Never had this in 20 years of driving....on the nursery run, driving on a busy 40mph road. Think my windscreen is a little dirty - spray windscreen wash - entire screen goes from slightly mucky to ice / can't see anything in about 30secs. Took my brain a little longer to work out what was going on....then had to pull over as quickly as I can without really being able to see, try to get out on busy road and scrape the ice off (which really didn't want to come off).
I imagine everyone else will know this, but if you don't, don't spray your screenwash when it is freezing outside!!!
You don't have a heated windscreen?
How quaint. 😉
Don't dilute your screenwash with water at this time of year.
Get some good stuff with a low freezing point.
I did that this morning too, but luckily I had not moved yet! Odd morning today for the uk freezing outside but dry enough atmosphere no ice on windscreen
Same here, but we were parked when it happened. -4C this morning apparently
We once had a nightmare trip up to ski in Aviemore when the temperature hit minus 24c. The roads were wet with salty water but the air temperature was so cold that everybody's washer bottles froze so you couldn't wash the salty spray off the screen. We had to stop every few miles and wipe it, even the Police were having to stop. I emptied the contents of a spray bottle of de-icer into the screenwash but all that happened was that a blue dribble came out and turned into slush around the nozzles.
In the end we worked out a technique of sitting behind a truck in the salt spray, setting the wipers on fast then swerving out from behind the truck before the windscreen froze again.
Weird this morning - must be some sort of "dry chill" as you'd usually expect frost on the windscreen when it's this cold. That would warn you not to do that, but glass was clear all round. Engine temperature gauge hadn't moved off cold when I arrived at work!
Screenwash is still the same stuff that was in the car when we bought it....hadn't even thought to change it....just assumed it would actually be screenwash.....
And no, budget KIA here. Money goes on kids / wife / house / bikes before car...
That sounds properly scary!!!
Had to clear snow off the windscreen this morning, drove 5 miles to work & someone asked where I'd got the snow from. Absolutely zero snow here
Surprised you have never had it in 20 years of driving though - especially after the really cold winter we had a few years ago (was it 2010)? Made this week's temperatures seem mild.
This! I'm in the wife's car this morning and I had to do that old fashioned 'warm water on the screen' thing.You don’t have a heated windscreen?
*shudders*
😉
Oh, and I reckon the warm water trick is better than chemical de-icer as a) there's no chemicals involved and b) it puts some heat into your screen so that when you do spray it with water it doesn't freeze and the glass is so cold.
<span style="color: #444444; font-size: 12px; background-color: #eeeeee;">Don’t dilute your screenwash with water at this time of year.</span><br style="color: #444444; font-size: 12px; background-color: #eeeeee;" /><span style="color: #444444; font-size: 12px; background-color: #eeeeee;">Get some good stuff with a low freezing point.</span>
Mines mixed 50:50 and good down to -12 (i think, might be -15)
Last time i had it freeze i was using it neat (below -30 outside)
Pretty weird when you switch the heating on in the car and then it starts to freeze on the inside of the windows. (Apparently its too dry when its really cold.)
Back when I was a teenager, I used to have a decrepit old Datsun with a heater that just wasn't up to defrosting the windscreen after a decent frost, so every winter morning was buckets of tepid water to try and get the ice off the windscreen. One day the local garage had a discount bin of with dusty old aerosol cans of windscreen defrosting stuff, so I bought some to see if it worked. It melted the ice of the windscreen really well, but the resulting liquid then ran down and got sucked back into the heater intake at the bottom of the windscreen and sprayed onto the inside of the windscreen and then froze there. This meant I had ice on the inside of the windscreen instead of the outside, which is much worse.
Yeah I use neat Prestone screenwash over winter to avoid this. Mind you I also have an issue with condensation inside freezing on the windscreen so I can't even use a cloth to get rid of it. End up sitting in the drive for ages waiting for the blower to do anything (my next car is definitely going to have a heated front windscreen).
Buy neat screen wash (not the diluted shite) and read the dosing properly. Halfords sell one that is good to -30 when used neat.
Surprised you have never had it in 20 years of driving though
+1. I did it a few months after passing my test and learned the joys of screenwash instead of water.
Mind you I also have an issue with condensation inside freezing on the windscreen so I can’t even use a cloth to get rid of it. End up sitting in the drive for ages waiting for the blower to do anything
Pouring warmish water on the outside of the screen will help speed that up, especially if you repeat a few times.
It was cold enough today that I had to put on the heated seats to warm my buns whilst the windscreen did it's thing!
Don't use warm water, it's likely to crack your screen!
