Frosty Yeti - how d I get the windscreen clear?

[salmotruttafario]

The first frost on my Yeti so did the usual heater and demister on full. however no apparent effect on the screen! It was zero degrees and no sun on the car and I just could not get the screen warm! Had to go for the warm water treatment to get it off. Is this because it is so fuel efficient (1.2 TSI) so little waste heat. 7 mpg on the way to school so fuel's energy going somewhere! Any tips from other owners or do I just get up earlier and put the fan heater in the car?

[Trevorminor]

Ice scraper and/or deicer.

Careful with the 'warm water', a few years ago a neighbour totally destroyed his laminated windscreen doing much the same - the water does not have to be anywhere near boiling to do this.

[Caspian]

The first frost on my Yeti so did the usual heater and demister on full. however no apparent effect on the screen! It was zero degrees and no sun on the car and I just could not get the screen warm! Had to go for the warm water treatment to get it off. Is this because it is so fuel efficient (1.2 TSI) so little waste heat. 7 mpg on the way to school so fuel's energy going somewhere! Any tips from other owners or do I just get up earlier and put the fan heater in the car?

If it is a diesel, it will take a long time to warm up, efficiency etcetera.

I concur with Trevorminor's comment about hot water, it can do a lot of damage to a windscreen. Depending on the screen even warm water can cause problems, though it is less likely.

Use a defrost spray on the outside of the screen. If you get any frosting or misting on the inside, you can buy things to put on the screen to stop it happening.

[EdmundBlackadder]

Last year I bought a windscreen frost cover off ebay for about £3 delivered. It is a pretty basic silver nylon jobbie. It has flaps at either side which you put inside your open front doors and then close them to hold it in place. The cover then sits across the bulk of the windscreen. It works surprisingly well and really did keep the frost off the front screen. It was often a little misty underneath but the air con would clear that in a few seconds.

[Macdemon]

I wouldn't use de-icer either as there are chemicals in there that attack the paintwork. :yes:

The best thing to use is an ice scraper and a tin of 'elbow grease' :yes:

[Agerbundsen]

Ice scraper with a long handle, followed by WW washer fluid from the built in jets.

If you start the car before you scrape, the defroster air flow should be just warm enough when you are done scraping to get the last stuff off.

My garage seems never to go below about 10°C no matter what the outside temperature is, but that is another story. The heated seat is nice for the first few miles, though

Edited 20 October, 2010 by Agerbundsen

[Helgestahill]

The first frost on my Yeti so did the usual heater and demister on full. however no apparent effect on the screen! It was zero degrees and no sun on the car and I just could not get the screen warm! Had to go for the warm water treatment to get it off. Is this because it is so fuel efficient (1.2 TSI) so little waste heat. 7 mpg on the way to school so fuel's energy going somewhere! Any tips from other owners or do I just get up earlier and put the fan heater in the car?

This is the solution

My linkhttp://wup.defa.com/en/wup_products_interiorheaters.html

[AnotherGareth]

This is the solution

My linkhttp://wup.defa.com/en/wup_products_interiorheaters.html

It might be the solution but it's difficult to buy in the UK. After a long search I found a German eBay shop (Nimarks) that includes carriage rates to the UK, but it also appears possible to go direct to the CarandCamp website. I hope to be doing one or the other before long,

[salmotruttafario]

Just thought - they probably have these in Canada and I will be over there soon - might see if the do a multi voltage version. 110v would probably heat up the car terminally

[lee67]

oh how i miss the heated screen outta my last car...luckily i wasnt out in car early today so eventually that yellow circle in the sky had worked by dinnertime lol

[mannyo]

Used a nectar card on my screen this morning. I was totally unprepared and Did not have anything else available.

[Macdemon]

Ivor's garaged overnight and I have an ice scraper in the drivers door pocket all year round.

And before you ask, the ice scraper has a squeegee on it so I can clear wet windscreens

[Per-Ake Svensson]

My suggestions are the following:

+ Use a windscreen frost cover.

