FSD Beta : "poor weather detected" in rain - apply RainX ?

[EVNow]

TL;DR : Should we apply RainX or other hydrophobic coatings to handle poor weather ?

I've relied on AP to help me drive at night in rain. It never gave me any "poor weather" warnings and always seemed to "see" better than me. I do wear glasses and thus get blinded by oncoming vehicles at night, in the rain.

So, the question is - why is FSD beta behaving differently in rain. Purely for figuring out the lanes - radar would not play any part. But it seems lane detection in FSD beta is worse than AP rain at night. Why would that be ?

It could be that the glass covering in front of the camera (actually camera glasses are not exposed) are dirty. So, I cleaned the glass in front of all the cameras. Hasn't made any difference.

Wondering whether I should apply RainX or some such hydrophobic coating (like Griot's Garage 11033 Glass Sealant). I'd do this to the entire windshield as well as glass covering on all (other) cameras. I guess after that I should calibrate the cameras for best results.

Has anyone experimented with this to see how AP/FSD reacts ?

I wonder whether the RainX or other coatings would cause chromatic and other aberrations to the camera image and make it worse.

 

[Darmie]

I feel confident that RainX is safe to use on the windshield. I would caution using it on any plastic what so ever. I remember in my younger days applying it on a motorcycle helmet visor. Yep, that was a mistake. I wonder if the B cameras are seeing any issue in the rain? I would think not but hard to rule out how Tesla thinks.

 

[wtwieder]

I feel confident that RainX is safe to use on the windshield. I would caution using it on any plastic what so ever. I remember in my younger days applying it on a motorcycle helmet visor. Yep, that was a mistake. I wonder if the B cameras are seeing any issue in the rain? I would think not but hard to rule out how Tesla thinks.

If I recall correctly, somehere in the user's manual, Tesla advised, for some reason, NOT to use Rainex on the windshield.

 

[sids911]

I just wonder why they got rid of radar (hopefully cost is not one of those reasons).

 

[EVNow]

If I recall correctly, somehere in the user's manual, Tesla advised, for some reason, NOT to use Rainex on the windshield.

What I did was to apply RainX a couple of days back to improve general visibility in rain on the windshield - except for the camera portion. I left that untouched - which might result in weird auto-wipers behavior as a side-effect.

Didn't improve the visibility all that much - so, I'm thinking of starting fresh
- Wash the windshield clean
- Clean with Glass Cleaning Clay
- Apply Glass Sealant

The covering for B pillar cameras - I'll just clean and leave it.

 

[EVNow]

I just wonder why they got rid of radar (hopefully cost is not one of those reasons).

They have said it was causing too many issues integrating with vision.

Anyway, as I said, definitely problem figuring out the lanes is definitely not because of lack of Radar.

 

[nvx1977]

I've noticed that autowipers freak out with rainX or other hydrophobic treatments. it make the wipers go at max speed even for slow steady rain mainly because of how the streaks are formed by the wipers. If you have this done by someone else, have them skip the area around the cameras.

 

[blkswn]

I second the above poster's experience. RainX treatment made my wipers hyperactive and also caused wipers to skip a short while after.

 

[qdeathstar]

I just wonder why they got rid of radar (hopefully cost is not one of those reasons).

Cost an availability. Though honestly I haven’t noticed a huge degradation in autopilot capability since my Tesla went vision only.

More phantom breaking maybe but that might have to do more with fsd beta

 

[hellocar]

I have seen the poor weather detected warning for public build NoA for over a year. As I understand it, it pops up when using FSD Bets, but the FSD continues to work unchanged? haven’t had it since I got the beta though.

 

[EVNow]

I have seen the poor weather detected warning for public build NoA for over a year. As I understand it, it pops up when using FSD Bets, but the FSD continues to work unchanged? haven’t had it since I got the beta though.

Right, fsd continues to work. The message says AP Unavailable.

 

[VanFriscia]

Right, fsd continues to work. The message says AP Unavailable.

Yes, I experienced that earlier in the week as well. We had some pretty solid rain so I thought I'd put FSD through its paces. I was surprised when it engaged, despite saying poor weather was detected and AP was unavailable.

