2024 test10 productsCar Care & Detailing
Which Windshield Water Repellent Brand Wins?
A head-to-head test of 10 windshield water repellent options with the measured results for each. See how they ranked and watch the full test video.
Budget pick
Rain-X
Price shown in test: $10 for two 3.5 oz containers (about $10 for 7 oz total)
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The measured results
Every number below is read straight from the test. Scroll sideways to see all measurements. Products are listed in the order they finished.
| Product | Slickness Test | Hydrophobic Bead Test_heavy Spray | Washer Fluid Durability | Car Wash Durability | Bug Tar Remover Test_top 4only | Wheel Tire Cleaner Test_top 4only | Degreaser Test_top 4only | Blow Dryer Test_top 4only | Bug Guts Removal Test | Marker Stain Removal Test | Heat Durability Test_bracket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1Rain-X$10 for two 3.5 oz containers (about $10 for 7 oz total) | 2 lb of force to slide the weighted sponge (versus 3.5 lb untreated) | amazing hydrophobic qualities, water forming very tight beads; finished 3rd overall in this test behind Aquapel and GYEON (tied 1st) | still works as good as new | still looks as good as new | water beading and beginning to form lines when running off | definitely had an impact, water beads now forming water trails | more water trails, trails becoming longer | tied for 3rd (last) place among the top 4 at very close to 2 seconds, alongside G-Techniq | performed well with just a small amount of unfinished business | black marker has been removed | beat Adams (slight edge), 3D (easy win), Chemical Guys (easy win), and CERAKOTE, but lost to G-Techniq ('the g technique finally handed the rainx a loss'); finished 4th overall in this bracket-style heat test behind the 3-way tie of G-Techniq, Aquapel, and GYEON |
| 2Invisible Glass$12 for 8 oz | 2.6 lb of force to slide the weighted sponge | water mostly forming a sheet rather than beading, described as performing worse than Rain-X | sheet of water took about half a second longer to dissipate | needed an extra 2 seconds for the sheet of water to run off | not tested | not tested | not tested | not tested | didn't perform quite as well as Rain-X, some bug guts still on the test piece | black marker has been removed | eliminated early; described only in a side comparison as performing worse than CERAKOTE ('the cerakote did perform better than the invisible glass and the 3D') |
| 3Adams Glass Sealant 2.0$15 for 4 oz | 1.1 lb of force, described as 'by far the slickest yet' at that point in testing, about a pound less than Rain-X; finished 2nd overall in the closing slickness leaderboard | definitely a better job than Invisible Glass but not quite as good as Rain-X | performing very well, seemed unphased by the windshield washer fluid | took some damage, 1.5 seconds for the sheet of water to dissipate | not tested | not tested | not tested | not tested | about the same as Invisible Glass | permanent marker removed | lost to Rain-X, described as 'extremely close' with Rain-X having only a slight edge |
| 43D$16 for 16 oz, or right at $1 per ounce (transcript garbles the price as '$61' / '6 $1'; resolved via the narrator's own 'right at $1 per ounce' cross-check for a 16 oz bottle, kept flagged as a resolved caption garble) | 1.6 lb of force, moved into 2nd place at that point in testing; finished tied for 3rd overall in the closing slickness leaderboard alongside G-Techniq | about the same as Invisible Glass, not quite as good as Rain-X or Adams | a lot of damage, over 8 seconds for the sheet of water to dissipate | a lot of damage, went from 9 seconds to 26 seconds | not tested | not tested | not tested | not tested | streaks of bug guts running across the glass panel ('that familiar streak') | black marker removed ('did a great job') | lost to Rain-X, described as an 'easy win for the rainx' |
| 5CERAKOTE$117 for the kit (two glass cleaning wipes, one 1.8 oz ceramic bottle, one microfiber towel, two gloves) | 2.4 lb of force, about the same as Invisible Glass | performing well, but water beginning to form a sheet under the direct path of the spray; described as clearly worse than GYEON in a direct side-by-side | sheet of water now taking 2 seconds longer to dissipate | went from 3.3 seconds to 5.7 seconds after the car wash and scrubber | not tested | not tested | not tested | not tested | performed about the same as Invisible Glass and Adams, plenty of leftover residue | black marker did not survive the test (removed) | lost to Rain-X ('rainx outperformed the cerakote'), but performed better than Invisible Glass and 3D in a side comparison |
