# Windshield Cover To Protect From Snow and Ice In Winter, Have You Used Something From Around The House That Was Handy and Worked?



## SeaBreeze (Dec 5, 2021)

I know they sell these, some have magnets and some have flaps that fit inside the front doors to keep it in place.  I'm thinking of something simple to use from something I have in the garage or house, like a piece of cardboard or??

Has anyone here used something simple that stayed in place in windy snowstorms?  I take the dog on a walk daily almost every day of the year.  I've been having to scrape the car windows sometimes when the ice is hard and stubborn, and it's hard to get a tiny spot started to work the scraper.  Of course, I put on my defrosters and they help in getting the windows clear, but it takes some time.  I usually shovel my walk and sidewalk, and maybe the neighbors while in this process.

This year I want to save myself some work and effort.  I don't like the idea of liquid defrosters which can have caustic chemicals for me and the dog.  The more natural formulas, which I've tried to use, do not work well enough to bother with.  Any ideas that work?


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## oldpop (Dec 5, 2021)

I have used rugs and they worked fine.


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## SeaBreeze (Dec 5, 2021)

oldpop said:


> I have used rugs and they worked fine.


I imagine a rug would get pretty heavy with a foot or more of snow on it in the morning.  How did you keep them in place?  What kind of rugs?


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## Owlivia (Dec 6, 2021)

@SeaBreeze This site has helpful info.  It gives the details on using a towel or cardboard or homemade concoctions.

I once bought a windshield cover, but it was not quite long enough to be secured inside by the car doors and it was so lightweight that the wind would lift it up.  Useless purchase from QVC.

Hope you find something on that site to help you this winter.


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## OneEyedDiva (Dec 6, 2021)

I've seen people use cardboard. I think the only time I used the windshield covers (always purchased), was to protect the car from getting too hot in the summer.  I'd just turn on the heat if the windshield was covered with a lot of snow...then brush the snow as it started to melt off.


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## hollydolly (Dec 6, 2021)

Tarpaulin from the shed..it's long enough to tuck right into the doors...


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## Murrmurr (Dec 6, 2021)

I glued little circular magnets to a heavy-duty lawn/garbage bag. At the corners and here and there on the edges.


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## oldpop (Dec 6, 2021)

SeaBreeze said:


> I imagine a rug would get pretty heavy with a foot or more of snow on it in the morning.  How did you keep them in place?  What kind of rugs?


The rugs I am speaking of are light weight kitchen type rugs. They would not work in a blizzard but in general they work in a pinch. Just lay them across the windshield. To add: I have also used old wool military blankets.


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## Tom 86 (Dec 6, 2021)

Oldpop,
I've tried those here in Indiana.  The problem here is we get 1/2 snow & 1/2 freezing rain.  The rain would go through those rugs in time.  Then they "froze" to the windshield.  So you had to turn on the car & defrosters & wait till it got warm to peel it off.
I think the best choice is to buy one of the windshield covers just for your car.  They are the right size & when you pull on them they stretch from the passenger's side mirror over to the driver's side & there are magnets embedded in the covers at the top.

  Remember to raise the windshield wiper straight out or they will freeze to the cover.


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## Aunt Bea (Dec 6, 2021)

Nope!

I used to start the car and let it warm up while I finished my coffee.

For a coating of ice, a good alcohol based window washer fluid is helpful.


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## horseless carriage (Dec 6, 2021)

SeaBreeze said:


> I'm thinking of something simple to use from something I have in *the garage *or house, like a piece of cardboard or??


It might seem like the obvious, SeaBreeze, but if the car was in the garage you wouldn't need a cover.


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## oldpop (Dec 6, 2021)

Tom 86 said:


> Oldpop,
> I've tried those here in Indiana.  The problem here is we get 1/2 snow & 1/2 freezing rain.  The rain would go through those rugs in time.  Then they "froze" to the windshield.  So you had to turn on the car & defrosters & wait till it got warm to peel it off.
> I think the best choice is to buy one of the windshield covers just for your car.  They are the right size & when you pull on them they stretch from the passenger's side mirror over to the driver's side & there are magnets embedded in the covers at the top.
> 
> Remember to raise the windshield wiper straight out or they will freeze to the cover.


Where I am from an inch of snow shuts down the whole area. I have never had to deal with a very large amount of snow in a four wheeled vehicle.


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## SeaBreeze (Dec 6, 2021)

horseless carriage said:


> It might seem like the obvious, SeaBreeze, but if the car was in the garage you wouldn't need a cover.