Cold water with a big glug of washing up liquid seems to work just as well. Just turn the wipers on to clear it before it freezes, and get some screenwash/de-icer sprayed on.
We keep a litre of the super concentrated screenwash (the stuff that's good to minus 65, guess it's probaly just neat anti-freeze) in the boots of our cars after having this on the motorway a few years ago and having to keep puling into the services to defrost the screenwash jets despite using the neat stuff from halfords. Pour that in and even with a part full of ordinary stuff it was enough to keep them clear.
Boiling water will crack a screen, scalding hot water could be a problem too, slightly warm water not-so-much
The other great moment I had with my old Datsun was driving along at night when there was a loud bang and everything just went black. Then I realized that the bonnet had come unlatched and flipped up. Dead straight country road, fortunately, but that was a brown trousers moment.
I keep one of these in the door pocket of the car, filled with neat screenwash.
Usually use it for the headlights / side windows / door mirrors at this time of year when the dirty spray from traffic is at it's worst.
The combined spray bottle / window cleaner / squeegee....
If anyone is thinking of getting a Qashqai with the heated windscreen option to avoid this problem - don't bother it's utter utter shite.
I have a 2001 Ford Puma with a heated windscreen that (when it was running) used to clear in seconds generally or minutes if it was hard ice. I'm not convinced the Qashqai screen is even connected up, so utterly ineffectual if you couldn't see the wiggly element lines in the screen you wouldn't know it was there, it's just a button that lights up.
The signs on the motorway which ask "is your car ready for winter?". This is what they mean. Put a strong dilution of screenwash in for winter. It's not really that cold - I think the endless warm winters have made us forget what to do in properly cold weather.
Condensation usually teenagers or early twenties until you got your own pad for some nocturnal aerobics caused steamy windows say no more, i'm surprised your jets never clogged up with ice . Best thing i got this winter was my new blades the bosch mulit blade things
cheap vodka works if your stuck on a hill in an old vw in Jan and putting your hand on the inside of the window to warm the ice a little.the vodka did rot the window wipers a little too
the joy of being young and stupid.
Don’t use warm water, it’s likely to crack your screen!
Yes, that ^ really is cobblers.
Boiling water out of the kettle is not a very good idea (even then it's probably fine but don't blame me if something happens), but warm water will be perfectly fine.
"You don’t have a heated windscreen?
How quaint. "
You don’t have a heated car? Mine was a rather nice 20degrees when I got in to it this morning, no faffing with heated seats/windows etc.
How quaint.
....would work better if I even knew how to quote in the new improved forum
Nothing like sitting in your heated seat, whilst the windscreen is heating up, watching everyone scraping and spraying though.
Or just scrape a small pillar box so you can just see ahead like a lot of the pillocks I saw this morning
Both Monday and Tuesday were below freezing, but very low humidity in Mid Cheshire so no frost on the van. Anti-icing on the Gas Turbine intakes wasn't on either, which is somewhat worrying at those temps. I could have ridden in safety, but looked at the temperature without looking out of the window and gave it a swerve due to the risk of ice.
Hard frost today. 🙁 I'm a warm water windscreen clearing convert, mainly due to it de-misting the inside of the windscreen as I hate wiping it and leaving it streaky.
Pour that in and even with a part full of ordinary stuff it was enough to keep them clear.
Don't mix different types, you could end up with a gloopy gel in your pump and have to spend a morning taking your car apart to get to it & clean it out...
Avoid all these windscreen issues by taking the bike instead. Was bloody cold this morning though. Had to keep a high cadence to stop myself freezing up.
Remember driving burns up your money and makes you fat. Cycling burns up your fat and saves you money.
I reckon its a similar effect to super cooled water that remains liquid until its disturbed like ice cubes in your fridge and freezes instantly and/or the fluid evaporates taking the last bit of heat out of the window and freezing it. It's a known thing in Scotland - I don't use the washers until there is a good bit of heat in the window. It can even happen with a strong solution.
I use lukewarm water all the time never had any issues.
Only time I would avoid it is if its so cold that the water is likely to refreeze on the driveway so I end up with my own personal ice rink.
Still good to have a scraper in the car in case you find yourself with an icy windscreen somewhere you don't have access to a warm tap.
taking the bike instead
I'd have a small 3 year old shaping ice cube on the weeride if I did that...
Do you not use winter screenwash?
heated nozzles on my whip. 8)
Heated everything on mine 😀
(Don't run it if i leave the car in the garage though.)
Hot water bottle on top of the dashboard, then go finish your breakfast.