The temperature is dropping, and for drivers, this means an icy windscreen and precious morning minutes spent “warming up the car” before setting off. With overnight temperatures often tumbling below freezing, motorists face a frosty coating that can wreak havoc on vehicles and disrupt their morning commute.
This ice can make your windscreen virtually impossible to see through, creating hazardous driving conditions unless you take the time to remove the frost. Clearing a frozen windscreen can be tedious, especially when you’re already running late in the morning. Yet it doesn’t have to be such a burden if you have one specific ingredient hiding in your kitchen cabinet.
Experts at Windscreen Wipers have now disclosed that one straightforward method “works wonders” for this challenge.
Speaking to the Express, they shared that white vinegar can remove ice from a frosted car, but when used correctly, it can also prevent it from developing initially.
They advised: “Simply combine 125ml of white vinegar with 375ml of water in a 500ml spray bottle.” The technique involves spraying it onto the windscreen the night before frost is forecast, or early in the morning, to help melt any existing ice.
The white vinegar method is effective because, as the Windscreen Wipers experts noted: “The acetic acid in the vinegar helps lower the freezing point of water, making it harder for ice to form.”
The experts also spotlighted a “budget-friendly” method using a raw onion, which needs to be cut in half and rubbed over your windscreen’s surface on the “night before a big freeze”, according to the Windscreen Wipers team.
They explained: “While this may sound unconventional, the natural oils in the onion are great for creating a protective coating on the glass, preventing frost from forming and saving you some time in the morning.”
Should onions not appeal to you, then an old rubber bath mat or folded bedsheet could prove effective alternatives. Simply position it over your windscreen and secure it using your wipers to stop it blowing away overnight.
Alternatively, you can employ shopping bags fastened with elastic bands to protect your wing mirrors from icing up. Come morning, just remove and put them away once the job is done.
The motoring specialists noted: “It’s easy to be focused solely on the frost on your windscreen during the winter months, but don’t forget that wiper blades are also at risk of freezing.
“Frozen wiper blades can’t clear your windscreen properly, leading to poor visibility, which is especially dangerous in icy conditions. For this reason, it’s essential to also prevent blades from freezing.”
Isopropyl alcohol provides a quick solution to tackle this problem, as it freezes at a lower temperature than water. Thus, applying an undiluted mixture to the wipers proves highly effective in keeping them supple and operational come morning.
