De-ice the car properly!

My wife puts some very warm water in a sealable plastic bag which she then wipes over the glass.

My car has a windscreen heater and the blower doesn't take long to get warm so I just listen to the radio for a few minutes whilst the car readies itself and maybe scrape the mirrors, side windows and rear glass clear. I never touch the blades, they stick and tear if not careful, and if careless the blades promptly tear from the arms.

Rule one. Always check the blades ain't stuck to the screen before switching on. You can check this by lifting them off the screen against the springs while scraping etc the ice off.

Rule two. Always check the automatic windscreen wiper setting is off before turning on the ignition, or the sensor may interpret scraping the windscreen or pouring tepid water on the windscreen/blades as "rain".

I just run the engine with the heater, screen and rear window demisters turned on and the heated seats. An advantage of living in the sticks. The other car has a phone app which allows me to preheat the interior on preset days at preset times or immediately, which is equally delicious

Do auto screen wiper cars not have sighted drivers?

Andy Burns explained :

My auto-wipers cancel themselves, even if left on auto, fast or slow, if the ignition is switched off. The wiper switch has to be moved to reselect them. A constant annoyance and I've always wondered why, but frozen wipers seems to explain it doing that, though I suppose the system could just check the temperature outside before inhibiting them.

haaaaaaaaaaaa lucky the screen didn't crack...tee hee

Wrong type of ice clearly, I'd complain. Brian

Imagine what waiting for the heaters to defrost the screen will be like when you can only have an electric car.

It might be OK at home, where you might be able to bring some warm water or maybe a hairdryer to the car. But what if you're frozen-up miles from home and have to rely on what's in the battery to get you there.

One of the secrets, is the right kind of scraper. There are many items like this that you can buy, that don't measure up to the name, including those hand-scrapers that are just a bit bigger than your hand. These are made with a wooden handle, which resists snapping. The brush on one end, you can use that until the bristles curl up on it. The blade, hardly ever breaks. Occasionally a corner will snap on one, if you try and score too-thick ice.

As for using heated liquids on the windshield, that's pretty safe when the windshield is still bedded down on the sealant. It's when the windshield frame steel rusts and raises a "bump" under the windshield and the rusty "bump" touches the windshield, that's bad. That will cause windshield failures. Many lazy windshield replacement shops will ignore the damage to the frame and not tell you. I had to go to a small family shop, where the guy phoned me up while doing the job and told me what a mess it was. And he sanded it down flush ("angle grinder") and put a new finish on the frame, then sealant and windshield, and no more broken windshields after that. That doubles the cost of the job. The idea is, the windshield has to be "floating on sealant" to work properly. Then heated water won't hurt it.

Paul

I have noted that my more energy efficient diesel car takes much longer to warm up than the previous petrol ones I had. I treasure an ice scraper with a metal blade that I bought in Sweden that has a metal blade. I do have to be careful not to scratch the side windows.

Don't they?

When I set off driving with the heating set to auto it's about a mile before there is enough warmth for the car to bother with the blowers.

I was sat in it.

I poured the water and watched as it crept satisfyingly behind the snow and appeared to free it up.

I genuinely screamed as I watched the arms oscillate alone.

Tepid Jim, not cracked a screen in thirty plus years.

Presumably electric Fords will have their brilliant (but patented) heated screens?

Yeah, it?s great. I can lie in my bed and defrost my car from there.

Well you?d be a fool to do it if your battery was really low but that would be a rare event for me away from home.

Tim

I?ve poured really hot water over iced up screens for many years with no problems.

Tim

And rev it's knackers off to heat it faster?

My last car with auto wipers (current one doesn't have them) cancelled the auto setting at switch off.