With the winter season getting closer, look at these 12 snow car hacks you need to know:
⚠️ If It's Broken, Don't Fix It - Get Paid Cash for Your Vehicle ⚠️
- Ensure that you have a full tank of gas
- Consider reverse parking your car
- Inspect your wiper fluid
- Prevent frozen Locks
- Prevent frozen doors
- Prevent the hood from freezing
- Prevent ice from building up on your side mirrors
- Prevent ice from building up on your windshield
- Pull up the windshield wipers
- Remove snow before it turns into ice
- Remove as much snow as possible without touching the vehicle
- Remove snow from your car without scratching it
- Remove the windshield covers and zip lock bags
- Never use the scraper
- Never use boiled water
When we refer to the winter season and car problems, most of us think about the battery issues that might prevent us from starting our vehicle on cold mornings. However, many people live in areas that receive a lot of heavy snow and the morning becomes a huge hassle for them, especially when they are looking for how to scrape snow off their windshields and get their vehicle out of the snow piles on the ground.
Automotive experts have a good understanding of dealing with the winter season when it comes to heavy snowstorms. Although this article provides you with 15 snow car hacks that you need to know to have a better deal with your winter season, these tips are recommended to be implemented even last minute before the snowstorm hits.
15 snow car hacks: car tips and tricks for the winter season
Most drivers do their best still protect their vehicles and keep them as covered as possible, especially when snowstorms hit. However, many of them get frustrated about how to start their vehicles in the morning and get them out of the heavy snow.
If you don't want to spend time scraping snow off your windshield, you don't want to deal with a frozen door; you want to be late on your work or school, it is important that you be proactive about snow and how to deal with it.
Let's take a closer look at what Chrisfix recommended in terms of the winter car tips and tricks you need to know:
1- Ensure that you have a full tank of gas
One of the first recommendations that you need to maintain is a full gas tank. When you have enough gas, you will get stuck in major car accidents, and you can get your vehicle running to stay warm during the storm. Also, most gas stations might be closed, and even if they are open, many people might be lining up to fill their vehicles.
To prevent wasting your time and for your safety and to prevent emergencies, it is recommended that you have a full gas tank. This is because when you have extra weight on the rear axle, you'll be able to get your car out of snow. After all, you have more weight and more traction. In addition, some customers rely on a trick by adding some bags of sand in the rear of their cars to help them provide more traction, so they don't get stuck in the snow.
2- Consider reverse parking your car
The second tip is to reverse parking all your vehicles in your driveway. This way, you'll have to worry about visibility issues, especially with snow piling up around the corners. Also, you'll be able to see any kids or other people walking and prevent heading them by Mistake.
As snow blowers start cleaning the streets, they will most likely push the snow towards your driveway, and that makes it even harder for you to get out of the driveway to the street. Therefore, by reverse parking, you'll have better control in getting out of the snow and better visibility.
This tip is very simple and doesn't take time, but you'll be impressed by how much hassle it will save you the second morning.
3- Inspect your wiper fluid
Since it will be snowing the second day, you'll need to make sure that you have the right amount and type of wiper fluid in your fluid reservoir. There are different types of wiper fluids in the markets, and there are specific kinds designed specifically for the snow season. This way, you achieve better performance, and you'll have the ability to dice snow or ice from the windshield.
4- Prevent frozen Locks
Another common challenge when dealing with snow is when you try to open the car door and legalize it's completely frozen. This happens if you try to insert the key and it never goes in, and if you try to pull the handle, it will never go out.
A very simple trick that you can implement is spraying a specific Silicone lubricant that keeps your keyhole lubricated and prevents ice from building up inside it. More specifically, this lubricant typically repels water and doesn't allow it to sit inside the keyhole. This way, water never freezes inside it.
Applying the silicone lubricant is not a complicated job, and you don't necessarily need to apply a huge amount of the product. Instead, spray a couple of sprays and insert the key to allow the product to get inside completely and repel any water.
5- Prevent frozen doors
Another very common problem during the winter season is frozen doors. To prevent this from happening, you can apply the same trick by applying a little bit of the silicone lubricant on a dry paper towel and then wiping all the rubber frames around your door and the vehicle's body. This way, any water will immediately repel, and it won't freeze, which prevents your door from freezing as well.
Note that after applying the silicone lubricant on the weatherstripping, you don't have to repeat the process for the whole winter because it typically lasts that long!
6- Prevent the hood from freezing
Have you ever tried to open the vehicle's hood and realized that it's frozen? This might already happen to your vehicle, but you won't realize it unless you need to open the hood because of the internal problem. Therefore, you might want to apply the same lubricant to where the hood latches are and ensure that they can pop up easily without any problem.
Ignoring this issue might result in a lot of other complications. For example, imagine that you're dealing with a battery problem during the winter season. What will happen if you can't pop out the hard? Well, you won't be able to jump-start your car unless it's completely deiced. This will never happen unless the temperature is warm enough for this to happen or unless you apply extra pressure, leading to further issues.
When dealing with battery problems, you might be already stressed and dealing with a lot of headaches. Therefore, to prevent adding more headaches to yourself, consider lubricating the hood latches.
