Wiper stuck to windscreen :(

Cyber-Mav · 28 Feb 2018 at 10:08

mum shredded a wiper blade today, was frozen to the windscreen and got ripped up when she turned wipers on.
is there anything i can use to stop this from happening? im guessing wd40 on windscreen is a no no.

Conscript · 28 Feb 2018 at 10:09

Defrost the screen by pouring warm water over it and the wipers.
Then use the wipers to clear the water to prevent refreezing.

Dis86 · 28 Feb 2018 at 10:09

Intelligence. Wipers ain't there to remove ice.

bJN · 28 Feb 2018 at 10:22

Lift the wipers up the night before so they can't freeze to the screen?

Rich1988 · 28 Feb 2018 at 10:24

Dis86 said:
Intelligence. Wipers ain't there to remove ice.

on some cars as soon as you put it in reverse it auto wipes, I know that isn't the case here but that can be easily done. (not done it personally but my other halfs car does it)

andy_mk3 · 28 Feb 2018 at 10:28

Lift the blades off the screeen first, then de-ice the screen not using the wipers.

Swinbag · 28 Feb 2018 at 10:28

Conscript said:
Defrost the screen by pouring warm water over it and the wipers.
Then use the wipers to clear the water to prevent refreezing.

This.

Dis86 · 28 Feb 2018 at 10:32

Rich1988 said:
on some cars as soon as you put it in reverse it auto wipes, I know that isn't the case here but that can be easily done. (not done it personally but my other halfs car does it)

Which is why you clear the ice before putting it in reverse :confused:

Nasher · 28 Feb 2018 at 10:45

Don't use warm water. Due to physics weirdness it may freeze faster than cold water. Also you risk turning a chip in to a crack

Conscript · 28 Feb 2018 at 10:52

Nasher said:
Don't use warm water. Due to physics weirdness it may freeze faster than cold water. Also you risk turning a chip in to a crack

Conscript said:
Defrost the screen by pouring warm water over it and the wipers.
Then use the wipers to clear the water to prevent refreezing.

Unless it's -50 and you're pouring a boiling kettle over the screen, you'll be fine. Lukewarm water on a cold windscreen is fine. Cycle the wipers as soon as you've finished pouring and it wont have time to refreeze.

ttaskmaster · 28 Feb 2018 at 11:03

Dis86 said:
Which is why you clear the ice before putting it in reverse

^ This.
Why would you move the car when you still can't see out the window?

Just use a decent scraper and some de-icer spray like any normal human being, Withnail.

IAmATeaf · 28 Feb 2018 at 11:12

My wife used to do something similar with her old civic, freezing cold day, wiped stuck and she would then wonder why her rear wiper motor kept burning up. In order to get the message across I once took a year to replace the motor with her constantly moaning. She got the message and doesn’t do it now.

bobbyspangles · 28 Feb 2018 at 11:22

Yup she's lucky it was just the wiper she broke and not the motor. Fully defrost before using then, or at least check they're not frozen on first.

grudas · 28 Feb 2018 at 11:25

got a wiper defrost in my car

not that wipers are there to wipe the ice off the screen.

lift the wipers off, scrape the ice, pop them back and it'll be good!

bledd · 28 Feb 2018 at 11:28

andy_mk3 said:
Lift the blades off the screeen first, then de-ice the screen not using the wipers.

Yup.

I use the watering can, full of cold water.

No need for de-icer where I live.

Finglonga · 28 Feb 2018 at 11:58

Always make sure the wipers are free before using them in freezing weather. Next thread will be the washer motor has burnt out or fuse blown for some reason as people do not understand the physics of frozen washer bottle and iced up pump.If the washers do not work do not lean on the stalk trying to make them work. Try periodically for a second or so as it will defrost with the heat from the engine eventually.

HoneyBadger · 28 Feb 2018 at 12:16

On our 14 year old Rex, the bottom of the screen where the wipers park is heated when you press the rear view defrost/heated mirrors. Kinda cool. It also has heated washer jets!

Haze · 28 Feb 2018 at 12:19

Amazing when you can not rub enough brain cells together, to defrost your wipers before yiu turn them on. You would think we never have any cold weather in this country

Semple · 28 Feb 2018 at 12:22

Rich1988 said:
on some cars as soon as you put it in reverse it auto wipes, I know that isn't the case here but that can be easily done. (not done it personally but my other halfs car does it)

Think that only happens to the rear wiper? I know i've turned mine off to not do it.

Also annoys me when the GF has left the wipers in the on position when she's switched off the engine. Cue turning the car on and the wipers doing a sweep. Thankfully i've not done it when it's been mega icy like today, and i've now got it in my head to check they're switched off before putting the key in.

DereksDontRun · 28 Feb 2018 at 13:07

Conscript said:
Unless it's -50 and you're pouring a boiling kettle over the screen, you'll be fine. Lukewarm water on a cold windscreen is fine. Cycle the wipers as soon as you've finished pouring and it wont have time to refreeze.

surely any rapid change in temp can propagate a crack - given outdoors is about -5 atm and warm water will be about 40 - it's just something I wouldn't want to risk.

Ignoring that, using water is just a **** move to anyone else that needs to use the pavement/road that the car's parked on. Pouring water on the screen results in water on the ground, which will then freeze and provide a nice patch of ice for someone to slip on. Even worse if the car is parked on the road, leaving ice patches for people to drive over when you've moved your car. Sure, you can drive away happy, but it's a pain for others.

Just turn on the car (not the wipers), heater on defrost, rear window heater and scrape all the windows. 2 min job... 90% of time you don't even need to use de-icer.