03 4runner throws water from puddles

[anthonyball]

My wife's 03 4runner throws water from puddles up in the front and onto the windshield, obstructing vision. Is this a common problem, is it the tires, does it need some sort of fender extension or what?

 

[jharris2]

Mine doesn't do that.......first thing I'd do is make sure to keep a good coat of RainX on the windshield.

Then, see if you can drive your car near her truck so you can watch exactly what happens. That can give you some good clues as to what's happening.

 

[peter78]

My wife's 03 4runner throws water from puddles up in the front and onto the windshield, obstructing vision. Is this a common problem, is it the tires, does it need some sort of fender extension or what?

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Find a smaller puddle.

 

[Caffeine Power]

Same problem with our 1990 & 2000 4Runners. Rainex works great but slowing down works better

 

[gaslight]

it happens with a lot of vehicles. depends on how fast you are going and how deep the puddle is.

 

[jharris2]

didn't they invent windshield wipers for just such an occaision?

Nope -- Rain-X

 

[tonybaloney]

My 06 4Runner does the same thing. The issue isn't how to get the water off of the windshield, the issue is that I thought tires were designed to push the water away from the car. When I go through a puddle on a regular road, for example, in my old Honda Accord, the water would splash away from the car. In the 4Runner I noticed that the water will splash up onto the windshield, obstructing view for a second or two before it quickly runs off because my windshield is treated with Rain-X.

Anyone else experience this?

 

[TheBlueWave]

Yeah, Tony, I do.
I have heard that the stock tires may have something to do with this? Not really sure but no way to prevent it that I know of. The windshield is coated with something that makes the water bead up and run off. I haven't found Rain-X to be necessary but keep using it if you like it and it makes a difference for you.

 

[TechWrench]

My 06 4Runner does the same thing. The issue isn't how to get the water off of the windshield, the issue is that I thought tires were designed to push the water away from the car. When I go through a puddle on a regular road, for example, in my old Honda Accord, the water would splash away from the car. In the 4Runner I noticed that the water will splash up onto the windshield, obstructing view for a second or two before it quickly runs off because my windshield is treated with Rain-X.

Anyone else experience this?

I think it has a lot to do with the way the frontend is designed. No matter how well a tire is designed, it can't push a lot of standing water to the side by tread design alone, the tread depth even on a new tire just isn't deep enough to move that much water at speed. So, the rest is going to be thrown forward, and too the sides as you plow through the puddle. Added to this is the width of the tire, and it has more frontal area to throw some water straight forward, and up. Now consider the vehicle height, and front entrance angle. Because the front bumper is closer to the wheels and higher off the ground, it allows some of this forward pushed water to miss the bottom of the frontend and get up in front of the vehicle and then fall back on the hood and windshield. The faster you hit the puddle, the more this will happen.

I see two choices here, slow down when going through a puddle, or maybe install some type of air dam under the front bumper to catch more of the forward thrown spray.

 

[qballjr13]

This issue is one of the main reasons I got rid of my Dunlops. I have driven through bigger puddles at faster speeds with my Revo's and I have not had this problem again. It is deff the tires...in all of my experiences!

 

[HerbVick]

... I have driven through bigger puddles at faster speeds with my Revo's and I have not had this problem again. It is deff the tires...in all of my experiences!

I agree! I once bought a Jeep Grande Cherokee with Goodyear tires on it. It did the same thing. The tires had a center groove that was wider than the normal grooves and was unobstructed by tread pattern offset. For some reason, this groove carried water around the tire, slinging it at some point, in front of the vehicle to be caught by the airstream and spraying directly onto the windshield.

No wide center groove = no problem.