Admittedly it wasn't a very difficult route (single lane country driving, 35-45 MPH roads), but it was pretty serious rain and I have to say the car handled it very well overall. I barely noticed any difference vs. normal weather conditions and lane-keeping was not a problem. Strange that we're having different experiences there.

 

[nvx1977]

Unfortunately for me, when I had my car wrapped, they threw in a complimentary ceramic coating for all the glass. It was formulated for glass. At any rate, it caused lots of streaking when using the wipers, and I suspect it's had a deleterious effect on FSD. My car frequently crosses double yellow lines on a curvy 2-lane road when it's rainy. Never does this in sunny or overcast days.

 

[ElectricMagma]

I've been messing around with this (not the rain-x) but the rain warning.

While highway driving in the rain, also while navigating on autopilot, i found my wipers weren't going fast enough for my liking on auto. WHeni switched it, it would give me the poor weather conditions and turn of the navigate on autopilot feature. Autopilot would otherwise work.

If i left the wipers on auto, even though i couldn't see well for a little bit between wipes, the warning never occurred. I replicated this behavior a few times in a row.

 

[Trip McNealy]

Aside from the windshield, anyone use RainX/Griot's Glass Sealant/etc. on the other glass surfaces, namely the roof and tailgate with good results?

 

[EVNow]

While highway driving in the rain, also while navigating on autopilot, i found my wipers weren't going fast enough for my liking on auto. WHeni switched it, it would give me the poor weather conditions and turn of the navigate on autopilot feature. Autopilot would otherwise work.

If i left the wipers on auto, even though i couldn't see well for a little bit between wipes, the warning never occurred. I replicated this behavior a few times in a row.

Very interesting. I'll try this out.

I've barely ever used anything but Auto earlier. Only recently switched to manual because of poor visibility.

 

[SFNM Jack]

I just want to add here that you are *never* supposed to use any type of cruise control, TACC, auto pilot or FSD in rainy or snowy weather on any car. This is a common sense rule and is written down plainly in most owners manuals. You’ll even see it flashing on informational road signs, at least in western states. I don’t have FSD and I’ve never seen the “poor weather“ warning but I can tell you that using any automatic driving solution in bad weather whether on a Tesla or any other car is not a smart idea. You can agree or disagree but I think most experts and most manufacturers would find my statement to be correct. Please don’t beast me up…. The choice is yours but…

That being said. I have used Rainx on my entire windscreen camera area and all. I’d also used in on the B pilar. If applied correctly and polished out as directed it seems to be fine for me. I don’t discount others experiences but what I’ve seen is zero issues. I was driving in snow and sleet New Year’s Eve in SFNM. No issues with auto wipers whatsoever. Now auto headlights in snow…. That’s another story. Mine were quite jumpy between high and low beam even when other cars were not present. Turned off auto setting and won’t use it again in inclement weather.

I agree with the poster that I would not apply rainx to plastic although the manufacturer says it’s okay to do so. I too have had a bad experience doing so. I was thinking about putting it on the rear and front fender cameras as well but since I don’t know what the lense is made of I have not done so…

Rainx also works really well on the roof and back windows but it is a total PIA to polish it out and make it look good.

 

[jebinc]

I second the above poster's experience. RainX treatment made my wipers hyperactive and also caused wipers to skip a short while after.

Same with AquaPel. I don’t use anything any more. Too much of a wiper PITA.

 

[JulienW]

Wish Tesla would dedicate an engineer or two to replicating the behavior of a standard Auto Wiper sensor into Deep Rain. And also do the same with Auto High Beams.

 

[EVNow]

I just want to add here that you are *never* supposed to use any type of cruise control, TACC, auto pilot or FSD in rainy or snowy weather on any car. This is a common sense rule and is written down plainly in most owners manuals. You’ll even see it flashing on informational road signs, at least in western states. I don’t have FSD and I’ve never seen the “poor weather“ warning but I can tell you that using any automatic driving solution in bad weather whether on a Tesla or any other car is not a smart idea.

Having lived in 2 decades in a western state with a lot of rain, I've never seen any kind of road signs like you say.

I'd like to see any links to "experts" saying "you are *never* supposed to use any type of cruise control, TACC, auto pilot or FSD in rainy or snowy weather on any car". If not, it is just your opinion - which is fine. But when you start saying thats what "experts" say, you have to produce evidence.