it will aggravate me.

I am trying to judge if the cure is likely to be worth the risk.

Thoughts?

 

[MelindaV]

My M3P has some distortion in the windshield.

I noticed that it seemed to have a film on it during a rain, and when washed. It appeared to have had something spilled on it that ran down in streaks.

Therefore, I cleaned the windshield very thoroughly. That didn't help, so I carefully hand polished a section resulting in no improvement.

When clean and dry, I cannot see the aberrations.

When wet, the "streaks" are visible.
That happens because the index of refraction of the water is different than that of the glass, thus causing a reflective interface between water and glass. That makes very small imperfections visible.

There seem to be actual streaks of glass on the surface of the windshield. I can just barely feel them when carefully running a fingernail over the glass.

I haven't yet discussed this with Tesla. The downside is that every time I drive in the rain, it will aggravate me.

I am trying to judge if the cure is likely to be worth the risk.

Thoughts?

I believe what you are describing is simply the glass is new and doesn't yet have any micro abrasions to diffuse the water, and you are coming from a car with a windshield that had been driven and had some wear on it.
using a hydrophobic coating will case the water to bead up and not sheet on the glass.

 

[gaduser]

I believe what you are describing is simply the glass is new and doesn't yet have any micro abrasions to diffuse the water, and you are coming from a car with a windshield that had been driven and had some wear on it.
using a hydrophobic coating will case the water to bead up and not sheet on the glass.

Thanks for the thought.
I did wonder about the newness. That is why I cleaned and hand polished a section. I expect that the finely abrasive polish would not only have removed any variational contamination, but would have caused micro abrasions. Did not help. I was unable to detect any visible change in that area of the surface. Curious.
Most indicative was that I could just barely feel the surface height variations.

 

[garsh]

That is why I cleaned and hand polished a section. ... Did not help.

Apply a hydrophobic coating (Rain-X being one example).

My own experience with a new windshield back in January 2018:

I forgot how bad plain old glass is. I had the windshield replaced in my leaf a few weeks ago. Then I drove it home in the rain. It wasn't even that hard of a rain, but it felt like I couldn't see out of the windshield, even with the wiper speed on high. I immediately cleaned it and put on Rain-X after getting home.

 

[zosoisnotaword]

Thanks for the thought.
I did wonder about the newness. That is why I cleaned and hand polished a section. I expect that the finely abrasive polish would not only have removed any variational contamination, but would have caused micro abrasions. Did not help. I was unable to detect any visible change in that area of the surface. Curious.
Most indicative was that I could just barely feel the surface height variations.

From the way you describe it, I agree with Melinda that a hydrophobic coating would probably solve your problem. Plus it just makes it easier to drive. You can use a silicon-based spray coating on your windshield as well as your paint to make it slippery. I have Ceramic Pro Rain/Sport on mine, but you can find several companies that make a spray available to the public. I'd recommend Gyeon products based on research, or find a local Ceramic Pro installer and ask for a windshield treatment package.