I use the skoda approved stuff as we have hard water where I live and it seems to work alright. No more expensive than halfords stuff. Plus the 0.5l bottles are a nice size to leave in the boot of the car

I find a 1l bottle lasts about 3-4mths between buying a new one. That is two cars worth as well.

When I checked the prices ,1l of Skoda concentrate was about the same as 5l of Halfords concentrate. Recommended dilutions were the same IIRC. Getting through about 3l of fluid per week with my 50 mile salty/mucky roads commute. Rate has gone up as the headlight washers are now kicking in .

i didnt think the rear jets were fan style , my car has 2 normal style jets on the rear wiper and one doesnt spray at all , can i remove these and clean them?

Cheepo Tesco stuff seems to leave brown crud inside the pipes and blocks the jets.

Bought more expensive stuff out of Tesco the other night (I forget the brand) but it has worked well and even cleaned out one stuttering front scoosher. £7 for 5 litres is a bit expensive though if you go through a lot.

Rear has gunked up again though so that needs investigated.

I don't think it's that hard to pop the trim off and reseat the pipe on the rear jets. No way I'd pay £100 to get that done.

Bunged in a splash of meths and then topped up with a 50% solution of concentrate. Only -3.5°C so not a real test as yet. Must remember to put fog lights on and switch headlights off to save washer fluid for the first wipe!

Well, I am from north of the border.

'i didnt think the rear jets were fan style , my car has 2 normal style jets on the rear wiper and one doesnt spray at all , can i remove these and clean them? '

Probably not but you could try a fine needle or a stiff nylon bristle to clean the rear jets.

Edited 23 December, 200916 yr by gregoir

Bunged in a splash of meths and then topped up with a 50% solution of concentrate. Only -3.5°C so not a real test as yet. Must remember to put fog lights on and switch headlights off to save washer fluid for the first wipe!

Well, I am from north of the border.

Great idea, use fog lights in normal visibility conditions if you pull quickly and release on the wiper stalk it doesn't have time to spring the jets into action but still registers it as wipe.

Why do people seem to have such a problem with filling their washer bottle regularly at this time of year in the weather we have?

I have never had a problem with blocked jets on my car, the furby or my old toledo using the VW/SEAT/SKODA/AUDI screenwash

Great idea, use fog lights in normal visibility conditions if you pull quickly and release on the wiper stalk it doesn't have time to spring the jets into action but still registers it as wipe.

Stands up to full 6'2". I said for the first wipe!

And 'oh no it doesn't' (on mine anyway). An initial quick pull on the washer stalk ,with the headlights, on stimulates the headlights to spray. Hence my tightfisted Scots workaround.

Edited 23 December, 200916 yr by gregoir

Bunged in a splash of meths and then topped up with a 50% solution of concentrate. Only -3.5°C so not a real test as yet. Must remember to put fog lights on and switch headlights off to save washer fluid for the first wipe!

Well, I am from north of the border.

Meths? Won't that damage your paintwork, or am I getting confused with ethylene glycol (antifreeze)?

i didnt think the rear jets were fan style , my car has 2 normal style jets on the rear wiper and one doesnt spray at all , can i remove these and clean them?

The base of the wiper flips up and you can lift out the rear jet nozzles and blow through them or clean as you want. I've not been brave enough to try pulling the fronts off yet.

Meths? Won't that damage your paintwork, or am I getting confused with ethylene glycol (antifreeze)?

Just got back to from driving to Hamburg, I use the VAG stuff and it dropped to -13 C on the A1 for most of the trip up there, on a (roughly) 30% mix of the VAG stuff the washers worked fine along with the headlight washers. Good stuff and does what it says on the tin.

I found my local SEAT place was cheapest for it and I just buy a box of it to do me through the worst of winter.

Methylated spirits is mostly ethyl alcohol/ethanol which is also an ingredient of Halfords screenwash.

No reason to think it will damage paintwork ,or most plastics, especially when diluted.

Ethylene glycol (coolant anti freeze) may cause bother so do not get them confused.

Methylated spirits is mostly ethyl alcohol/ethanol which is also an ingredient of Halfords screenwash.

No reason to think it will damage paintwork ,or most plastics, especially when diluted.

Ethylene glycol (coolant anti freeze) may cause bother so do not get them confused.

Using the halfords stuff in mine and it worked fine, even at minus 11 on the nursery drop off run this morning

Using the halfords stuff in mine and it worked fine, even at minus 11 on the nursery drop off run this morning

Check the labels on the halfords stuff carefully The 2.5l concentrate does down to -16 undiluted the 5l of the EXACT SAME product only -6. This is thesame as the ready mix(winter) level of protection. seems very misleading

Check the labels on the halfords stuff carefully The 2.5l concentrate does down to -16 undiluted the 5l of the EXACT SAME product only -6. This is thesame as the ready mix(winter) level of protection. seems very misleading

The 2.5L I've seen has been the advanced stuff, with the 5L only coming in the normal screenwash.

The advanced being double concentrated, so that 2.5L = 5L normal stuff, so perhaps this was it?

Does anyone know of a recommended dilution of Meths to Screenwash for extra winter protection? (Per litre of Screenwash add xxx ml of Meths)

We had -25°C a couple of weeks back and -35 is coming soon. It's a real p!sser for us when it does that, because you have to drive to a heated carpark (or your garage), and empty the whole system, just to refill with extreme temperature stuff :(

Does anyone know of a recommended dilution of Meths to Screenwash for extra winter protection? (Per litre of Screenwash add xxx ml of Meths)

I wouldnt bother, nip to a VW dealers and get some of the screenwash for fanjets, good for supposedly -70 deg C.

doesn't risk buggering your paintwork up either

I wouldnt bother, nip to a VW dealers and get some of the screenwash for fanjets, good for supposedly -70 deg C.

doesn't risk buggering your paintwork up either

I've found an answer from the online manual.

The concentration of methylated spirits must not be more than 15 %. Please note, however, that the antifreeze protection at this concentration is only adequate down to -5°C, (This is using plain old water!)

So with my washer bottle being 5,5l (5500 ml) as I have headlight washers so I can add 825ml of Meths to increase the cleaning & antifreeze properties.

If you don't have headlight washers you should have a 3,0l (3000ml) bottle so you can add 450ml of Meths.

Edited 26 December, 200916 yr by Indiana Jones

The 2.5L I've seen has been the advanced stuff, with the 5L only coming in the normal screenwash.

The advanced being double concentrated, so that 2.5L = 5L normal stuff, so perhaps this was it?

No I checked it carefully because it did not make sense to me. Walked round the store and then went back to buy the 2.5l after checking again. Same labels on front as 5l only slightly different info on the rear label.

Was the same brand/range of product but product info was different.

So I am still unsure as the manual just states you should use Skoda approved screen wash. So there is no approval number or anything like oil etc. so does that mean I should only use the expensive Skoda/VAG screen wash.

If that is the case does anyone know the most economical way of buying "Skoda approved" wash. It looks like the Skoda stuff is £5/Litre which is about 5 times what I would usually spend. Do I need to?

Edited 27 December, 200916 yr by Tightmartin

It looks like the Skoda stuff is £5/Litre which is about 5 times what I would usually spend. Do I need to?

Lots of people don't, but I do because it's very good, and it's a lot cheaper than that at GSF. Details in this thread.

Edited 27 December, 200916 yr by cjb