Just in time for the Rainy Season! Make your own Windshield Water Repellent!

[Obi..]

From: http://www.ehow.com/how_7526392_home...repellent.html

Instructions
Things You'll Need

* Rubbing alcohol (isopropyl alcohol)
* Filtered water
* Measuring cup
* Spray bottle
* Rag
* 100 ml graduated cylinder
* Ethanol
* Silicone oil or castor oil
* Graduated cylinder

~Simple Solution: Pour half a cup of rubbing alcohol into the measuring cup. Pour this into the spray bottle. Measure out 1 cup of filtered water and add this to the spray bottle. Swirl the bottle to mix the two ingredients.

**The bottle will feel warm, but not hot. Wait until it cools before putting on the cap.

LABEL YOUR BOTTLE!

Spray the solution onto the exterior of a clean and dry windshield. Use a clean and dry rag to wipe the windshield until it is thoroughly dry.

************************************************** ************************************************** ***
First a WARNING/ADVISORY!

Use a clean spray bottle! Don't attempt to add to the solution from Step 1 or even reuse the bottle. Swirl the bottle to mix the ingredients.

~Solution Similar to Store-Bought Windshield Water Repellent: Measure 86 ml of the ethanol into the graduated cylinder. Pour this into the spray bottle. Measure 5 ml of rubbing alcohol and pour this into the spray bottle. Measure 9 ml of silicone oil or castor oil in the graduated cylinder and add this to the spray bottle. Swirl the bottle to mix the ingredients.

**The bottle will feel warm, but not hot. Wait until it cools before putting on the cap.

LABEL YOUR BOTTLE!

Spray the solution onto the exterior of a clean and dry windshield. Use a clean and dry rag to wipe the windshield until it is thoroughly dry.

[Obi..]

Mods, please consider this for the UY-Wiki under the General Tech Column.

[04 Rocko Taco]

Out of curiosity - What is the cost/benefit of this vs a "market leading product"?

Just thinking to myself, since I have almost none of the above ingredients, it would seem that to buy this setup would probably run me at LEAST what it would cost for the "leading market product" at retail prices.

[Obi..]

I haven't figured out the final cost tally because I'm going to treat this the same way I do with the chainlube my clients prefer to buy from me. I buy the smallest possible amounts of the ingredients available from the local hardware store, make a trial batch, and however many bottles is what the cost is to me, including gas to drive there and back, minus my time. When I decide whether or not to go through with a project, I buy a little more in bulk to get better profitability, but while not having a bunch of flammables stored in the garage.

It'll be a few months before I decide if it's truely worth it, but I will most likely post a tally with a copy of the receipt. The only reason I am trying this is I spoke with someone about the stuff PPG's putting out called AquaPel and my innate desire to try to go as "green as possible" with little things like this. That I can use both Ethanol and Castor Oil was a big point of this. Too bad there's no real solid substitute for isopropyl alcohol at this time.

To more directly answer though, let's just say the profitability on the "green" chainlube I make is 500% and still comes out cheaper (to the end user) than the more "dino-based" popular stuff, and works way better. So much so I actually now have to tell people who aren't existing clients "No, sorry, but it'll be some time before I make another batch." More because I prefer to only offer it to good clients, not Joe-Schmoes who are more of the type to be gripers and complainers and could actually waste my time instead.

[Obi..]

(Translation: Get a bunch of friends to go in with you on this and share it amongst yourselves and have fun with it!)