7- Prevent ice from building up on your side mirrors
Have you ever tried to drive your vehicle and realized that the side mirrors are frozen? Unfortunately, you won't be able to scrape the size off because it might damage the mirror.
There is a very simple trick that you can implement here: covering the mirror with a Ziploc bag. First, ensure that the mirror is completely inside the Ziploc bag and zip it up to prevent any ice or water from getting inside and building up on top of the mirror. Then, the next morning, all you must do is remove the Ziploc bag and enjoy your clear mirror without any issues.
8- Prevent ice from building up on your windshield
You can apply a very simple similar trick to your windshield as well. Invest in a small canvas cover designed specifically for preventing eyes or snow from building up on your windshield.
As you put the canvas, consider tucking it up inside the holes or around the wipers to confirm that they don't slip as snow accumulates.
Note that these canvases are designed specifically to allow you to use the side stripes and roll them around the mirrors. Therefore, we recommend that you look at the product description carefully and understand how to use it effectively to prevent any snow from sliding underneath the canvas and causing eyes to build upon your windshield.
If you're not planning to purchase a specific canvas to protect your eyes from your windshield, you can use a big garbage bag. Ensure that the garbage bag completely covers the windshield and try using certain items to help secure it in place and prevent it from flipping as snowfalls.
Note that depending on the size of your vehicles when she'll, you might need to use one or two extra garbage bags to confirm that the whole windshield is completely covered and there is no room for snow to sneak behind the garbage bags.
9- Pull up the windshield wipers
One of the most important snow car hacks is to prevent the wipers from sticking to the windshield. Don't forget to pull up your windshield wipers and make them away from the windshield. This helps you prevent them from getting stuck to the windshield and allows you to put them back once the snow falls completely.
10- Remove snow before it turns into ice
Once the snow falls completely, don't wait until it freezes out because it gets much harder for you to remove it. Therefore, immediately pick up your shovel and try removing it from around your vehicle.
Note that as you're clearing out snow from around your car, it might stick to your shovel, making it much heavier and preventing it from holding more snow than before. The good news is that there is another trick that you can implement to prevent this from happening. Or what you must do is to clear out all snow from the shovel and wax it with a specific paint wax which then prevents any ice or snow from sticking to your shovel as it will repel immediately.
11- Remove as much snow as possible without touching the vehicle
This might sound a bit weird to many of our readers, but it's recommended that you remove any snow before using the typical commercial brush. You can do this by using a small leaf blower which immediately kicks out any snow piling up on your vehicle's exterior. This will make the job much easier when using the snow removal brush.
Note that the leaf blower performs more effectively if you remove the snow immediately before it turns into ice. The longer you wait, the harder the job gets, the more effort you'll have to apply.
12- Remove snow from your car without scratching it
A common mistake that most people make when clearing out snow from their vehicles is using a commercial brush with harsh ends that could scratch the vehicle's exterior. To prevent this from happening, all you have to do is cover the brush with a small microfiber towel that is considered gentler on your vehicle's exterior and won't result in any scratches.
If you try to remove snow with the brush covered with a microfiber towel, there's a very high chance that it will slip. To prevent this from happening, you can use a binder clip or any other element that will hold the towel in place.
13- Remove the windshield covers and zip lock bags
To enjoy the mentioned snow car hacks, you can go ahead and remove the material used on the windshield, whether it's the canvas or the garbage bags. Also, you can remove the Ziploc bags and look at how great it is to enjoy the side mirrors without needing to scrape them.
14- Never use the scraper
Another common mistake that many drivers implement is using scrapers to get rid of ice from their vehicles. What they don't know is that there's a very high chance that Scrapers will scratch the exterior and impact your vehicle's overall look.
On the other hand, scrapers are great tools to clean ice off your windows because they won't scratch them.
If, for any reason, you don't have a scraper available, you can easily use a credit card because it does the same job.
15- Never use boiled water
Some people think that using boiled water helps them get rid of ice off their vehicle’s windshield and glass. However, that's not the case. Boiled water might crack your windshield and result in more problems that are beyond repair.
Instead, automotive experts recommend filling a Ziploc bag with warm water that is not boiling and slowly sliding it on the vehicle's glass to get rid of ice without any problems.
Snow car hacks: final thoughts
Dealing with snow can be a lot of hassle, especially if you would like to get out in the morning to reach your office or school. The good news is that automotive experts put together a list of snow cart hacks that you can implement to prevent any hassle During snow mornings.
Note that no matter how much effort and time you put towards dealing with snow, the hassled will be there if your vehicle has major mechanical problems. So it might be worth investigating whether you should sell your vehicle and use its money to buy a better car that doesn't have major problems.
Cash Cars Buyer is willing to remove your vehicle within one to three days only! Cash Cars Buyer is one of the top-rated car removal companies in the nation that guarantees to pay you the top dollars and provide you with free towing despite your living location around the United States.
Our process is very straightforward and doesn't take more than a couple of days to get your car removed safely and for the most money.
All it takes you is to:
- Describe your car’s type and condition
- Receive our instant free quote
- Accept the quote
- Get your car removed and receive your cash payment on the spot!
To learn more about our process and our teen, you can reach out to us by giving us a call at 866-924-4608 or visit our home page click on the free instant online offer.