[Duchy0]

Originally Posted by xenon

I dilute the genuine 50:50. Check the Halfords stuff does not contain silicone

And do you just dilute with normal tap water?

[xenon]

Originally Posted by Duchy0

And do you just dilute with normal tap water?

Yes but the water here is quite soft. If you live in a hard water area then deionised or filtered water would be better but of course a line has to be drawn somewhere otherwise we may as well fill the washer with gin.

[Duchy0]

Originally Posted by xenon

Yes but the water here is quite soft. If you live in a hard water area then deionised or filtered water would be better but of course a line has to be drawn somewhere otherwise we may as well fill the washer with gin.

cheers xenon!

[Seaford]

Just for info….my pal has an X3 that is under warranty and had a bill for £230 to sort out clogged washer system…..

[B6WAF]

I can't believe I'm reading this ! Honestly - I almost checked my calendar to make sure it wasn't 1st April. I'm not saying you guys are wrong, and I'm not disputing how the dealers react to repairs, but it has NEVER occurred to me to buy screenwash from BMW.

I always use Prestone Extreme All Seasons, diluted with our (very soft) tap water, and I have never had a problem in my 40+ years of driving that couldn't be resolved with a pin (and not had to resort to that for many years)

[xenon]

Originally Posted by B6WAF

I can't believe I'm reading this ! Honestly - I almost checked my calendar to make sure it wasn't 1st April. I'm not saying you guys are wrong, and I'm not disputing how the dealers react to repairs, but it has NEVER occurred to me to buy screenwash from BMW.

I always use Prestone Extreme All Seasons, diluted with our (very soft) tap water, and I have never had a problem in my 40+ years of driving that couldn't be resolved with a pin (and not had to resort to that for many years)

It's not a pin to unblock the nozzles, the tank pick-up has a very fine mesh filter which is easily blocked by silicone and scale. Trust me, in hard-water areas with crap screenwash it will block.

[Seaford]

Originally Posted by B6WAF

I can't believe I'm reading this ! Honestly - I almost checked my calendar to make sure it wasn't 1st April. I'm not saying you guys are wrong, and I'm not disputing how the dealers react to repairs, but it has NEVER occurred to me to buy screenwash from BMW.

I always use Prestone Extreme All Seasons, diluted with our (very soft) tap water, and I have never had a problem in my 40+ years of driving that couldn't be resolved with a pin (and not had to resort to that for many years)

I don’t think anyone is saying you MUST use the bmw stuff…just that there have been loads of issues with blocked washer systems caused by using stuff that has an ingredient that is not friendly to bmw and some other washer systems - I think it is silicone but don’t quote me in that!

It appears BMW have a policy of not sorting under warranty so it is worth getting it right.

[Soul_Glo]

Originally Posted by Duchy0

I’ve not actually had to top up my washer fluid in my M440i since I collected it in July. I bought stuff from Halfords today as I’ve used cheaper, non-BMW screen wash for 5 years with my M140i and had no issues.
I remember someone saying to only use BMW branded screen wash and so before I use the Halfords stuff, I did some searching. I can get the 5L bottle from eBay pretty cheap. My question is when you dilute it, 1:2 for temps down to -12 degrees, can you use normal tap water? I read that the screen wash contains a ‘limescale protection formula’. So with hard water, the white deposits etc shouldn’t build up in the system? How do you dilute it?

Hard water here. I always use deionised water in a 50:50 mix.

[Talisman77]

+1 for DI here. I use Autoglym screenwash and dilute accordingly.

[330Stevie]

The more I use the washers in this salty environment the more I find then to be pretty poor tbh

[Hofmeister Kink]

Called my BMW dealer, screenwash not available in 5 litres but they sell 1 litre bottles for £4.50. That’s 3x the price of unleaded! But the price is more palatable when you dilute 1 part screenwash, 2 parts (soft) water as suggested by BMW. That works out to be £7.50 for 5 litres which is exactly what Halfords charge for their ready to use (ie do not dilute) product. So my man-maths tells me it’s a no brainer to use the proper stuff.

