Know How Notes: How to Deice Your Car

With the beauty of a fresh winter snow comes the frustration of cleaning your car so you can get to work. Unfortunately, this has to be done in freezing cold and often wet conditions. Clearing the snow and ice in the fastest way possible gets you on the road and out of the cold. To help you get the job done as efficiently as possible, we have put together a few helpful tips for how to deice your car.

Prepare the Night Before

If you know snow and ice are coming, then take a few minutes in the evening to prep your vehicle. Turn the heat to full blast and on defrost so it will be set when you start your car in the morning. Lift your windshield wipers off the glass so that they don’t get stuck. You can also place a piece of cardboard over the glass. This is good for heavy snow, but not ice. If ice is possible, the cardboard can make things worse.

Gear Up

You need to have some products on hand before the storm. What you choose is up to you, but here are the basics that you should always have on hand:

Ice scraper with brush (plastic or nylon NO METAL)

De-icer spray

Lock De-Icer

Ice Melt salt

Clearing the Way

Once the snow and ice have come, you need to clear your vehicle. Begin by starting the vehicle with the temp cranked up and on defrost. If you have a rear defroster, turn it on too.  NEVER EVER use hot water to melt the ice. This can shatter your glass. Instead, use the brush portion of your scraper to clear the loose snow until you get to a solid layer. Use the de-icer spray to melt the ice. Spray it on liberally in a small area and use the scraper to remove it. You don’t want to spray the entire windshield at once as it will just melt and possibly refreeze , making it even harder to remove.

If the ice is really thick, use the scraper to carve a groove in the ice. Once you reach the glass, you can then spray the deicer onto the glass and work the scraper under the ice to peel it off in sheets. The same trick works great for the side glass too.

If the ice is really bad, you may need to deice the door handle and lock too. You can pick up a lock de-icer which is essentially the same stuff that comes in the big can, but it is designed to go into the lock itself and melt any ice. Otherwise, you can use the spray de-icer on the door handle.

It is a good idea to keep a can of deicer and a quality scraper in your vehicle at all times. You never know when a winter storm is going to hit and having the tools in your garage is not going be of much use when you get 6 inches of snow while you are at work. Whenever you are dealing with snow and ice, take caution and be thorough. Don’t just carve out a 6 inch square to see out of, that can end in disaster.

Check out all the chemical products available on NAPA Online or trust one of our 17,000 NAPA AutoCare locations for routine maintenance and repairs. For more information on how to deice your car, chat with a knowledgeable expert at your local NAPA AUTO PARTS store.