This year makes our 60th year of owning cars, in that time we have stored our car overnight in the garage. Now having moved where we cannot use the garage( another story) the last few nights has been heavy frost and its a bit of a bind to scrape off.So,whats the feeling of you about car covers?

I use one I bought from Lidl back in December for a fiver. Put it on the night before, remove in the morning to a frost-free car and go to work. Saves up to fifteen minutes which is my time rather than time spent getting to work.

Covers tend to scratch the cars paintwork and are a pain in the ass to store.

You can use water at blood temperature to clear frost safely. It's only when you empty a kettle of boiling water on the screen that thermal expansion becomes an issue.

Also easy with taking off the cover in the morning freeze, have seen people pull to strong on the top of the car where the cover has frozen due to humidity between metallic top and the cover, that pulled a piece of paint up with the cover!

I've used very warm tap water for decades, pour on wipers first to soften & free the blades, then over windscreens, operate wiper straight away & the screen stays clear unless super low temps. Cold frosty air is often quite dry & the warm water residue under the wiped area evaporates swiftly.

 

Rear heater on, front blower/demist on (with aircon if damp inside screen - the air is dry), more warm water on rear screen raises the surface temp and speeds the clearance so the wired element keeps it clear without having to melt the frost/ice as well. 

 

Clear side windows likewise, run glass down & up again to clear excess water. Be careful of door key slots on very cold days (can refreeze), although with central locking & keyless entry these days that's less of a problem.

 

Drive away as quickly as you can & the natural movement of air helps to dry any remaining warm water.

 

I keep a small watering can handy in our understairs cupboard for de-icing use.

 

Down here on the south coast we rarely get 'real' winters so not many days that the water refreezes quickly. 

The windscreen is basically the only problem. At first raise windscreen wipers. The you might put some old blanket, mattress or whatever on the windscreen. You will remove it next morning.

It might not work with naughty neighbours that might have fun removing this thing :)

They are ok if the car is dry to start with, and no water gets underneath if it rains before morning.

It very often rains late evening and then freezes in the early morning.

 

I do not like using water as this then freezes around your cars bits, but possibly dangerously, on the ground / on your drive for people / cars to slip / skid on.

 

I do put bags on my mirrors. This works well.

Edited 5 January, 20179 yr by Tilt

I use one like this that is held in place by trapping a flap in each door.

 

Seconds to fit and seconds to remove...

 

I use one of the reflective windscreen covers too.

 

Use it in summer to keep the car interior protected a bit and at reasonable temps when sitting on drive, take it on holiday abroad in summer holidays to use in the hire car and use in winter (when I remember to fit it) for frost. It is very effective. Only problem is it leaves you to sort out all the other windows but these seem a bit less severely affected than the front windscreen frost.

Thanks guys, I do like the sun screen one as always carry that in boot.As this is my first year living here I will see how it goes before getting cover.