I have just come home after another good day at work, but today was the first time I have driven the lorry on tne motorway in the rain. Problem is that all the spray from the front wheels seems to get thrown up over the mirrors and side windows, giving a real problem with visibility.
Winding the window down and back up again serves no purpose other than spreading the muck, and wiping the mirror with a cloth at 56 mph has obvious problems, and anyway 10 seconds later it’s dirty again.
In the dark I was really struggling to judge the distance car headlights were behind me, which made changing lanes “interesting”. And as for these suicidal car drivers who drive with their sidelights on just because there are street lights, well how are you supposed to see them in a mirror covered in rain?
My car does not seem to suffer from this problem, so presumably it is the design of the mirrors or just the fact that an 18 ton lorry throws up more spray??
So if anyone knows of any tricks of the trade for keeping mirrors and side windows clear in the rain, feel free to share the information!!
there’s no special magic m8,it’s a pain i know but unless you stop when visibility gets too poor then clean them,there’s not much you can do.sorry m8.joys of driving big trucks eh
i agree with kit kat everytime you stop give them a wipe and if you use the heated mirrors ha ha ha that just drys all the water into a hard crust… and then you wipe them and it all just smears so there you just cant win!!!
When I’m driving the old Ford on recovery, as soon as I’m out of sight of the boss, who “Hates to see that” I stop & tie some chamois to the mirror brackets.
Still have to stop every so often 7 give them a clean though.
Sounds a interesting tip brit pete could you explain a
little more please. What would you suggest putting
around the mirror say for example a see through plastic
bag of some sort and secure it to stop it blowing away.
I think I understand what Pete’s on about, I had the same effect in 2 Citroen BX’s I had, the mirror plastic surround had a lip all the way round which was deeper than other cars, and somehow it affected the turbulence round the mirror so the rain didn’t land on the glass. I didn’t realise how well it worked until I changed cars. I’ve had 3 different Toyotas since and the mirrors get pretty mucky. Good old Citroen, an engineers car, pity about the hydraulics gave a terrific ride but dodgy when old.
Gordy
I know what you mean about the Citroen BX’S as
I have come across a few of them in my time
in a mot centre. I used to remember when you
jacked the back end up and lowered the suspension
down it took ages to get it to normal ride height again
and was expensive when pipes corroded to. Also see
what you mean now about the plastic.
daxi:
When I’m driving the old Ford on recovery, as soon as I’m out of sight of the boss, who “Hates to see that” I stop & tie some chamois to the mirror brackets.
Still have to stop every so often 7 give them a clean though.
Thanks for the tips.
Think I will try the Rain-X first and see how that works.
Volkswagen mirrors are good, I take it they work in the same way as the old Citroen BX, with the mirror recessed into a [very expensive!] plastic casing.
The only infallible way is to get a strip of cloth about 1" wide and long enough to reach most of the mirror surface when tied to the mirror bracket. The action of the wind flapping them about keeps the mirrors pristine clean.
Some bosses hate them however. My old gaffer, Tom Llewellyn at Econofreight, threatened to sack me for making his truck look like a ‘gypsy caravan’.
His solution, not quite so effective was to cut a 1" wide section of an innertube (perhaps quite hard to find nowadays) and stretch it round the wheel nuts of the front wheel. Theory is that the muck is thrown up from them.
Not as good as my method though.
I found putting the heated mirrors on early helps, if you wait for the mirrors to be covered in muck and water it’s to late. I also carry a trigger bottle, Like for bathroom cleaners, with a screen wash mixture. I use this when I stop to clean the mirrors and side windows.
I use Rain-X on my side windows and mirrors. I have used the strip of cloth as well, but don’t need them on my Scanny, they stay clean enough, just, to only need cleaning when I take my breaks. I switch my mirror heaters on as soon as there is any rain about.
There is a nice tidy way of tying a piece of cloth to your mirror arms. Its called Mirror Wiper, or something similar, and costs a couple of quid at most truck-stops. Its a tube of cloth with one sealed end and comes with a rivet which you use to secure the end tied round your mirror arm. They seem to work pretty well.
gave a terrific ride but dodgy when old.
Here’s a link to a thread from last August which may be of interest to you :