Whenever winter is felt more intensely throughout the country, drivers who do not have a garage have to face a new challenge every morning: removing the ice that formed on the windshield during the night.
Usually the methods adopted include frantically turning on the windshields, emptying the water tank of the windshield nozzle in an attempt to melt the ice, turning on the front window defroster or using the faithful plastic cards that we carry in our wallets to scrape off the ice.
Yes, I know there are cars where the windshield nozzle jet is heated to help with this task and others (like the Skoda) that bring their own ice scraper, but what about everyone else that doesn't have these “ luxuries”, what can they do? Well, the tips in this article are dedicated to all of them.
Hot water? No thank you
Before we start giving you some tips to get rid of ice on the windshield, let us remind you that in these cases you should never pour hot water on your car window to melt the ice.
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If you do, it could break due to the thermal shock it is subjected to. When the outer face of the glass receives hot water, its temperature increases and the glass tends to expand. At the same time, the inside of the glass remains cool and contracted. Now, this “clash of wills” can then cause the glass to break.
As for the use of credit cards and the like, in addition to quickly getting your hands cold, you run the risk of damaging them, rendering them unusable for the functions for which they were created.
Alcohol gel: effective against pandemics and beyond
Now that you know what you shouldn't and what you really can't do, it's time to show you what you can do so that the ice on the windshield is no longer a problem. To start with, you can put a cover that goes over the glass and prevents the formation of ice. The only problem? This is installed on the outside of the glass and the "friends of others" can be funny with it.
Another solution is, the night before, rubbing a… peeled potato on the glass. It may sound ridiculous, but it seems that potato starch facilitates the removal of ice, and may even completely prevent its accumulation in the glass.
A Facebook post by the Guarda Nacional Republicana advises you to make a solution of water and alcohol (for two parts of water, one of alcohol) or of water and vinegar (for three parts of water, one of vinegar). When applied to the ice that forms on the windshield, these solutions dissolve it and then easily the windshield wipers can remove it. But be careful, do not put alcohol or vinegar in the windshield wiper nozzle water tank!
Do you have the windshield with ice❄️?
Because driving with ice on the glass is a danger, we suggest you use a defroster…
Published by GNR - Republican National Guard in Tuesday, January 5, 2021
Alcohol gel, a forced companion of our daily lives for the last year, also reveals itself capable of helping in the “fight” against the ice on the windshield. The only problem is that despite dissolving the ice, it also ends up getting dirty on the glass.
Finally, to speed up the entire process of removing ice from the windshield, we also advise you to pay attention to where you park and try to point your car in the direction where the first rays of sunlight appear in the morning. This simple choice of parking space can save you a few minutes every morning.