[mike501]

Hi all,

Hope everyone has had a good festive season!

So having had my 4 series for just over 3 weeks now, it has one issue that is driving me absolutely mad and what I believe is unacceptable for a brand new car! The inside of the windows steam up at an alarming rate. It's worse than any previous car I've had even when they reached 2+ years old.

To help prevent it happening I have to systematically turn on the A/C with some heat and constantly have the rear demister on (unless it's been on for a significant period of time) for every journey. I appreciate that outside temps are quite low at the mo and this can compound the issue but I still believe it's not quite right especially with the following...

Obviously the car has frameless windows that drop slightly when the door is opened and when it has been raining outside, the part in contact with the seal is constantly wet (I'm talking dripping wet). Also, when I lower the window to gain access to the work car park, it comes back up absolutely soaking on the inside (It doesn't even needed to be fully lowered for water to be introduced to the lower parts of the window). I believe it's these 2 issues that are causing the overall problem of steaming up.

Needless to say, the car will be going back to the stealers and they will be politely asked to sort it out. My 1 series coupe which I had before this had similar window architecture and I never encountered these problems.

I'm just putting this out their in case any other F30/F32 owners have had similar issues therefore showing a possible design flaw or whether it's just me that has had an unlucky build? I am quite concerned about the long term issues of mouldiness/stale smell if this cannot be resolved.

Thoughts?

Many thanks

P.s apart from that and a poorly connected ambient lighting wire, it's been an absolute joy

[Apl440i or 335d?]

I did notice this on a brand new F30 demonstrator I drove last weekend. I put it down to the weather... Having said that it does not happen on my LCI E92.

Anyone else get this?

[Nick the Greek]

Mike, surely you run the climate control with the a/c on all the time? This is what I've always done on my BMWs and not had a problem. The one thing I had to do with the f30 was to go into the idrive and amend the default setting from eco-pro.

[mike501]

Hi Nick. Nope not all the time - certainly didn't have to on the 1er and never had these problems. Also the amount of time the rear demister has seen already is madness...

I still don't think any inside part of the driver or passenger windows should be soaking when wound down or when touching the top seals

[Tengocity]

It does sound like there is some sort of leak in that door, or an internal drainage channel not functioning properly perhaps. One way or another it's not working as it should.

Our Z4 has frameless doors and we certainly have no worse condensation than our 3 series saloon does. No car should need to run with air con on all the time just to have demisted windows, except when it's particularly humid or cold/wet outside.

[Alkidrew]

Leave your a/c on, it dries the air as well as cooling it. You don't need to adjust climate control, set it to a temp such a 19 degrees and never touch it again.

[Nick the Greek]

^^^^^

Exactly what I do.

[Tengocity]

Originally Posted by Alkidrew

Leave your a/c on, it dries the air as well as cooling it. You don't need to adjust climate control, set it to a temp such a 19 degrees and never touch it again.

Why do this if you don't need to? It uses unnecessary fuel and if you have contact lenses it dries them out!

If you do have the air con off though, you should use it every few weeks or otherwise it can cause problems if not used at all for too long.

Back on topic, there is clearly a issue on the OP's car.

[Nick the Greek]

Couldn't comment on contact lenses as I don't wear them. Always run my cars in this way and never had a problem. The difference ac makes to fuel consumption will be tiny and not worth worrying about.

[HFW003]

What you need to remember mate is the car does not have AC but climate control.

As others have mentioned you need to have the climate control on and let it do it's job. The "issue" will then be sorted.

There have been numerous threads on this and it's just the way it is.

[Walesy]

Yeah I find I have to have mine on at all times, I have an excessive bit of wind noise from the drivers door and put it down to that to be honest and was going to raise it with the dealer when it was in for a service.

But if that's the way it is then so be it.

[Mr NSB]

I sometimes get condensation when I start my car. This is happens if I have been using the aircon and switch it off within a few miles of stopping the car. Up on starting the next journey if I drive the car with a window cracked open for a few minutes it won't happen again until the next time I use the aircon.

If I leave the aircon on in my 320d it increases the fuel consumption by only 3mpg.

[Tengocity]

Originally Posted by HFW003

What you need to remember mate is the car does not have AC but climate control.

As others have mentioned you need to have the climate control on and let it do it's job. The "issue" will then be sorted.

There have been numerous threads on this and it's just the way it is.

Climate control is just air con with a thermostat! I can totally understand that many people drive around with the air con element of the heating and ventilation system on all the time, but are people really suggesting that this HAS to be the case in order not to have steamy windows when it's not even raining???

If so, you should remember back a few years to when most cars didn't have air con (in the UK), and there certainly weren't major issues with steamy windows then...

Personally, I don't want the air con on all the time, and hence also why I've specced a Panoramic sunroof on our F31 and our other car is convertible... I don't particularly like being in a hermetically sealed cocoon with artificially dried out air! Great in summer, not needed most of the rest of the time.

[F30AM]

Keep your climate control on ALL the time and you should have no problems. It's there to keep you comfortable and prevents misting. I leave mine on 22 °C.

