I searched this forum for anyone asking the same...but no luck.
When driving the Fit (esp in the am) towards the sun....I'm seeing a reflection that I can't pinpoint where it comes from and how to maybe eliminate it. (it's very distracting)
The best I can describe it.....it looks like a bright drooping cable that runs from the left headlight to the sun.
Is it because of the shape of the headlight? Or is the windshield doing it?
It's always worse when the sun is less than 45 degrees from the horizon.
Crazy question..I know.
Thanks for any answers.

 

Why not find a parking lot with some space, drive around until you get the right angle to produce the reflection.

Then, stop and get out of the car. If you think it's bouncing off the headlight, try blocking the line from the headlight to the windshield.

There are plenty of things that can produce reflections... the dash is another one, which could line up with what you described. Try using something less reflective and move it over the dash to see if that's the case.

 

^^^ The angle doesn't matter. As long as the sun is shining in the windshield..it is there.
I took a pic this morning...it would have shown up better if it hadn't been a hazy/semi-cloudy morning. But, you can still see it. I laid my coat on the dash..didn't make any difference. If I lean as far to the right as I can...it's still there.

 

That looks like the windshield itself. It’s basically the sunlight bouncing off tiny imperfections, scratches, dirt, whatever. You can get the same effect with a smudged camera lens. (It’s partly why expensive/pro cameras use lens hoods.)

 

So, to be clear. In the picture of your windshield, there's the reflection of the dash that kind looks like \ and /. Then, to the right is a single water streak and a line that goes from the sun, cuts across the bottom end of the water mark into a "dark" portion of the reflection of the dash.

We're talking about that line?

You said that it was there even when you lean to the far right? Did it move across the windshield with the relative view of the sun? Or was it in the same spot on the windshield?

If you thought it was a reflection off the headlight, did you try covering the headlight (with your coat?) to see if the reflection was still there?

Another thing is, did you try wiping the inside and outside of the windshield? It could be lens flare off the windshield. If the wiper left even the lightest of streaks, those can dry up leaving "marks" that light was scatter about. Try wiping the outside across those possible streaks (instead of following their path). Maybe its time for new wiper blades?

If its lens flare, there isn't much you can do about it, other than hoping that you can wipe the windshield and leave even less traces. I don't know if waxing (polishing?) the windshield would help or make it worse. The only other solution is to avoid driving without having the sun shine at you from the front... though, that could make your travel time way too long. So, if its not blinding you, its easier just to ignore it and proceed with your drive normally.

edit: I type to damn slow.

 

The headlights were off in the pic and anytime I've seen it, it is in the daytime (morning..when the sun is in the forefront). It can't be the camera, because I see the same thing before taking the picture.

Talking about the diagonal white line...the others are windshield smudges or camera lens smudges. It always looks like a drooping cable from the sun to the junction of the a-pillar and hood.

Wiper blades are new. I always spend extra time cleaning the inside windshield with mr. eraser cleaner pads and invisi-shield. I am pos sure it's not a cleaning factor.

When leaning across...everything else that reflects moves, but the 'cable' stays close to the same point on the windshield.

Driving into the morning sun is the only time it is trouble-some.
I can live with it..but have never experienced this with any of my other cars and I'm 66 years old and have owned about half that many cars.

 

Even if your wipers are new, it doesn't change the fact that the windshield itself isn't. By that, I mean, over time it can wear down the surface with micro scratches. Wipers will do that, especially when they're dry. In a light drizzle, parts of the wiper might get wet, while other parts stay dry as it goes across the windshield. Add a little bit of dust and dirt, and its basically super soft sand paper. Now, multiply that one time across the life of the car and things like this will happen.

And I wasn't meaning a reflection of the light of the headlight, but a reflection of sunlight off the headlight housing. Otherwise, we'd be talking about how it affects your nighttime view, not early morning, into the sun view.

PS. your windshield is basically the same as a giant lens, even if it doesn't magnify your view. So long as light is going through it and anything like imperfections like punx45 said, it can still produce "lens flare." That's why neither of us said it was an issue with the camera.

I've seen this issue in other vehicles.

 

Ok..I understand what you are saying. But why does the 'shimmering cable' follow where the sun is?? When driving, if the sun is at 10 o'clock on the windshield...it has the same result as if it is at 3 o'clock. It makes no difference the height or horizontal position of the sun....the 'cable' is always shown as hooked to the sun on the upper end. The lower to the junction of the a-pillar and hood....I hope that makes sense. Hard to describe...but if it was a windshield imperfection, it wouldn't happen unless the sun was in a perfect position...right?
I will try to take a better pic when the sun is unclouded.

