With frozen car windows, you don’t necessarily have to use an ice scraper: Defrosting also works with sprays that you can even mix up yourself.
In winter there are a number of things that can discourage you from driving a car: first of all, you have to change to winter tires (unless you use all-season tyres), then the handbrake can freeze in cold temperatures. cold or the battery may run out. An almost daily nuisance, at least if you don’t have a parking heater or garage, is frozen glass. Then there is usually tedious scraping or chemical window defrosters are used. Although the latter have the advantage of acting quickly, they are not necessarily environmentally friendly. There are a number of DIY tips and tricks that are usually much cheaper and more environmentally friendly than the original.
Removing Ice From Car Windows: What Home Remedies Help
In particular, motorists who work under pressure on their windows with the typical ice scraper, which by the way should be present in every car, often make a big mistake: instead of freeing the entire window from the layer of ice, it just leaves an uncovered “peephole”. Hoping that the car heater automatically defrosts the rest of the window itself. However, this is not only dangerous, but can also be punished by the police if you are stopped with insufficient visibility.
Removing Ice From Car Windows: Scratches with a built-in glove prevents cold fingers
In general, plastic ice scrapers are recommended – this material prevents scratches on the windshield. Some ice scrapers even have built-in gloves to keep hands warm while the windows are defrosted – a special version of the ice scraper from the Vienna Funeral Museum recently got some laughs. A practical tip: if you don’t have an ice scraper at hand, you can also use a CD case. Plastic covers are more stable than some cheap ice scrapers and you can at least get rid of small ice spots with them.
Remove ice from car windows: mix your own de-icer spray
Windshields can be freed of ice even faster and more efficiently with a suitable spray: Just spray a few sprays on the windshield and after a short exposure the ice dissolves by itself. The residue is removed with a cloth. If you don’t have a ready-made spray on hand, you can easily make your own windshield defrosters. There are two possibilities:
- Windscreen defroster with alcohol: Simply mix organic alcohol (= name for commercially produced ethanol) with water in a ratio of 1:1, add a few drops of washing up liquid, mix by swirling and spray the mixture onto the windows. Depending on the severity of the frost, the blend may contain 50 to 80% ethanol. Defrosting with alcohol is completely problem-free. Alternatively, denatured alcohol can also be used.
- Antifreeze windows with antifreeze: Antifreeze, which otherwise gets into the windscreen washer system, can also be used as an antifreeze spray. To do this, it should be mixed in a ratio of 2:1 (e.g. 200ml antifreeze to 100ml water) before the antifreeze is sprayed onto frozen car windows. Before using the wipers again, it is important to make sure that all ice has been removed from the windshield. Otherwise it could happen that the wipers crack and no longer work properly.
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Prevent frozen car windows with a salt water solution or vinegar mixture:
If you don’t want to bother with ice scrapers or window defrosters, there are a few home remedies to keep your car windows ice-free:
- One possibility would be in the evening salt water solution spread it on the windshield with a sponge. If it’s not too cold at night, salt water makes it much easier to defrost the windshield in the morning.
At lower temperatures, a vinegar mixture On. Simply put a 3:1 vinegar/water mixture in a spray bottle, spray on the window in the evening, and ice won’t form overnight.
Even easier would be to cover the windshield with a professional insulating sheet, a tarp or a garbage bag. As a rule, frost does not form under the cover.
