When winter arrives, it is very common for your car’s windshield to fill with ice, which would make it difficult for you to see. Discover how to defrost the windshield and prevent the window glass from fogging up by this natural element. You can take some tips that will help you prevent your glass from frosting from ice.
Winter is very daring with your window glass
If you are in an American state where snow falls constantly, you may have car problems. When the temperature drops, the glass in your main window can suffer from this climate change. In the best of cases, the glass will only fog up from the cold, causing you to struggle to see the road.
The worst thing that can happen to you is that the glass not only fogs up but the windshield freezes. You will have serious problems if this happens because it hinders your vision which causes the car to be disabled. You will not be able to drive this way because it will be negligent on your part and could attract some fines.
For these cases, when the windshield freezes, you should not go into depression and look for a solution. You don’t have to wait for winter to end for the glass to reach its natural temperature. If you want to speed things up and have a defrosted windshield, you will have to resort to a few basic methods.
Why is my vehicle’s windshield freezing?
When the air inside your vehicle heats up, it will retain much more moisture than when the air is cold. If the atmosphere’s temperature drops, all the humidity in the car will be released, which causes condensation on the windshield. Your main glass will be covered in frozen drops, which makes it look foggy.
For your car’s windshield to fog up, the temperature has to drop enough and even snow. This problem does not occur at more than 22 degrees in the environment, but if snow begins to fall, it is possible. You will be upset when you see the glass of your windshield like this, and you will despair because you do not see anything on the road.
Is it possible to defrost the windshield?
You can learn how to defrost windshield without heat using only your car’s power or external elements. You can use endless methods for this common problem, but you are not sure that they will work. You have to leave with a 100% guaranteed solution so you can improve the view on your windshield.
The cold can dominate the environment, but you dominate your things, including your frozen windshield. You will not have to leave today on public transport because, in less than 10 minutes, you will already defrost the windshield. These methods can be applied over and over again when the problem occurs and always have the best of results:
- You have to turn on the heater in your car
When you see the frozen windshield, the first thing you should do is not despair and start your vehicle. You will have to start the engine. This may take a while due to the weather. When the engine is running, you have to turn up the heater’s power to remove excess moisture.
You should not forget that the windshield is fogged because of the heat trapped in the car. Although you will feel a little warm, you will go for a good pass to demist the windshield in minutes.
- Select the A-C button
Although it sounds contradictory, you have to press the air conditioning button after using the car heater. With this process, you will dry all the air housed in the cabin efficiently. The coils in your air conditioner will remove these traces of air to defrost the windshield faster.
- Disconnect air recirculation
You will also need to get some fresh air into your vehicle to complete the performance process. All winter air is cold and is not holding much moisture, so it is naturally dry. You will have to open your car’s windows so that the air enters and dries the air that is saturated there faster.
- Open the windows and leave it like that for a while
To know how to defrost windshield fast, you will have to rely on the outside air and give you freedom in your vehicle. Open all the windows in your car and let this cool air in to speed up the drying process.
- Defog your windshield
Now you will have to do some manual work to demist your car’s windshield. You have to defog the window both inside and outside of the unit to see well. You can use the windshield wiper as support to clean the area more easily.
As you dry all the air inside the cabin, the frozen drops on your windshield will easily fall. If you notice that the frozen drops are still hard, you can make a mixture of isopropyl alcohol and water to help you. With this combination, you will have excellent results to remove all that frozen water.
How to use rubbing alcohol to demist the windshield?
You can use rubbing alcohol defrost windshield for better cleaning performance. You must follow these steps to demist the windshield:
- You have to buy some rubbing alcohol at a store close to home.
- When you have the item, you will have to combine it with water. You have to mix the alcohol with half a cup of water no more.
- Put the alcohol and water mixture in a spray bottle so you can apply it more easily.
- Find a stiff textured cloth for cleaning.
- Apply the mixture on the windshield, do not limit yourself with the amount because the more you add, the faster you will clean.
- You have to clean with the rigid texture cloth to remove as many of the frozen drops as possible.
- Clean enough until the windshield is very clean.
- You can activate the windshield wiper to improve your cleaning.
This is the most efficient method you can have to defrost your windshield in a few minutes. This solution will work when you remove all the moisture inside your vehicle, and thus, no more frozen drops are generated.
Defog the windshield in rainy weather
Snow is not the only problem that you will have to deal with with the windshield and when it fogs up. You will have this same problem when it rains where the windshield gets frosted, and you can’t see the road. You can have two solutions when the windshield is fogged up in the rain, and they are:
Solution 1: turn off the recirculation system
If you are driving in the rain and the windshield is fogging up all the time, the problem may be with recirculation. You will need to turn off the air recirculation system so that the windshield does not frost from moisture. After you turn off this system, you will only have to clean the glass inside the unit, and that’s it.
Solution 2: apply alcohol with water
If you are prepared against these problems and have your alcohol spray with water nearby, you can apply it on the windshield. You only have to stop for a few seconds while cleaning the inside of the windshield and demisting it.
You must turn on the windshield wiper and leave it like that at all times when it rains. The compressed air inside your car causes these problems, so you have to shut it down.
Defrosting methods on your windshield that DO NOT work
Many methods may come up when you search online for the quickest solutions to this problem on your windshield. You have to ignore these solutions that do not help to demist your windshield:
- Solution with hot water
There is a myth that if you apply hot water to your windshield, all the snow will fall off in less than 1 minute. You should know that this solution is not true, and you even run the risk of damaging the windshield. With a weather contrast, the windshield can crack or even break if the water is too hot.
- Solution with warm water
You can read that your car glass is demisting using lukewarm water, but this doesn’t work either. The current warm water like hot water, so you can damage your car’s windshield. You will only expand the windshield glass with the warm water, and you can pop it for believing these myths.
- Potato solution
Another very strange solution you can find online on how to defrost windshield is using a potato. The solution indicates that you should rub half a potato inside your unit to defog the glass. The only thing this method can do is stain your windshield glass and eventually have to replace it.
How do I prevent my car’s windshield from fogging up?
Although you can’t fight nature, you can somehow prevent your windshield from fogging up. You have to store your car in the garage when winter approaches so that the windshield does not fog up. Although this storage in your garage may not work, the windshield may not fog up as much.
You should not forget that the isopropyl alcohol and 1/3 water method is the only one that works for your car. You should not be guided by those methods that will only cause greater damage to your vehicle. You have to use science on your side and remove all the water that is in the car.
Although this alcohol/water method may take a few minutes, you can be sure it will work. You will not suffer from cracking or cracking of your glass as it can in other methods. Isopropyl alcohol does not stain, so you should not worry about that too.