| 6G-Techniq G5$22 | 1.6 lb of force, tied with 3D for 2nd place at that point in testing; finished tied for 3rd overall in the closing slickness leaderboard | very good, almost as good as Rain-X, in 2nd place at that point in testing, clearly better than 3D | still looks as good as new | looks just as good as Rain-X, nothing but water beads | still forming water beads but water forming water lines when running off, similar to Rain-X | looks very close to the same as Rain-X, water beads forming pretty long water trails | performing about the same as Rain-X, pretty long water trails | tied for 3rd (last) place among the top 4 at very close to 2 seconds, alongside Rain-X | performed quite a bit better than average, just a small amount of bug guts still on the panel | black marker lifted away from the glass during the test | the only brand to beat Rain-X in the heat-resistance bracket; then tied with Aquapel ('too close to call'); finished in a 3-way tie for 1st place overall in this test alongside Aquapel and GYEON |
| 7Chemical Guys Hydro View$23 for 16 oz | 1 lb of force, described as 'super slick,' the best (lowest) result of all 10 brands and the closing slickness leaderboard's overall winner | clearly loses to GYEON in a direct side-by-side comparison ('the gion is definitely doing a much better job with water immediately forming very tight beads') | now taking an extra 3 seconds to break up the sheet of water | really lost a lot of performance, going from 4.3 seconds to 12 seconds | not tested | not tested | not tested | not tested | quite a bit of bug gut still left on the test piece | quite a bit of permanent marker survived the test | lost to Rain-X, described as an 'easy win for the rainx' |
| 8Aquapel$26 for two | 4.2 lb of force, described as 'even less slick than the untreated glass' (worse than the 3.5 lb untreated baseline) | performing extremely well, tight beads across the entire test area, easily beat Chemical Guys; tied with GYEON for 1st place overall in this test | performing as good as new | still repelling water just as good as new | performing about the same as Rain-X | performing the best so far, most water beads running off the glass without forming water lines | performing a little bit better than GYEON, but described as a very close competition between the two | came out on top of all 4 remaining brands at 0.6 seconds | most bug guts came off but there are still some dissolved bug gut streaks | a shadow of the marker still visible on the glass (not fully removed) | tied with G-Techniq ('too close to call'), easily beat Debaishi, then tied with GYEON ('too close to call... both brands perform very well'); finished in a 3-way tie for 1st place overall alongside G-Techniq and GYEON |
| 9Debaishi$26 for a 10 pack | 1.8 lb of force, performed better than Aquapel | really struggling, water forming a sheet across the entire test area; clear loss to Aquapel | just about used up at 18 seconds after only brief exposure, the worst result of all 10 brands in this test | really struggling, very close to a minute for the sheet of water to clear the test area, the worst result of all 10 brands | not tested | not tested | not tested | not tested | did a great job removing the marker stain but really struggled with the bug guts | marker stain removed ('did a great job') | lost easily to Aquapel |
| 10GYEON Q² View (transcript renders the brand and product name as 'guy on'/'gion'/'Guion,' resolved to GYEON per the description)$45 | 4.3 lb of force, described as 'the most force yet,' the worst (highest) result of all 10 brands | doing the best job so far in the heavy-spray test, water forming very tight beads, unable to form a sheet; beat CERAKOTE and Chemical Guys decisively; tied with Aquapel for 1st place overall in this test | continues to do an amazing job forming tight water beads (essentially unaffected) | still doing an amazing job, water unable to form a sheet (essentially unaffected) | definitely forming the tightest water beads of all the top-4 brands after this exposure | outperforming Rain-X and G-Techniq by just a little in a close race | some water trails, but performing better than Rain-X and G-Techniq | 2nd place among the top 4 at just over 1.1 seconds | did a pretty good job with the bug gut remains | some permanent marker remains still visible (not fully removed) | outperformed CERAKOTE in a side comparison, then tied with Aquapel ('too close to call... both brands perform very well'); finished in a 3-way tie for 1st place overall alongside G-Techniq and Aquapel |
How it was tested
- slickness test (force in lb to slide a 5 lb weighted sponge across the treated glass panel)
- hydrophobic beading test on an actual car windshield (light mist, then heavy spray)
- windshield washer fluid durability test (2 sponge passes, time for water sheet to dissipate)
- car wash detergent and scrubber durability test (5 passes)
- bug and tar remover exposure test (top 4 finalists only)
- wheel and tire cleaner exposure test (top 4 finalists only)
- degreaser exposure test (top 4 finalists only)
- blow dryer test, fan only at approximately 40 mph (top 4 finalists only, time to clear water droplets)
- insect splatter (bug guts) removal test with windshield washer fluid and squeegee passes, all 10 brands
- permanent marker stain removal test, all 10 brands
- heat/hot water durability test (dishwasher at approximately 130 F for 2.5 hours, no detergent, bracket-style elimination comparisons)
“the g technique in aquapel tied for first place with an average finish of 1.3”