How to safely deice your windshield
You wake up bright and early, ready to hit the road. You grab your phone, bags and race out the door. And there it is: Your car windshield is a sheet of ice.
There’s no shortage of advice on ways to deice your windshield, but beware of so-called quick fixes.
How to deice your windshield:
- Start your engine. Hit the defrost button. Set the temperature control to the hottest setting and the fan to maximum speed to gradually heat the glass from the inside. Don’t leave your car running while you run inside, otherwise you open yourself up to theft.
- Use a soft plastic bristle brush to clear snow off the windshield and roof (before snow slides into view). Clear the grill just below the windshield to ensure you get the best out of the heater and defroster.
- Spray deicing fluid, such as Rain-X, from about 10 inches away. Don’t buy into DIY solutions involving hot water, salt, vinegar and the like. These home remedies can eat away at the car’s paint and leave pits or cracks in the glass.
- Lift the wiper blades off the glass. Using a plastic ice scraper, chip away at the ice beginning in a lower corner. As tempting as they may be in a pinch, leave keys, credit cards, and CDs to their intended purposes.
- Now it’s safe to run the wipers without the rubber splitting or damaging the wiper mechanism.
Once you’re ready to get going, do exactly that.
Before hitting the road, don’t miss our holiday travel survival guide!
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