Review and Giveaway: Rain-X

A couple of weekends ago, it rained. Not just rain – but one of those drenching downpours that lasts for days. My girls and I spent the weekend out of town visiting friends, with a 2-hour drive there and back.  Now while I don’t mind driving in general, rain is one of my least favorite weather situations in which to do so (blinding snowstorm being the absolute worst). But this particular time, I wasn’t too worried – I had some products from Rain-X to help me see my way.

What they are:

Rain-X’s Latitude® wiper blades are made with a contoured design that helps apply even pressure along the entire blade length – making for an even, clean wipe with every pass of the blade. They are made from a specially blended graphite coated rubber that wipes smoothly and with no chatter or squeaking, and the built-in aerodynamic spoiler also significantly reduces drag, noise and wind lift as well.

During the wintertime, Latitude wiper blades help prevent ice and snow build-up on your windshield because there are fewer metal components exposed to the weather. And the durable rubber-coating makes the wipes flexible to help them adhere to the windshield in harsh conditions.

The Rain-X® Weatherbeater Glass Cleaner and Rain Repellent not only cleans the exterior of your windshield, but also applies Rain-X’s water beading technology to enhance your visibility while driving. It cleans your glass without streaks, just by spraying it on and wiping it off – there’s no buffing required. Water is repelled from your windshield by beading up and rolling away when it hits, and the Glass Cleaner also helps to prevent and remove sleet, snow, ice, bugs and road spray from sticking to the glass as well.

Rain-X’s X-treme CleanTM is a new product that works to remove build-up from your windshield and headlights, and also renews glass and plastic by removing dirt, bugs and road grime – giving you the ultimate driving visibility, and a streak-free shine. X-treme Clean removes haze and discoloration from clear plastic and headlights as well as heavy residue and grime from your windshield, making it an ideal prep for Rain-X’s other treatments.

Here’s my take on them:

I received all three of these products, courtesy of MyBlogSpark, to test out. They were very good about making sure that I specified the vehicle type, so that the wiper blades would be the correct ones to fit our minivan. When they arrived, I have to admit that I procrastinated a bit about actually installing the wiper blades – in the past I’ve struggled with how to get the things on and off correctly, and it’s definitely not one of my favorite vehicle maintenance activities.

When I finally took the time to get outside and put the blades on our van, I read through the instructions, noting the different types of wiper arms and how each one works with the Latitude blades. The blades even come with a couple of little replacement connectors in case the ones on your vehicle aren’t the correct size. I wasn’t sure what type our wiper arms are since we’ve only had this van for a few months and I hadn’t replaced the wiper blades yet. When I managed to wrestle the existing blades off, I was happy to notice that they are the J-shaped arms that didn’t require any additional connectors or mechanisms. In fact, the Latitude blades slipped on so quickly and easily that I felt rather silly for thinking it was going to be a difficult process. 

One of the most important things to remember when installing the Latitude wiper blades is to remove the little plastic covers from the blades themselves. I forgot to do this on one of the blades and noticed immediately when I turned them on and the driver’s side wasn’t working. Oops. As soon as I slid the protective sleeve off, the blade worked wonderfully.

The remnants of winter are definitely still visible on our van – and the salt, grime and smudged dirt could easily be seen on the windshield. So I attacked it with the X-treme clean next. It was very easy to rub onto the windshield glass (in fact my only issue was finding a pole to use to reach the entire windshield – I’m on the short side), and I rinsed it off quickly with our hose. I could immediately see a difference, both looking at the windshield from the outside, and looking through it from the inside. In fact, I didn’t realize exactly how dirty the windshield had been until after it was cleaned.

Lastly, I applied the 2-in-1 cleaner and rain repellant. It also was very easy to apply to the glass and to rub off. And considering that I was using wadded up paper towels attached to a pole to do so… Well, it’s a good thing that streaks aren’t an issue. It really didn’t take much effort at all to wipe the windshield clean.

The real test came later though, on our 2-hour drive to and from my friend’s house. And I have to say that I am completely sold on the Latitude wiper blades – I’ve never had ones that kept the windshield so well cleared, and without squeaking at all, even when the rain slowed to just a fine mist. In fact, I was able to turn the wipers off for a good part of the time since the Rain-X definitely was helping the raindrops run right off of the windshield. Now I’d used Rain-X in the past and not been impressed. But this time I really like how I can see through the windshield much more clearly and don’t have to constantly be using the wiper blades in order to drive in the rain. I’m really happy with how well all three of these products work.

Here’s some safe driving tips for you:

Since winter is not necessarily quite over yet, here are some tips from Jody DeVere, President and CEO of the #1 women’s auto advice website, AskPatty.com, to stay safe while driving in the rain, snow, slush and ice:

• Conduct a regular walk around checking your lights, antifreeze, windshield washer fluid and wiper blades regularly
• Ensure your tires are properly inflated and have sufficient tread
• As the temperature drops keep your gas tank at least half full; the extra gas reduces condensation that can plug your fuel line with ice and stall your engine in cooler weather
• Create an emergency pack; items like a blanket, first aid kit, snacks, bottled water, an ice scraper, flashlight and a bag of kitty litter

The bottom line:

Rain-X Latitude wiper blades, glass cleaners and rain repellant products definitely do the job of keeping your windshield clean and enhancing your visibility when driving during inclement weather conditions. It’s difficult enough to concentrate on the road, other vehicles, and what’s going on around your car without having to worry that you can’t see clearly. Rain-X takes that worry away and helps ensure that your windshield is clean and streak-free.

Would you like to try them?:

Thanks to MyBlogSpark, I have a Rain-X Car Care Kit just like the one that I received for one lucky reader!  The kit includes a set of Rain-X® Latitude™ Wiper Blades specific for your car, a bottle of Rain-X® Weatherbeater® 2-in-1 Glass Cleaner & Rain Repellant, and a bottle of new Rain-X® X-treme Clean. If you’d like to try these out on your own vehicle (winner will have to specify vehicle make, model and year), here are the rules:

1. Enter by visiting the Rain-X site and leaving a comment here to let me know how often you change your vehicle’s wiper blades. Please don’t just say ‘choose me’, or your entry will be discarded.
2. The contest will run until Wednesday, March 25th at 11:59 pm EST. The winner will be selected through random drawing, contacted by e-mail, listed on this post and also submitted to PRIZEY.Fetch. US entries only, please.
3. Please leave a valid e-mail address or other way to contact you! If you don’t wish to leave your e-mail address, please make sure that you leave a unique name and check back with PRIZEYWinners to see if you won. If the winner hasn’t responded within 3 days, an alternate winner will be chosen by random drawing.
4. If you’d like extra entries, you can:

• Subscribe to my RSS feed (click on the orange icon in the upper right sidebar) or subscribe via e-mail – leave me a separate comment to let me know.
• Mention this contest on your blog with a link back to this post, and leave a separate comment with the link to your post so I can find it.
• Either Twitter about, ‘Stumble’, ‘Digg’ or ‘Kirtsy’ this post – leave me a separate comment with your username at whichever site(s) you chose (one extra entry per method).

So that’s a total of 7 comments/entries if you do all of the extra entry options.

Good luck! 

THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED – the random number generator has chosen comment #162 as the winner:

Congratulations to Maureen who said, “I have had my van since October, it was used and I haven’t changed the blades, I know I need to because the driver side one is ripped, and i know it will finish off at the least opportune minute, Blinding rain storm I am sure. I would love to Outsmart the Elements and put these fantastic wipers on my van. Thanks for the giveaway, I love your blog“! I will be e-mailing you shortly to work out the details.

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