How best to defog / deice your windscreen?

owen_money

I start the car from inside the house using the app on my IPhone, I start it 20 mins or so before I plan to head out, so the car is nice and warm and windows defrosted. If I forget to do this the heated front screen soon clears the frost, and heated seats and steering wheel soon warm me up. Do others not do the same?

motorguy

Tigsteroonie wrote: »

Anticipation (allow yourself more time in the morning) and patience (while the button on the dash does its thing). Cost nothing.

+1

Thats where i'd be on it. Nothing a couple of minutes wait doesnt cure. Car normally garaged though.

motorguy

owen_money wrote: »

I start the car from inside the house using the app on my IPhone, I start it 20 mins or so before I plan to head out, so the car is nice and warm and windows defrosted. If I forget to do this the heated front screen soon clears the frost, and heated seats and steering wheel soon warm me up. Do others not do the same?

No.

Do you not have garages to put your cars in?

owen_money

motorguy wrote: »

No.

Do you not have garages to put your cars in?

No I dont have enough garages for all the family cars, and as I'm first out in the morning its left outside. I was going to extend the existing garage but to be honest its not worth the effort or cost.

shinytop

I set my plugged-in Golf GTE to de-ice and pre-heat seats 15 mins before departure each morning. I find it works better than scraping ice off and wearing a coat.

Apart from that, assuming you're off-road, just start the car 10 mins before you leave.

owen_money

shinytop wrote: »

I set my plugged-in Golf GTE to de-ice and pre-heat seats 15 mins before departure each morning. I find it works better than scraping ice off and wearing a coat.

Apart from that, assuming you're off-road, just start the car 10 mins before you leave.

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one using the available technology, it makes life so much easier.

I mean in this day and age why are people still using hot water to clear the screen, its not 1985?

Forwandert

I use slightly warm water, only issue is on very cold nights it can freeze again instantly. Found if you pour it on the main part of screen and wipers first then set the wipers off and leave them running whilst clearing the edges etc it solves the problem of it feezing again.

DigForVictory

I'm very lucky in that the Ford Mondeo has heated glass front & back. So on the cold days, I start the car & get the filaments heating & the blower going then shut the door & start scraping the side windows & the headlights & tail-lights & brakelight (tricky to reach, being short, but better than invisible). Then the broom to get anything loose off the roof & bonnet & once that's done & my hands are clumsy blocks (I never remember gloves) I get into a warm car & see if the front & back wipers can move. Usually, no problem.
One time, I was in a pelting rush and I tore a bit of the wiper blade that had frozen to the windscreen. It took five months for that tear to extend to a flapping strip but that last day was after snow had fallen again & driving in falling snow with less than effective wipers is bad for morale.

I agree with trying to keep the inside dry, and that if you want to be MS then a hot water bottle on the dash & a goodly chunk of patience trump a tin of deicer & running the engine for ages, but it's horse for courses.

System

DigForVictory wrote: »

I'm very lucky in that the Ford Mondeo has heated glass front & back.

Same here. First car I had with a heated windscreen was a Ford Sierra. Once you've had one you can't go back to not. Every car I've had bar one since has had them so I've owned a lot of Fords as a result.

lincroft1710

motorguy wrote: »

.

Do you not have garages to put your cars in?

You're in NI aren't you?

In England, most pre 1914 terraced houses (of which there must be millions) don't have garages. Most apartment blocks, 1 bed and many 2 bed houses built after 1945 also don't have garages and there are hundreds of thousands, possibly millions of those. Most local authority built houses don't have garages.

The majority of 3 and more bedroomed semi detached and detached houses will have or have had garages. There is an increasing trend to convert integral garages into extra living space or extend the house into the space formerly occupied by the garage. But even those who have a garage rarely use it for the car, the garage often being full of junk, or it's just too much effort to open the doors and drive in, then close the doors etc.

Forgot to add that, because of the width of the modern car, many garages have doors that are too narrow or the garage itself is too narrow to comfortably open the door.