I already have a vehicle in the garage.  It's a two car garage, but we have work tables along one wall and shelf units along another wall.  There are other items and tools in our garage so there is no room for two vehicles.  Yes, that was obvious.


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## SeaBreeze (Dec 6, 2021)

Thanks for your reply @oldpop, all our vehicles are 4wd as during the winter we can have some large storms that dump feet of snow.


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## SeaBreeze (Dec 6, 2021)

Aunt Bea said:


> Nope!
> 
> I used to start the car and let it warm up while I finished my coffee.
> 
> For a coating of ice, a good alcohol based window washer fluid is helpful.


Back when I was still working, I used to go out and start the car before I was ready to leave, and left it running in the driveway.  Car thefts started happening in my state and they made a 'no puffer' law, whee you can't leave your vehicle unattended or you would get ticketed and fined.  So I stopped doing that.


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## Don M. (Dec 6, 2021)

I tried various types of covers, when I was working, and had to park outdoors during a snow storm, and never had much luck with them,  It seemed I always had to wind up doing some scraping, and just let the vehicle warm up enough for the wipers to work.  Perhaps in the past few years someone has come up with a worthwhile cover, but I haven't needed any since I retired.  Now, the vehicles sit in the garage, and if snow is forecasted, we stay home.


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## JustinCase (Dec 6, 2021)

I'll tell you what doesn't work - hot, hot water!  Once in a blue moon I could catch a ride to Jr High with friend & his mom on the really cold mornings.  He was sent out to warm up the car and scrape the windshield.  His idea to clear the ice was to start a sauce pan heating water.  Yep, brought it out and splashed it on the WS.  I sat in amazement when the whole WS completely cracked into the coolest spiderweb you've ever seen.  

We walked to school that morning.


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## Aunt Bea (Dec 6, 2021)

SeaBreeze said:


> Back when I was still working, I used to go out and start the car before I was ready to leave, and left it running in the driveway.  Car thefts started happening in my state and they made a 'no puffer' law, whee you can't leave your vehicle unattended or you would get ticketed and fined.  So I stopped doing that.


We have something similar here but it is rarely enforced when someone is on their own property.

Most often it's used to discourage people from leaving a running vehicle unattended at a convenience store or in some other public place.


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## Pinky (Dec 6, 2021)

Is there a product you can spray on the windshield, that prevents ice build-up? 

When we had a house, and two vehicles .. the one that was outside had a long plastic cover that was held onto the inside of the windshield with suction cups. It did the trick, simple as it was.


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## Kaila (Dec 6, 2021)

hollydolly said:


> Tarpaulin from the shed..it's long enough to tuck right into the doors...



Are your Tarps made of reinforced plastic, or are they a canvas fabric?


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## Kaila (Dec 6, 2021)

Tom 86 said:


> he problem here is we get 1/2 snow & 1/2 freezing rain. The rain would go through those rugs in time. Then they "froze" to the windshield.





Tom 86 said:


> raise the windshield wiper straight out or they will freeze to the cover.



Gosh, wouldn't *both* of these problematic things likely happen to _any rug or fabric used?  

We get a lot of mixed precip, here too, or very heavy wet snow. _


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## Pinky (Dec 6, 2021)

Ours was similar to this one:


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## Aneeda72 (Dec 6, 2021)

Tom 86 said:


> Oldpop,
> I've tried those here in Indiana.  The problem here is we get 1/2 snow & 1/2 freezing rain.  The rain would go through those rugs in time.  Then they "froze" to the windshield.  So you had to turn on the car & defrosters & wait till it got warm to peel it off.
> I think the best choice is to buy one of the windshield covers just for your car.  They are the right size & when you pull on them they stretch from the passenger's side mirror over to the driver's side & there are magnets embedded in the covers at the top.
> 
> Remember to raise the windshield wiper straight out or they will freeze to the cover.


Same with cardboard-it can freeze to the windshield


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## Aneeda72 (Dec 6, 2021)

oldpop said:


> Where I am from an inch of snow shuts down the whole area. I have never had to deal with a very large amount of snow in a four wheeled vehicle.


 one inch of snow?


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## hollydolly (Dec 6, 2021)

Kaila said:


> Are your Tarps made of reinforced plastic, or are they a canvas fabric?


reinforced plastic


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## hollydolly (Dec 6, 2021)

Pinky said:


> Ours was similar to this one:
> 
> View attachment 197689
> 
> View attachment 197690


that's the type I use... or like I said earlier, if I'm stuck without one for any reason then a tarp will do the job fine...


