How to Defrost Your Windscreen
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We’ve all been there: it’s a miserable winter’s morning, you’re already late for work, you stumble out to your car in the pitch black only to find that your windscreen is covered in a thick layer of frost. There’s nothing worse. If this scenario sounds painfully familiar, don’t worry, we’ve compiled some tips on how to defrost your windscreen below, just for you.
Best way to defrost your windscreen fast
1. Check your wipers
If your wipers are on when you turn the car’s engine on, you could end up damaging the wiper motor or tearing the rubber, so before you look at how to defrost your windscreen, make sure to check your wipers are turned off first.
2. Turn on the engine
Once you’ve made sure that your wipers are turned off, it’s time to turn on the engine and the warm air blower to get some heat on the windscreen. You should turn on the rear windscreen heater and heated mirrors too, if you have them.
While this isn’t the quickest method in our list of top tips on how to defrost your windscreen, it’s the one that carries the least risk. If you try and rush the process by pouring hot water over the glass, you’re only going to end up with a big crack and a bigger problem, so it’s always better to be patient.
Once your engine has been on for a while, you can use an absorbent or microfibre cloth to clear up misted windows – anything but your hands!
3. Get scraping
Now your car has had a little bit of time to warm up, it’s time to put that ice scraper to use. We recommend using your ice scraper in tandem with a de-icer, any brand from your local petrol station will do.
However, if you would rather save some money, or you’ve found the store-bought deicers to be lacking, you can always make your own. If you have an empty spray bottle lying around somewhere, fill it with three parts vinegar and one part water and, boom, there’s your deicer.
4. Don’t chance it
Even if you’re running late, don’t chance it and start driving before the ice has gone completely, this will only put you in danger. Your best bet: leave the engine on, wait a little longer and make sure you put some preventative measures in place for tomorrow. And what might they be, you ask?
Preventative measures to avoid defrosting your windscreen
If you had a garage, you would probably be parking your car in there, so we won’t dwell on that. Here are some simple tricks for those without the luxury of a separate house for their car:
- A windscreen cover will help stop ice from settling on the glass. If you can’t afford one, even a rubber bath mat or some cardboard will do the trick.
- You can also use a night-before deicer. Remember that homemade deicer from earlier? That will do just fine. Try spraying the solution on your windscreen nightly. If you would prefer to go with a trusted brand, that’s fine too.
- Try to park facing east, this will give you a bit of extra help from the sun as it rises. This works particularly well towards the end of winter.
Having trouble with your vehicle this winter? 1st Call Windscreens have a wealth of experience providing both domestic and commercial vehicles with windscreen repairs and replacements. Our team offers their services throughout a variety of locations, including Maidstone, Sittingbourne and the rest of Kent. If you would like to get in touch for more information, please give us a call today.
1st Call Windscreens
Hello and welcome to 1st Call Windscreens. To put it simply, we offer the best windscreen repair and windscreen replacement services for customers in Sittingbourne, Maidstone and the rest of Kent.
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we are very happy with the repairs carried out and the speed of the response. Great job, would recommend !st Call Windscreens any time....
- 27 minutes ago
Excellent service. A niggling leak on the windscreen was fixed quickly and efficiently. The screen was removed without fuss or damage and resealed. It's a job that insurers won't touch,they only de...
- 1 week ago
Discovered my Volvo V50 was not sealing at the top. Autoglass wanted to replace it for £700, called 1st Call and they removed and resealed it for £100+vat and said that if it had broken it would only ...
- 3 weeks ago
Absolutely the best. From the first phone call to collecting my car with new side window that had been vandalised being replaced. next day service so my car was back on the road promptly. Extremely ...
- 1 month ago
Excellent Workmanship Good Value and Top Quality Customer Service: I recently had my Ford Fiesta ST heated windscreen replaced by 1st Call Windscreens, I couldn't be happier with the whole experienc...
- 2 months ago
Brilliant service. Would recommend 1st call windscreens to anyone looking for an efficient service. Friendly and helpful above and beyond ! 0...
- 2 months ago
Asked for a quote online which came through quickly. Just £48 inc vat for windscreen stone chip. Phoned to book a repair. I could either take the car to them or they would come out to me the next day....
- 2 months ago
Tom turned up on time, he was professional but friendly, he kept me informed on what he was doing and progress, and did a great job! Thanks Tom. Would highly recommend...
- 3 months ago
I needed my windscreen replaced due to a large crack; I was booked in straight away and I couldn’t be happier. They came to my house to fit the replacement, only took them about 20 minutes and they ev...
- 3 months ago
Couldn't be happier, had my Evoque windscreen re sealed as was leaking. Highly recommend 1st Call Windscreens. The guys were extremely helpful & friendly both on phone and doing the work. The work was...
- 4 months ago
Fantastic service, booked for a site visit to alleviate any disruption to the engineers day and it all went seamlessly. I would definitely recommend 1st Call Windscreens and will use them in the futu...
- 4 months ago
Customer service were great responded to my call out vey quickly and the guy that came out was very nice and helpful Thank you...
- 5 months ago
Had my chip fixed at my home this afternoon - cannot praise the service enough!!!! Lovely man who took 10-15 minutes - perfect job and no issues - very good price and highly recommend them Jo Seveno...
- 6 months ago
Very helpful and carried out a repair at very short notice on our way to catch a ferry. Very polite and stabilised the chip in our windscreen so that we could continue abroad for our holiday uninterru...
- 6 months ago
Made a call to 1st call windscreens as I was worried about a chip in my screen. The guys were very helpful, turned up on time and carried out a fantastic repair and was cheaperthan my insurance acce...
- 7 months ago
We had an emergency windscreen repair needed when travelling down from Oxfordshire to Kent. The Sittingbourne team went out of their way to help us at very short notice and allowing us to resume our j...
- 7 months ago
Jake was friendly, polite and helpful. He left no mess inside or outside the car and took away the boxes the seals came in even though they were supplied direct by the BMW dealer....
- 7 months ago
Arrived on time at my home address. Was very professional, polite and efficient. No hassle and no mess. Screen was replaced on my mini in no time at all and looks perfect. Thank you will highly recom...
- 7 months ago
So happy with Byron and Jake today very friendly and professional from 1st Call Windscreens Ltd. They come extremely well prepared with attention to detail. A great job was done on replacing my wind...
- 8 months ago
1st Call windscreens are absolutely 1st class. Spoke with David on the phone and he was so helpful and knowledgeable. Took our car up to them to advise on the correct windscreens which embarrassingl...
- 8 months ago
George west from 1st call windscreens Ltd was quite friendly and managed to do a fantastic job on my stone CHIP WINDSCREEN....
- 8 months ago
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