As of September 2026. Prices are from the price list of Kraken Detailing, ul. Powstańców 20, Kraków.
Clean glass is very easy for water to wet. Water molecules hold on to glass more strongly than to each other, so every drop spreads out. In rain the windscreen ends up under one thin, continuous sheet of water. That sheet is what blurs your view: it works like an uneven lens and smears oncoming headlights and street lamps into streaks.
The coating bonds chemically to the glass and changes that balance. Water now holds on to itself more strongly than to the surface and pulls into a ball. You get separate tall beads with dry glass between them.
The bead shape alone doesn't move any water. A flat film gives the air nothing to push against. A tall bead sticks up from the glass, the airflow presses on its side, and its contact patch is small. Once the air pushes harder than the bead holds on, it breaks away and runs off, so the "invisible wiper" is the airflow over the car.
Because the airflow moves the water, the effect depends on how fast you drive.
| Where you drive | What the water does | Wipers |
|---|---|---|
| Motorway, e.g. the A4 towards Katowice | clears from the windscreen by itself | mostly for spray from lorries |
| Town, e.g. the Aleje ring road | beads stay tall and don't smear light, but lack the airflow to leave | still needed, they sweep beads off |
| Traffic jam, car park | no airflow, the water stays | as usual |
Driving across town to the office or the university, you mainly get a sharper view in rain after dark. On a drive home across Europe for the holidays, you will see water leave the glass on its own.
The biggest difference shows after sunset. A film of water on the windscreen turns oncoming headlights into blurred stars for a second or two. With separate beads the picture stays sharp and the glare shrinks to points. In a Kraków December it is dark by the time most people leave work, so you notice it from the first rainy evening.
Coat the side windows too. When you lower a side window in the rain, the water left on it usually stays until the end of the trip, because no wiper reaches it. On coated side glass the airflow clears it, and you get a better view in the mirrors when changing lanes.
With the coating, ice and dirt come off the glass more easily. On a winter morning that means:
Autumn is the best time to apply it, before the first snow: the glass is still clean and dry, and the layer needs time to cure.
The layer bonds only to clean glass. Spray it over limescale, old polish or washer-fluid film, and it bonds to the dirt and leaves with it after a few washes. That is what usually happens when someone sprays a rain repellent onto an unwashed windscreen at a petrol station.
Kraków tap water is among the hardest in Poland, and every dried drop leaves a mineral mark. Years of that build-up is the most common obstacle when we prepare glass.
In the studio the order is always the same:
The coating wears away mostly under the wiper blade. A bottle of water shows how much is left.
Do the test separately inside the wiper sweep and along the top edge of the windscreen. Beads at the top and a sheet lower down mean the wiper has worn the layer off.
While the blade edge is straight and soft, it slides over the coating. An old blade hardens, cracks along the edge and collects grit in the cracks. It then sands the coating along the same arc, hundreds of times each autumn.
Run a fingertip along the rubber edge. If you feel nicks, hard spots or roughness, replace the blades. Fit new blades first and have the coating applied after that.
| Service | Price |
|---|---|
| Window+ glass coating | from 349 zł |
We give the exact price after looking at the glass and once you decide what to coat: just the windscreen, or the side windows and mirrors too. The car stays with us for at least one working day, and for the first hours the fresh layer must not get wet. After that you wash the glass as usual, with a pH-neutral shampoo and no brushes.
A hydrophobic layer bonded to the glass. Rain forms tall beads on it, and at speed the airflow blows them off; in traffic and when parked the water stays.
Yes. In town they work as usual, but they sweep beads instead of a sheet of water, so they run more smoothly and squeak less.
Ice and road grime come off more easily. You still need a scraper and a snow brush in the morning.
It is usually sprayed onto unwashed glass, so it bonds to the dirt and leaves with it. In the studio we decontaminate and degrease the glass before the coating goes on.
Our Window+ glass coating costs from 349 zł. We give the exact price after looking at the glass.
Pour water over clean glass. If it spreads into a flat sheet, the coating is gone; check the wiper area and the top edge separately.
Kraken Detailing is at ul. Powstańców 20, Kraków (Prądnik Czerwony), open Mon–Sat 9:00–19:00, phone +48 510 510 082. We speak English. At the free assessment we look at the glass, do the water test with you and give you the price for Window+ (from 349 zł). The coating is described on our ceramic coating page; for washing, see car wash and detailing.
