20 Winter Car Hacks That Are Simple Yet Genius

The fact that maintaining a car during winter can be very tedious doesn’t mean you need to abandon your car. After all, it’s better to own a car at such times than using expensive commercial transport that doesn’t consider your convenience as germane due to the same bad weather.

Knowing your way around the different difficulties you can face during a storm or snow will enable you to make the best use of your car during winter. Explore the following 20 winter car hacks that will let you hold your own when the need arises.

For Your Car Wipers — **For Your Car Windshield and Wipers**

For Your Car Windshield and Wipers

There are two things you have to do whenever you park your car and you’re expecting snow:

Cover Your Wipers With Socks

You need to raise your wipers away from your windshield and cover them with old socks to ensure the wipers does not freeze to your wipers.

Cover Your Windshield With Rug/Carpet/Tarp

After taking care of your wipers, you can now cover your windshield with old an old rug, carpet, or tarp to prevent snow from sticking to it.

Alternatively,

Use Diluted Vinegar

A mixture of vinegar and water in the ratio 3:1 has been proven to be excellent in preventing the formation of ice or snow. You can prepare this yourself and spray Looking for more uses for vinegar? White Vinegar Is A Great Cleaner – Here Are 17 Ways It Can Clean Up Your Home

So talking about Car Mirrors, you can also

Cover Your Car Side Mirrors With Plastic Bags

You can use this method if you find yourself in a situation where you can’t use the Vinegar Mixture Method. The plastic bags will prevent mirrors from freezing.

Preventing Your Car Locks From Freezing

Use The Straw Method

You may not know, but the air you blow from your mouth have substantial amount of heat that is enough to melt the ice buildup in your car lock if blown long enough. Using a straw, you’re able to direct this air into the lock for quick result.

Alternatively,

Heat Your Car Key

You can heat your car key before you slide it into your car lock. Ensure the heat source does not destroy your key. Some people use lighters.

Now, to make sure that your car key doesn’t get stuck in your car lock, you can:

Spray your car key with hand sanitizer or WD-40, the alcohol contents in them are enough to prevent ice formation in your car lock. Read this article for more genius uses for WD-40

Protecting Your Car Tires

Do Penny Test To Check Your Tire Tread

You need your car tires to gain enough traction whenever you find yourself on ice or snow and this depends to a very great extent on your tire tread. A shining penny will let you determine when you need new tires without spending a penny. The method involves you holding the shining Abe-Lincoln penny between your thumb and forefinger in such a way that Abe’s body lay in your grasp. Then point the coin towards one of the lowest grooves in your tire in such a way that Lincoln’s head is pointing downward. Now, if any part of Lincoln’s head is covered by the groove then your tire is still okay; otherwise, you will need new tires. Perform similar test for many grooves in different parts of the tire and do the same for other tires to know if they also need to be changed.

Keep A Bag of Kitty Litter or Road Salt In Your Car Trunk

By keeping up to 20 pounds of weight in your car trunk, your car will be able to gain more traction on ice or snow and prevents it from sliding due to lack of enough friction between your car’s tires and the solid water.

What if your car get stuck? Then

Place Your Car’s Floor Mats Under Your Car’s Tires

This will make your tires to gain additional traction against the ice. Also, you can break some of the kitty litter in your trunk and put them under your tires for you to quickly escape.

Secure Your Car Doors

Car Door Rubber Edges Getting Stuck? Use Cooking Spray

Your cherished cooking spray can be of help whenever you sense that the rubber edges of your car doors could get stuck due to ice. The cooking spray lubricates the rubber and prevents ice build up.

What about a blurred vision due to fog? Then

Clean Your Car Lights With Toothpaste

Your toothpaste is not only useful for your teeth, you can make your car lights brighter by washing them with toothpaste. Keep your car lights always bright, and even brighter during bad weather.

How To Defog Your Car

Clean Your Car Windows With Shaving Cream

Defoggers work by absorbing the moisture that probe the threat of forming fog on your windows and mirrors. The good news is that you can achieve this using your shaving cream will have similar ingredients to the popular defoggers in the market.

Use Cat Litter To Prevent Fog

Put some highly absorbent cat litter in socks or stockings and place them in strategic sections of your car such as on top of your dashboard and seats, they will act like defoggers.

How To Scrape Off Ice From Your Car

Use A Good Ice Scraper

You will surely find a tested and trusted ice scraper in the market if you look enough. Here is mine (HERE)

You can improvise by using:

A Push Broom starting from your car roof to the lower parts of the car.

Use Your Credit Card to scrape it off, especially when the ice is not so thick and large. You can as well use your hand if you think it’s adequate for the amount of ice you have.

Just make sure whatever you use, plastic materials are best, doesn’t have the potential to destroy your car paint.

What if you need to walk on ice or snow? Then

Wear Old Socks Over Your Shoes To Avoid Slipping

Just the same way your car tires need enough traction to be able to navigate efficiently over ice, your shoes will need enough traction against the snow you’re walking on. Wearing a pair of old socks over your shoes is a smart place to start.

Also, if you won’t need to drive your car early enough the following morning, then

You Should Park Your Car Facing East, where the sun rises so that you can watch the heat of the sun melting the ice away.

In conclusion,

Do Not Use Hot Water To Melt The Ice On Your Car

We’ve told a lot of things to use to remove ice from your car but this time the message is for you not to use hot water in defrosting your car. This is because your windshield and other car mirrors can crack due to sudden change in temperature.