Winter for Russians is a flexible concept in the truest sense of the word. For four or five months. And, as a rule, motorists, in addition to all other worries, add the concern of how to extract their “iron friend” from under a snowdrift. How, without damaging the car, to properly clean it from ice and snow?
As always in Russia, winter comes unexpectedly. And there is no Russian winter without snow. And waking up in the morning, very often we find in the yard, instead of cars parked there, rows of snowmen. It’s not enough to guess three times under which of these snow covers your car is hiding, you also need to dig it out of there. Many are skeptical about the thorough cleaning of the car from snow and ice cover, motivating this by the fact that the main thing is to clear the road for exit, and everything else will either melt by itself or the wind will blow away.
However, you still need to clear your vehicle of the snow cap. This is necessary to ensure your own safety. Snow can be blown off the roof of a car by the wind, but it can also melt and slide off when braking on Windshield. In such a situation, before the accident, as they say, at hand. Or this formed piece of ice will slide off the roof and scratch the car, that's not the point either. Even if this does not happen, then the drivers of cars going behind you are unlikely to enjoy the snow whirlwind blown off your roof. So, the car needs to be cleared of snow. Consider simple rules carrying out cleaning work, so that later you do not have to count the scratches on the glass and bodywork. Let's take a look at what can and can't be done.
- Don't Follow the 'Smart' Advice on the Internet to Water Your Car hot water! The one who gave such advice is apparently not at all familiar with physics. When pouring boiling water over frost-heated metal and glass, a large temperature difference occurs, causing deformation and destruction. In our case, the result of such watering will be cracks in the paintwork of the body and on plastic elements. Glass generally can crumble with such a procedure!
- You can not diligently scrape off the ice crust from the glass, especially from the windshield. Yes, glass has a solid structure, but microscopic particles of ice chips will act like sandpaper. As a result of such cleaning, you will get a fairly scratched glass. It is best to use a defroster to clean glass surfaces.
The sequence of works for cleaning the machine
So, let's start the fight against the snowdrift on your car. First you need to clean the air intake climate system so that when you start the machine, snow does not get sucked into the air ducts. Excess moisture is useless. Next, start the engine. Do not rush to turn on the glass heating. Firstly, the engine has not yet warmed up, therefore, it cannot yet apply heat to the windshield. And secondly, there is still a layer of uncleaned snow on the glass. sweep away loose snow from the glass with a soft brush and only then turn on the heating.
While the ice on the windshield is thawing, let's take care of the largest area of the car - the roof. In order not to scratch the varnish coating, we clean the snow from the roof with a soft brush on a long handle. The brush must be mounted on the handle at an angle, otherwise its body will leave scratches. We clean the snow in the direction of the trunk and to the side. Not on the front! At the same time, we clean the doors so that subsequently the thawed snow does not freeze them.
Next up: the hood and trunk. We also clean them with a brush, there is no need to scrape the ice. The engine will heat up and the ice will melt on its own. Do not forget about the side windows, so as not to feel like a hedgehog in the fog. The review must be 100%. Side windows, like a windshield, we process it with a defroster.
Also, with the help of a defroster, we release the ice crust. Do not expect that if you turn on the headlights, the ice will melt. The ice will melt, and the glass on the headlights will burst! Currently, there are enough in auto shops big choice"non-freezing", including in aerosol packaging. With their help, the headlights are cleaned very quickly.
As you can see, you don't have to scrape anything. Every machine has the ability to self-clean. She just needs a little help. Even if you are not going to leave, then it’s worth going outside and cleaning the car, otherwise it will be harder to do it later, since you will have to suffer with the ice crust, see the photos below ...
Photo fun cars in ice and snow:
So winter has come, the concept of which is special for Russia - winter period in our country stretches for a long five months. folk wisdom says that you need to protect your nose in the cold. But in fact, motorists have a slightly different vision of the problem: they first of all take care of their "steel horses". Therefore, we decided to tell you about how to properly clean a car from snow and ice without damaging it.
To clean or not to clean? The question is closed automatically
Photo
Winter must be taken for granted. There is an opinion that snow falls from time to time even in hell, it just doesn’t lie there for as long as we have in Russia. Motorists all over the country, waking up early in the morning, see a white snow cover outside the window, their cars, which begin to resemble snowmen, and are surprised at how children can so sincerely rejoice at the invasion of white snowflake flies.
First you need to figure out whether it is necessary to clean the snow from the car at all before the trip. Opinions on this matter differ, but it is still better to get rid of the mass of snow that has accumulated on the roof of the car. The point is that during hard braking melted snow can fall on your windshield and reduce visibility. Truly, like snow on the head! In addition, your car at speed begins to resemble a snake shedding its skin, the role of which is played by snow. It is unlikely that the one who is attached behind will be glad that an avalanche descends on him from the car in front.
Sometimes the first special tool is a shovel
Photo
And if we agreed that snow and ice need to be removed from the car, let's figure out what rules you need to follow in order not to damage the car and not later regret your actions.