 

One more thing... in the pic above, the diag white line is what I am talking about. All the other faint lines and bars are just reflections from the interior of the car.
The sun was just over the tree line, at the end of the white line..but the camera couldn't show that because of the brightness.

 

Slightly contradicts the following

There should be some difference if you move your head closer to the top corner where the door meets the roof and then lower your head as you lean to your right (almost like putting your head into the bottom seat cushion of the passenger seat), all the while, looking at the windshield. Otherwise, it can't "link" to the sun at different times of day.

Lens flare follows the source of light that creates it. It is a reflection or refraction of light. That's obviously why its hooked to the sun, right?

What's not so obvious is the bottom. It isn't really hooked to the junction of the pillar. It should be hooked to the end of the wiper arm. As it's the wiper that sweeps in an arc to create the imperfections in the windshield that's creating this effect.

If you move into the passenger seat and move your head far enough to the right, you should see the same effect over the bit that the passenger side wiper sweeps over (that isn't covered by the driver side wiper arm). And it would point to the end of the the passenger wiper arm.

As the sun moves, you can only see the reflection of sunlight off a different part of the sweep of imperfection.

If could move your head down far enough to the lower left (you might get blocked by the dash), you might be able to see that the "cable" stops abruptly where the wiper blade no longer sweeps over. On the flip side, there should be just enough headroom and a bit on the windshield that if you move to the upper right (while still in the driver's seat), it'll also end where neither wiper sweeps over.

 

By staying close (in the quote)..I mean the end points of the 'cable'
I will try parking the car and taking a pic from the passenger side...when we get a sunny am here.
Also will try looking through un-swept portions of the windshield....I haven't tried that yet.

 

The sun came out good around noon today. That's why this pic shows the bright line nearly straight up, instead of drooping. I got in the passenger side and it was the same.
But...when I moved my face as high and right and close to the windshield as I could...I could see that the unwiped portion didn't have the bright line. Not much of the windshield is untouched by the wiper coverage.
Are there any options other than windshield replacement? I'll just live with it if so.
The dash is also reflected in the pic...otherwise it would be much clearer.

 

Goobers, you're a champ.

​​​​Those scotchbrite pads and their like have detergent in them. that could be promoting glare. (i hope this wasnt said yet). When you clean the inside of your windshield just use a dry microfiber towel.
But to remove the detergent maybe try windex, just dont get it on any tint!!! not tint safe.
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How would the inside cleaning be affecting it...if the bright line is only seen inside the wiper coverage?
No tint on the windshield.

 

Inside? Hum... I'll leave that conversation to Pyts.

As for dealing with the wiper marks... well, sure you could replace the windshield, but the issue would just come back again sooner or later.

You best bet is to try to find something, like wax or some coating that would fill the gap, possibly harden it so it takes longer to happen again. I wonder if that whole "self-healing" ceramic coat would work?

It might also be necessary to polish the windshield smooth first, then coat it. As some coatings don't fix old issue, but only prevent new ones... or something like that.

 

Yeah, I wasn't serious about replacing the windshield. I have heard of some having good results from waxing it...I'll prob try that sometime.
The car isn't worth sticking much money into. It's a 2010 with 215K miles. I've only owned it since 170K miles. No telling what kind of care the windshield had before.
The funny part is...I own 3 other cars that are all older than the Fit...and none of them show any sign of doing the same thing.
Thanks

 

It's possible that the wiper-covered portion of the windshield is straighter and there's a curve starting where there's no longer wiper coverage. So that curve in the windshield doesn't show the reflection.

 

Do you mean that the wipers could have worn it down over time to make it like that?

 

No, not at all. Just that windshields are curved surfaces and maybe it's more curved at the top. I don't know as I haven't looked.

 

All I'm getting at is your windshield looks polished based off how darned reflective it is and the amount of glare. You dont have a sun strip at the top of your windshield then you're good to blast away with windex.. yours just seems to have excessive glare. i think it can be easily cleaned with a degreaser. somethin that leaves no residue. if it turns out to be wear or what have you, shit, that'd be pretty interesting.
Hope you'll forgive me if i'm missing something here, only trying to help.
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