Cunning plans for frost free windscreens?

Start car, turn on heaters, have a cup of tea.

Must admit, heated front screen is one thing I do miss from my last car.
 
arclight said:
If you have a drive or can park the car close to your house where it is safe to run an electric cable then put a mains connected fan heater in the car. Switch it on from your house about 20 mins before you intend to drive. Car defrosted and nicely warm when you get in.
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That's what I used to do at 5 am in the good old days of shift work. Absolutely brilliant.

AL
 
chadders said:
Can't say winter bothers me too much. Heated screens, mirrors and front seats. All nice and toasty.
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My Zafira has heated seats which are either useless on low setting or you can cook a steak on them on the high setting.

Windscreen clears reasonably well with the climate control full on in 8-10 minutes but thd door mirrors and rear screen are still crap after 20 minutes.

For the snow and ice (which I think is coming I used to have the big Mitsubishi Pajero (Shogun) with the hi performance climate pack and mains power engine warmer. Lookibg for something to replace it for this winter. My eldest son blew the head on it last year and £2K for a rebuild is twice what I paid for it 3 years ago....

So with getting around the Mendip Hills when the snow comes I am puzzling. The 4 litre Jeep Cherokees might do. Ideas for anything with a mains engine warmer/pre heater... ???
 
DorsetDude said:
Why?
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I have absolutely no idea. ...but I started using one simply because it was the perfect size and wouldn't use a normal sheet now.
Maybe because it's soft and thick. ..traps heat? Seriously...I don't know :-)
 
Cobra said:
We are all getting soft,
What's wrong with a scraper and a piar of gloves (If you must?) :D
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I wouldn't be without the seat heating in cold weather. Leather is a bit chilly early in the morning. As for a scraper; if you need the exercise, be my guest. :p
 
chadders said:
I wouldn't be without the seat heating in cold weather. Leather is a bit chilly early in the morning.
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I never use mine TBH. It just feels a "bit weird" ;)

chadders said:
As for a scraper; if you need the exercise, be my guest. :p
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Its sets you up for the day on a nice cold clear morning :)
 
Either in the boot or back on the bed depending on where I am ...lol
 
I have one of those total covers that tie under the car, it's very good if a pain to get on at times
That said I walk to work as it's only 5 minutes so don't have the problem these days :)
 
This thread reminded me to go put the frost cover on my windscreen so thanks :D this is the coldest night so far.

As for de-icing I reckon a scraper is best as it gets the frost/ice off clean and dry, I find de-icer smelly and either it doesn't work or refreezes.
 
The only redeeming feature of my car is the heated front screen.
Two minutes most days, three if it's really nippy.

Prior to this car I used a sheet with some heavy wood on it to keep everything in place.
 
WARNING - if you have a cat

De-icer is highly poisonous to cats, so don't leave residue of it on your windscreens or leave it on overnight, as it gets on their feet if they get on the car (they then lick feet or even the windscreen itself) and it can cause lethal damage to their internal organs and a horrible death. Not a nice gift for the kids if their pet dies.
 
I've given up trying to prevent the snow and ice.

Evening time is more valuable than morning time.

I just let it happen. pop out, quick scrape and start the car up 10 mins before I need it.
 
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Try some of the hydrophobic (water repellent) stuff you rub on the glass, Rain-X I think it's called. It repels water and it's a lot harder for your windscreen to frost over. It still does, just not as bad.

Also that stuff makes driving in the rain a lot nicer. I drove an hour in a complete downpour and didn't even use my wipers once. Above 20mph the rain just shoots off your windows.

I wipe it on a UV filter for night shooting so my front element doesn't condensate over and ruin the shots (y)
 
Cobra said:
Thats a neat tip (y)
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Lol not my idea but it does work. If it works on a UV filter then I'd imagine it must help with frost on a windscreen since frost start from condensation. I did a test last winter and the car I treated with a hydrophobic spray was a lot less frosty and the other cars.
 
This is the stuff I get. When I run out and can't be bothered waiting for postage then you can buy similar stuff called Rain X.

 
thats pretty amazing,
I'm almost tempted to spray the car with it.
(I'm sure its not really a good idea)
I wonder if it works on kids and dogs too? :D
 
Cobra said:
thats pretty amazing,
I'm almost tempted to spray the car with it.
(I'm sure its not really a good idea)
I wonder if it works on kids and dogs too? :D
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Lol maybe not the kids or dogs as such, but certainly their boots or old clothes :rolleyes:

Although if the kids annoy me again which I give it ten minutes, then they will have a bath in the stuff :D
 
bass_junkie83 said:
Start car, turn on heaters, have a cup of tea.