[Xplosiv166]

the air-con also reduces the amount of pollutants that can get into the cabin. Cannot remember the tv program i watched but this was a test and difference i think was 10-20% improvement (not sure as to why, i will try and find the program)

[mike501]

Hi folks - all fair points, thank you! However I still believe that this shouldn't be happening in a car of this age. More worryingly is that I don't expect the whole of the inside of my window to be wet when I wind it down and then back up. Must be a manufacturing or design flaw?! I don't know about the F30/31 but the F32 has only been around for a matter of a few months and there haven't been huge numbers built so design flaws in year 1 builds are entirely plausible. Just my thoughts...

Will feedback on what the dealer says

[HighlandPete]

Originally Posted by mike501

Hi all,

Hope everyone has had a good festive season!

So having had my 4 series for just over 3 weeks now, it has one issue that is driving me absolutely mad and what I believe is unacceptable for a brand new car! The inside of the windows steam up at an alarming rate. It's worse than any previous car I've had even when they reached 2+ years old.

To help prevent it happening I have to systematically turn on the A/C with some heat and constantly have the rear demister on (unless it's been on for a significant period of time) for every journey. I appreciate that outside temps are quite low at the mo and this can compound the issue but I still believe it's not quite right especially with the following...

Obviously the car has frameless windows that drop slightly when the door is opened and when it has been raining outside, the part in contact with the seal is constantly wet (I'm talking dripping wet). Also, when I lower the window to gain access to the work car park, it comes back up absolutely soaking on the inside (It doesn't even needed to be fully lowered for water to be introduced to the lower parts of the window). I believe it's these 2 issues that are causing the overall problem of steaming up.

Needless to say, the car will be going back to the stealers and they will be politely asked to sort it out. My 1 series coupe which I had before this had similar window architecture and I never encountered these problems.

I'm just putting this out their in case any other F30/F32 owners have had similar issues therefore showing a possible design flaw or whether it's just me that has had an unlucky build? I am quite concerned about the long term issues of mouldiness/stale smell if this cannot be resolved.

Thoughts?

Many thanks

Are you sure there is an issue?

If I'm reading it correctly you have nothing unusual in the kind of weather we're having at present.

Obviously the drop down window function just aggravates the moisture level. Same as the inner glass getting wet when wound down. All my cars have been the same, when we go though really wet periods, nothing to do with age or model in my experience.

I'd not be able to run up here with the kind of weather we are having without using climate control to dehumidify the interior, it only takes a small amount of moisture to mist a car when we warm it up. Climate Control on the lower settings only just copes with my car, in the present conditions.

Certainly look for ingress of water from any sources, but what you describe could simply be due to the heavy weather.

HighlandPete

[RichardM]

Switching the air con on and off all the time will certainly cause moisture issues. I think in every car I've had with air con if you switch it off whilst driving the air gets very damp quickly. I've found you have to leave it on or off all the time, not keep switching between the two.

And yes every few weeks at least you should use the air con.

[dopper99]

I always use AC/climate and leave it switched on.

However, a few years ago when I had cars with just AC I used to switch it on/off/on etc... as I wanted to. Trouble is, this seemed to increase the moisture problem and steaming of windscreen 10 times worse after switching the AC off at this time of the year.

If you DO NOT want to use AC at all my advice would be clean all of your interior windows with a good glass polish/cleaner to get any crap off then leave the AC OFF and do not touch it. As soon as you start to switch it on/off/on you'll be asking for problems again.

Either leave it ON or OFF. Don't mess with it, this time of the year, IMO.

[Jules6]

Originally Posted by dopper99

I always use AC/climate and leave it switched on.

However, a few years ago when I had cars with just AC I used to switch it on/off/on etc... as I wanted to. Trouble is, this seemed to increase the moisture problem and steaming of windscreen 10 times worse after switching the AC off at this time of the year.

If you DO NOT want to use AC at all my advice would be clean all of your interior windows with a good glass polish/cleaner to get any crap off then leave the AC OFF and do not touch it. As soon as you start to switch it on/off/on you'll be asking for problems again.

Either leave it ON or OFF. Don't mess with it, this time of the year, IMO.

^^^ This. Plus if you have recirculate switched on then this may make matters worse.

[Rodders123]

For what it's worth I think that modern cars like the 3 series are sealed that well that even a small amount of moisture in the car will cause steaming up...so it's definitely better to leave the aircon on all the time

[mike501]

Ok so those of you who have the A/C on all the time, do you require the rear demister 99% of the time as well??

I do polish the windows because the dried on watermarks get so annoying, so I try and remove them. The next time I drive the car and drop the window for the first time, it comes back up nice and wet all along the inside of the window (top to bottom). This then dries and the water marks are immediately back. Back to square one!

I've just returned from the dealer where a technician came out to the car and had a look at the issues and he immediately stated that there was an unusually high amount of water being picked up on the inside and that they definitely need to investigate and rectify. He also confirmed that this will have caused an increased tendency for the car to mist up due to increased water prescience in the car. It's going in in the new year and hopefully this will show whether it's a design fault or a one off build issue with mine. Would be good to see what happens as and when more F32s appear on the road.

Cheers for the tips

p.s I don't turn the A/C on/off/on/off etc etc on a single journey as i am aware of the increased fogging that happens. I usually choose a setting and stick with it but like I've said starting with A/C just does not work