Many motorists, having read another nonsense on the World Wide Web, begin to pour hot water on their cars. Under no circumstances should this be done! The temperature difference will provoke the appearance of cracks in varnish, paint, plastic and even glass.
Snow removal sequence
First, let's do what we do every day - start the car. Having turned the key in the ignition, we enter into an unequal struggle with snowdrifts on your car. Yes, do not rush to turn on the heated windshield until the snow is cleared from it. You also need to clean the air intakes of the climate system. Otherwise, snow will end up in the air ducts, and interior heating will be difficult.
If you have enough loopholes like this, then cleaning is not a problem for you
Photo
While the ice on the windshield is thawing, let's clean the car's main clearing - its roof. Cleaning the largest area paintwork should be carried out towards the trunk, as well as to the sides. God help you and a sweeping brush on a long, preferably telescopic, handle. At the same time, carefully remove the snow from the doorways, because, having melted, it can make it difficult to open the doors.
The myth of the invulnerability of glass
Often, the glasses installed on cars are quite soft, and it will not be difficult for you to put good scratches on them, which later can not only cause irritation, but even make it difficult to see. Therefore, use a defroster that will allow you to remove the ice crust very easily.
Having finished with the roof, we organize an attack on the trunk lid and hood. If the hood plays against you (snow from it will fly onto the windshield), then the trunk will fire snow cannons at cars driving behind. And this is real sabotage.
Develop your brushing technique
Photo
Side windows need cleaning just as much as windshields and rear windows. You must have a 100% view so as not to add to the sad statistics that most winter accidents occur in the first 5 kilometers of the road. And all because of the fact that the drivers do not have sufficient overview because of non-thawed or frankly and ugly frozen glasses.
Jeeps and wagons clog the trunk lid with snow
Photo
In the event that you are a happy owner of a station wagon or a jeep, then you are probably familiar with the relationship between the rear trunk lid and the road: the latter throws snow on the lid with the help of turbulent flows. It is important not to turn on the heating before cleaning the snow rear window, because melt water can get into the seals and damage them when freezing.
Brush selection
The choice of brush must be approached with special care. Best of all, if she is not stiff, because her fishing line is on severe frost will turn into a kind of wire, and then goodbye, Your Excellency, paintwork. Soft bristles "cool minus" will also make it tougher, but not so much that you scratch the car. To clean the license plate and the headlights, you should only use a rag, because the brush can remove the paint from the number plate, and the headlights may become cloudy after using it.
The choice of brush in general must be treated with special care. Forget about the regular brush, and if you have one, throw it away immediately. An ordinary brush is a 100% guarantee of scratches on the paintwork of your car. You should buy a brush that would have split ends - such a tool leaves a minimum amount of so-called marks when sweeping snow. But at the same time, it is still necessary to control the degree of pressure. But main recommendation- less brushing on the paintwork. Sometimes it is enough to sweep the snow off the windows, and everything else will go into oblivion while driving. Of course, if these are not half-meter snowdrifts. But if you still decide to clean the body with a brush, then do it in one direction, because if you start waving the brush like Rubens with a brush, then a “spider web” will appear on your car, consisting of many randomly applied risks. Therefore, always remember the main rules for cleaning a car from snow:
Brush in one direction
Clean with minimal pressure
Conventional basting brushes with a scraper
If you are faced with an unimaginably difficult choice of brush, then you can choose the one that will be convenient specifically for you. In stores today you can find a great variety of such brushes, and the most popular option is the brush with a scraper ( average price - 120 rub.). As a rule, such brushes have soft enough bristles so as not to turn your car into a place chosen by a spider weaving webs.
Telescopic brushes
No less popular are telescopic brushes with a floating head (average price - 250 rub.). The extended handle allows you to easily sweep snow even from hard-to-reach areas oversized cars, but at the same time, when buying, you need to pay attention to the strength of the “telescope” - if there is too much snow, then under its weight the handle can bend and break.
Take Special attention headlights that need cleaning more than any other "organ" of your car. When turned on, the headlights get hot, and a sudden change in temperature can easily cause them to burst. In addition, frost on the headlights significantly distorts light streams, and this adversely affects the visibility of the road.
Wipers up!
Photo
No one will blame us for the fact that we love to turn our cars into the likeness of models defiling along the paved catwalk. But tuning in the winter has its drawbacks. For example, fashionable alloy wheels with a minimum number of spokes contribute to the fact that the brake calipers are clogged with snow. During the night, the snow can melt and turn into ice, which will either freeze the pads to the discs, or the same, but to the calipers. And if in the first case the wheels simply will not spin, then in the second case you may find at full speed that you have no brakes. Which of these is worse, it is better not to check. That's why you need to clean it right away. wheel disks from snow.
Wipers up!
During snowfall, it is best to raise the wipers, which will not allow them to freeze to the glass. Although experience shows that a "horned" car attracts the attention of children and vandals who simply cannot get past the protruding wipers. Therefore, it is better not to be lazy and take them home with you.
Special equipment to help
In order not to damage the car, you can use special tools, which are more than enough today. Mittens, special brushes and scrapers with electric heating, synthetic sponges and napkins, windshield washers, which, with the light suggestion of motorists, received the nickname "non-freeze", as well as cans of defrosters for locks stuck in ice.