+ Apply a professional nano windscreen treatment. The ice will the not grip hard at all so you could normally just use a snow brush to remove the ice.

+ Use an electrical interior heater as suggested previously by someone else.

+ Use a de-icer product if you have applied a professional paint sealing to your car.

I have used a professional nano windscreen treatment (GlassShield from MrCap here in Sweden) on my last two cars and it works really well for any season with respect to liquid water, frozen water, and salted dirty water.

Someone also mentioned that diesels take long time to warm up but my Octavia diesel is equipped with an integrated electrical interior heater per standard so the warm air comes more or less directly when I start up the car. I do not know if this is standard in all countries nowadays but it is standard here in Sweden.

[redandwhitepauly]

Press the "heated windscreen" button lol

[stratosg]

Two years ago, after heavy snowing and three days of constant parking the windscreen became so frosty that not even ice scraper helped. Then i used alcohol. Pharmaceutical alcohol (the blue one) , in no time the ice melted away. It did no harm to the body paint or plastic parts.

[BossFox]

I have used very mildly lukewarm water for years and never had a problem.

Would use the parking heater... but that's not an option on a UK spec car. :no:

Would use the heated windscreen... but that wasn't an option when I ordered ours. :(

Now the Yeti lives in the garage.

[loadswine]

I've used the same on all sorts of cars and also not had a problem. YesI know its not recommended, but it works for me.

Certainly better than all those idiots driving around who can't possibly see out as they haven't cleared their screen at all.

Still only a month to go and I can try out the magic heated front screen! :yes:

[Paul007]

Drive it out of a heated garage like I do....

[Stron]

I had a sheet of "correx" (it's fairly stiff black plastic wrapping material similar in structure to corrugated carboard) cut to size for the Octavia windscreen. I'd just "park" the wipers in the up position and trap it behind them when frost/snow was forecast. Worked a treat.

I must remember to acquire a new made-to-measure piece for the Yeti that will slide snugly into the smaller :( boot.

With regard to water, apparently hot water refreezes more quickly than cold water so using just lightly aired water is the best option if you go down this road. Before the correx idea I used to fill a 2.5l bottle straight from the hot tap when I got up. By the time the combi boiler had started sending some warm stuff to the tap it was just the right temperature. Start the car, put heater & fan on full, apply water and once melting is well underway start the wipers. I found I could usually clear the entire car with the one bottle including giving the heated rear window a head start

[karlbar2k]

I always use the cold tap left to run so it as cold as it can be. Even then it is still a good few degrees above freezing and WILL melt any frost, it warms the screen to above freezing as well which stops refreeze and is less likely to damage your screen. I currently use Halfrauds rain repellant and that seems to cut the amount of frost that settles on the car by about 80% compared to my wifes Passat along side. When it gets really cold -5 and below De-Icers are mostly useless, they just end up being blue ice on the screen instead.

[Terfyn]

Set MAX to Screen and Auto recirc to close. Put fan heater on passenger's side floor. Switch all on and go an have a cup of tea.

I was amazed at the strength of the sun. It came just over the top of the house. The screen cleared itself down to the shadow line and a side window was clear where the sun had hit it through the windscreen.

Edited 2 December, 2010 by Terfyn

[Llanigraham]

Set MAX to Screen and Auto recirc to close. Put fan heater on passenger's side floor. Switch all on and go an have a cup of tea.

I was amazed at the strength of the sun. It came just over the top of the house. The screen cleared itself down to the shadow line and a side window was clear where the sun had hit it through the windscreen.

I'm glad I'm not the only nutter up at that hour, Terfyn!

I left for work at 0415 and luckily had remembered to put the frost cover over the windscreen last night, so just had to shake the snow of it. Temp was -2 and the car was fully warm in 12 miles.

Next week Lidl have got car caps for sale, so I shall be paying a visit there on Monday morning.