Must admit, heated front screen is one thing I do miss from my last car.
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Leave your car running, keys in, unattended.. you've just invalidated the theft part of your insurance policy , as if stolen, we (all insurers) always ask for both sets of keys etc etc...

However, I have been guilty of starting the car, leaving it running and instead of remote locking it, using the other set to lock the car, to deter a would be opportunist to an extent.
 
Small fan heater in the car, leave on for ten minutes and you have a defrosted car that won't freeze up as you drive along, and will stay warm until the car warms up.
 
Lynton said:
Leave your car running, keys in, unattended.. you've just invalidated the theft part of your insurance policy , as if stolen, we (all insurers) always ask for both sets of keys etc etc...

However, I have been guilty of starting the car, leaving it running and instead of remote locking it, using the other set to lock the car, to deter a would be opportunist to an extent.
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Half said tongue in cheek, though I have done it before. If I lived in Dagenham then no chance but round here, not such an issue.

Remote start is the best solution though. :D
 
Put the car in the garage

Then you can stay in bed or go to work

My friend in Sweden has an electric engine blanket and a carport with power socket.

The interior has a heater gizmo anf an electric windscreen blanket. He goes out, takes all out and puts them in his warm workroom and sets off in a warmish car that starts first time in extremes of temperature we don't see.

At some point soon the winter tyres will be required.

I used to go to meetings in Stockholm during winter... v v cold.
 
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Lynton said:
, we (all insurers) always ask for both sets of keys etc etc...
.
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Maybe that's a recent thing?
I had one stolen many years ago,
I was never asked for the keys, and not every car is "transferred" with both sets anyway ;)
 
do Ford still have the patent for heated windscreens? I was sure it was due to expire this year. Be interesting to see if it gets on the open market. Anyway I use newspaper or an old towel - always works, no chemicals and resistant to the heaviest snow/hardest frost :)
 
Ah so that's the reason why only fords have heated screens, cheers. LOL
some good suggestions for keeping the screen clear but what do you do to keep the side windows clear? especially the front side windows.
 
Viz top tip.....

Just simply remove your windsreen every night and replace in the morning.
 
AHILL said:
Ah so that's the reason why only fords have heated screens, cheers. LOL
some good suggestions for keeping the screen clear but what do you do to keep the side windows clear? especially the front side windows.
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Not quite true - JLR vehicles also have them, probably as a legacy from their time under Henry's umbrella.
 
When mine was kept in the garage i used to plug in a greenhouse heater into a timer and leave it under the front of the car on the floor, timer would set it off 20 mins before i came out to drive off for work, engine was warmed up in no time.
 
Slightly OT but tractors [diesels] are a right pain when it freezes really hard so I used to drop an old travel electric element 240v into the fuel tank to stop waxing, then before trying to start the tractor I'd use a blow lamp to warm up the engine block. If you think that's brutal it's nothing to what the Ruskies do their HGVs and tractors!
 
Farmerjim said:
If you think that's brutal it's nothing to what the Ruskies do their HGVs and tractors!
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Well I certainly remember throwing a lighted rag under the sump in the "good old days" ;)
Leyland Clydesdale, what a beast to drive but it just kept going and going.............
 
I remember an old (? Crossley ?) paraffin stationary engine that my grandfather used to have. No injector and a very basic "carburettor" which was basically a flat area on the exhaust manifold just under the air intake. To start it, he had to heat the plate with a blow torch, start the paraffin dripping onto the plate, spin the decompressed flywheel up, drop the decompressor lever and pray!
There's also the old Field Marshall tractor which had no glow plug, just a plug with a loop into which you stuck a scrap of rag, got it smouldering, screwed it in, hooked the decompressor onto a screw thread on the flywheel, cranked like fornicate until the lever was just about to drop off the edge and again, prayed. If you failed to disengage the crank handle and it bounced back, there were problems!
So much easier these days!!!
 
Aye! At least these days I can afford not to have to ride a bike unless I choose to! Gone are the days when my beard has frozen to the condensation inside the chin piece of the helmet... Although I did choose to ride into town last week despite having to scrape the ice off the seat. That cools one's ardour, I can tell you!
 
You're dead right about the Field Marshals Nod, my dad had one, I can't really remember it but I called it the "Tug Tug" tractor. One of the lads got his wrist broken when the thing kicked back. They also had an annoying habit of running backwards if you were unlucky and it started on a kick back, 3 reverse and one forward gears! Safest way to start 'em was a cartridge but they were expensive.
 
Gotta love 6 litre 2 stroke Diesels!!!
 
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