Despite checking the weather radar maps, one of those typical Florida *surprise* thunderstorms caught me on the way back home from my drive into Tallahassee today. And in typical fashion, the rain seemed to be limited to the road I was traveling on, and even just a half mile from the heaviest downpour where my house is located (which has LOTS of plants which would sorely appreciate the precipitation) there was only just a sprinkling of rain.
Obviously that storm was specifically laying in wait to pounce on ME.....
Anyway, the first question that popped into my mind when I turned on the windshield wipers was "I wonder how many Corvette owners don't even know if their windshield wipers work or not?"
Secondly, as I was watching the rain water bead up on the hood, I got to thinking about this "slick surface" hype stuff we hear all the time about the "beading" qualities that the polishes and waxes afford us when we use them on our cars.
Well folks, I'll admit I don't understand the physics of it. I would think that a perfectly frictionless slick surface would just have water run off it it if the surface is not perfectly parallel with the ground (or the exact alignment with the downward pull of gravity if you are not on a perfectly flat and parallel surface). So why do these beads of water, even with air pressure pressing against them as I drive down the road, NOT roll off of the surface completely? To be honest, when I would wash my Jeep, which went YEARS without wax or polish, it dried much easier simply because the water did NOT bead up on it and instead just ran off quickly. The sides basically never even looked wet for more then a few minutes. Water spots from beading? Nah, not on that vehicle!
So what am I missing here? Beading, in my opinion, is BAD. If your car gets wet in a sudden shower, and then the sun pops out while you are parked somewhere, each of those beads becomes a little magnifying glass to concentrate the sun's rays on the surface of your car. Which can actually BURN etches in the surface. Further, even without that neat little magnifying glass trick, as the water evaporates, it will leave rings of minerals and whatever else is in the rainwater as a further ringing effect on your car's surface. This is supposed to be GOOD?
How many of you rush like mad to try to dry off your car after you wash it in the heat of a hot afternoon so you don't get those evaporation rings? I know I do! But this is crazy! The manufacturers of these polish and wax products are specifically designing their products to PRODUCE these beads of water! When in fact, what I would prefer is a slick protective coating that would NOT bead up and the water would just run off in sheets immediately. A blower of any type would then dry your car completely in scant minutes.
So what am I missing here? Obviously something, because I just haven't heard anyone else do anything other then proclaim proudly how well their car's surface beads up water after they have applied their favorite polish or wax? So obviously I am not looking at this correctly......
Water beading?
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