[willougs]

Plenty of places on eBay to buy 5L. Should make it even more of a no brainer

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/273155024...Bk9SR46rtoO6YQ

(oddly B.I.N price just jumped from 15 quid to £21.16)

I bought some about a year ago, still unopened. Had my car nearly two years now and still not needed to top up.
Almost certainly the car will be gone before the screenwash.

[bmnut]

Originally Posted by Hofmeister Kink

Called my BMW dealer, screenwash not available in 5 litres but they sell 1 litre bottles for £4.50. That’s 3x the price of unleaded! But the price is more palatable when you dilute 1 part screenwash, 2 parts (soft) water as suggested by BMW. That works out to be £7.50 for 5 litres which is exactly what Halfords charge for their ready to use (ie do not dilute) product. So my man-maths tells me it’s a no brainer to use the proper stuff.

For what it's worth I've never used anything else but the BMW branded screen wash in over thirty years and have never experienced any issues with clogged jets or nasty deposits (touches wood as he types!).
I live in a hard water area and we are at the furthest point of delivery from source of the reservoir so the water has a noticeably high chlorine content and yet I have never used anything other than tap water to dilute the concentrate.
I've always used water:concentrate ratios of 2:1 for the winter and 4:1 for the summer for the mixes.

[paulockenden]

I normally buy the 5L containers of the proper BMW stuff. Usually cheaper to have it shipped from dealers on the continent. Keep an eye on eBay.

[Bianchi Dave]

Always worth popping in past your local dealership and speaking to the parts guy for a discount on the 5ltr.

iirc I was about £18 a few weeks back, and think around £15 the time before, but that was a few years ago tbf.

[xenon]

Originally Posted by 330Stevie

The more I use the washers in this salty environment the more I find then to be pretty poor tbh

You're right, it's an utterly shit, money-saving design to tube the fluid up the wiper arms and then set the nozzles only on one side of the wiper blade.

[B6WAF]

Originally Posted by xenon

You're right, it's an utterly shit, money-saving design to tube the fluid up the wiper arms and then set the nozzles only on one side of the wiper blade.

Totally agree. You end up dispensing too much water, the wipers push it to the top of the screen, then it runs down. By the time you've done 4 single wipes to clear the drips you have to start all over again !

[Charlie (Wessex)]

I actually like the design. One very short tug for the water, and then get the blades going, is enough to clear the screen. In the old days, it was a v short squirt to get water on the screen and then let it run up to the top before activating the blades. I'm a bit OCD on this!!

However ran v low, so topped up with non BMW. Know need to empty it all, as I know BMW wash and non-BMW doesn't like being mixed.

[xenon]

Originally Posted by Charlie (Wessex)

I actually like the design. One very short tug for the water, and then get the blades going, is enough to clear the screen. In the old days, it was a v short squirt to get water on the screen and then let it run up to the top before activating the blades. I'm a bit OCD on this!!

However ran v low, so topped up with non BMW. Know need to empty it all, as I know BMW wash and non-BMW doesn't like being mixed.

Yes but because it only deposits water on the top-side of the blade you can't "time" a squirt to get fluid on the lower side of the blade as it comes down. In fine spray from salty roads it's crap.

[paulockenden]

The washer design works really well on my G21. Clears the screen well without wasting loads of water.

[Charlie (Wessex)]

Originally Posted by xenon

Yes but because it only deposits water on the top-side of the blade you can't "time" a squirt to get fluid on the lower side of the blade as it comes down. In fine spray from salty roads it's crap.

Didn't find it too much of an issue these past few weeks. What I have found far more of an issue is the lack of headlight spray. Night time it is noticeable after 40 or 50 miles that light output can be diminished a lot.

[sjb993]

Originally Posted by Seaford

I don’t think anyone is saying you MUST use the bmw stuff…just that there have been loads of issues with blocked washer systems caused by using stuff that has an ingredient that is not friendly to bmw and some other washer systems - I think it is silicone but don’t quote me in that!

It appears BMW have a policy of not sorting under warranty so it is worth getting it right.

Indeed it is silicone. Here’s what the manual says.