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## SeaBreeze (Jan 5, 2022)

I ended up buying one of these from my local Walmart for $15,  It's easy enough to use, just has two side flaps that are held in place by the front doors.  I used it once already just to check it out, but it was a light snow and not much accumulation or ice involved.  This evening it started snowing again so I put it on, supposed to get a few inches, we'll see.

It was a cheap cut, seems they used as little material possible, so even though my Jeep has a small windshield, there is a space on either side that doesn't get covered.  If I got the next size larger for big SUVs and big trucks, it would be too huge.  It's better than nothing, we'll see how I feel after a few real snow storms.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/FrostGua...ze-for-Cars-and-Smaller-SUVs-Shades/718225331


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## Kaila (Jan 5, 2022)

SeaBreeze said:


> I ended up buying one of these from my local Walmart for $15,  It's easy enough to use, just has two side flaps that are held in place by the front doors.  I used it once already just to check it out, but it was a light snow and not much accumulation or ice involved.  This evening it started snowing again so I put it on, supposed to get a few inches, we'll see.
> 
> It was a cheap cut, seems they used as little material possible, so even though my Jeep has a small windshield, there is a space on either side that doesn't get covered.  If I got the next size larger for big SUVs and big trucks, it would be too huge.  It's better than nothing, we'll see how I feel after a few real snow storms.
> https://www.walmart.com/ip/FrostGua...ze-for-Cars-and-Smaller-SUVs-Shades/718225331



Thank you for telling us!  I will want to hear how well , or poorly, it works,  in the types of storms that it could possibly make the most helpful difference.
It's worth a try, for sure.


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## SeaBreeze (Jan 5, 2022)

Kaila said:


> Thank you for telling us!  I will want to hear how well , or poorly, it works,  in the types of storms that it could possibly make the most helpful difference.
> It's worth a try, for sure.


You're welcome Kaila.  When we get our first blizzard, I'll be sure to give an update.


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## Kaila (Jan 5, 2022)

Thank you, Seabreeze.   
It's fine if you need to do something else *first*, when you come in from the next blizzard, such as to get a hot drink or take a hot shower 
But don't forget to post about the windshield cover!


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## Chris P Bacon (Jan 5, 2022)

No snow here where I'm at but I did a search on Google. 
You might consider some of these - *Best way to keep snow off of windshield*


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## Don M. (Jan 5, 2022)

Rather than having to fuss with a cover, you might try buying a bottle of Windshield De-icer, and spraying the windshield with a bit of that.  This stuff contains Methanol, which quickly softens and melts ice...making it easy to scrape off any ice buildup quickly.

https://www.oreillyauto.com/detail/...-de-icer/prs0/as247?q=windshield+deicer&pos=1


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## Tom 86 (Jan 6, 2022)

SeaBreeze said:


> I ended up buying one of these from my local Walmart for $15,  It's easy enough to use, just has two side flaps that are held in place by the front doors.  I used it once already just to check it out, but it was a light snow and not much accumulation or ice involved.  This evening it started snowing again so I put it on, supposed to get a few inches, we'll see.
> 
> It was a cheap cut, seems they used as little material possible, so even though my Jeep has a small windshield, there is a space on either side that doesn't get covered.  If I got the next size larger for big SUVs and big trucks, it would be too huge.  It's better than nothing, we'll see how I feel after a few real snow storms.
> https://www.walmart.com/ip/FrostGua...ze-for-Cars-and-Smaller-SUVs-Shades/718225331


Thanks for showing us this.  Does it work on "frost on the windshield" in the mornings?


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## Chet (Jan 6, 2022)

SeaBreeze said:


> I already have a vehicle in the garage.  It's a two car garage, but we have work tables along one wall and shelf units along another wall.  There are other items and tools in our garage so there is no room for two vehicles.  Yes, that was obvious.


I would consider moving from the garage what it is that keeps you from using it for two cars as it was built for.


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## SeaBreeze (Jan 6, 2022)

Thanks for your suggestion Chet, but there is nothing to consider.  We've been having our truck and the car we use daily in the driveway for over 40 years now.  Eveything is just the way we want it, or we would have changed it decades ago.  Scraping some snow and ice off the windshield is an inconvenience when it can't be done quickly, but that's all it is, an inconvenience only on the days in winter when snow actually falls.  We've been retired for over ten years now, so we have the time we need to do such things.  The cover makes it a bit quicker and easier, so that's good enough for me, all I wanted.


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## Kaila (Jan 6, 2022)

Chris P Bacon said:


> No snow here where I'm at but I did a search on Google.
> You might consider some of these - *Best way to keep snow off of windshield*



Thank you for doing that, for us, Chris!


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