Cleaning the car from sparrows is no longer your concern!
Photo
Winter is not a sentence. Especially for your car. Winter is just a time when, when we come home, we first put the kettle on the stove and only then turn on the computer.
In winter, without exception, car owners are faced with the need to clean the car from snow and ice. At first glance, such work may seem extremely simple to us, but in reality, improperly performed cleaning of the car can lead to damage to the paintwork, and subsequently it will be necessary to completely repaint the car. We will tell you how to properly clean the car from ice and snow.
Why clean your car?
Indeed, many car owners simply do not bother similar work. They clean only the driver's door, glass front passenger, windshield and use a car that looks more like a snowdrift on wheels. It should be said that the operation of such snow covered car unsafe and uncomfortable. Unremoved snow will blow off the hood directly onto the windshield, distracting the driver's attention and impairing his eyesight.
As soon as the engine warms up, the hood warms up and the layer of snow moves right at speed, moving down onto the glass and further onto the roof. IN this case there is a high probability that sharp edges will simply scratch the hood, glass and roof. Yes, and you can simply lose control of the car during such an unforeseen snowmelt.
What tools will be required?
To clean the car in winter, you will need a small snow shovel, a sapper shovel, a scraper brush, mittens and gloves, special car chemicals, ice melters, paper towels or rags.
Now let's talk about each of these. tools in more detail.
Scraper brush must be purchased, and you should not save on its quality. In fact, this is the main tool for such winter cleaning of the car. We will need a scraper brush not only to clear the glass, but also with the help of a rubberized pad, we will be able to remove snow and icing from the car body. Currently on sale you can find various scraper brushes that have fluffy hair at the ends, rubberized nozzles and so on. Owners oversized vehicles we can recommend giving preference to brushes with telescopic handles, which will allow you to easily remove snow from the roof of the car.
snow shovel will need to be used during heavy snowfalls. It is not required to carry it with you in the car, but it will not be superfluous to keep everything at home or in the garage. But if you have the opportunity to purchase a small folding snow shovel, then you can easily carry it in the trunk.
Sapper shovels have a flat bayonet, a short handle and a small spatula. This is an indispensable tool in wet heavy snow. With the help of such a sapper shovel, you will be able to undermine the wheels of a car, even if your car is stuck in deep snow.
Ice melters- this is a special auto chemical goods, which appeared relatively recently and today is popular with domestic car owners. Such auto chemicals can be produced in vials of solvents or aerosol sprays. It is only necessary to apply such chemistry to car windows and the active components will quickly melt the ice, after which you can immediately operate your car. Also, with the help of such products, you can clean mirrors, icy headlights, rear side windows.
It will also not be superfluous to purchase easy-to-use warm mittens to avoid frostbite on the hands.
If the layer of snow does not exceed 10 centimeters, then cars can be cleaned with just one brush-scraper. To begin with, we clean the snow from the roof, while the direction of movement should go to the side or towards the trunk. Snow should be swept forward from the hood. After the roof, the hood and trunk are cleaned, and only after that they begin to clean the sides of the car. Thoroughly clean the hood cover, door joints, trunk and other elements. Using a brush, it is not recommended to press it strongly, as inaccurate movement can damage the paintwork. After cleaning the car, carefully open driver's door and start the engine. We immediately turn on the blowing of the mirrors, but at the same time the stove does not need to be heated.
The engine is warmed up for several minutes, after which you can start driving the car.
In the event that the temperature was initially around 0, then snow will lie on top of the car, which gradually turns into a frozen crust. Scraping such a frozen crust should not be done. Like this, you will only damage the paintwork and will soon need to repaint the engine. Here it is necessary to act as carefully as possible. Appropriate ice melters will help you, after which, having opened the car, you can try to start it, warm up the car, after which such thawed ice is easily removed from the windows and other parts of the car.
Frost and icing on windows right approach does not present any problems. With properly functioning airflow and fast heating, the engine usually takes 5 minutes to melt the ice, after which you can manually or carefully remove such ice from the car windows with a scraper. But at the same time scraping glass is not recommended.
Conclusion
winter cleaning car from snow and ice does not present any difficulties. You will need to purchase a high-quality scraper, as well as two types of shovels, for deep snow and a small sapper shovel, which they constantly carry with them in the car. When cleaning the car like this, you should act very carefully, which will prevent damage to the paintwork of the car.
In winter, motorists add more more problems. After all, one fine day you can go out into the yard and see your car covered with an ice crust. At such moments, many begin to panic and, in principle, do not know how to act correctly.
It is important not to neglect the cleaning of snow and ice cover from the car. All this is done for your own safety. Due to negligence, snow from the roof can simply slide onto the windshield, and no one knows exactly when this will happen. After all, snow can move out while driving a car, which is fraught with terrible consequences.
What to do in such cases is not allowed?
1. Under no circumstances should a vehicle be sprayed with hot water. Everything is justified by the fact that this option there is a huge difference in temperature, which can easily cause a deformation process or even partial destruction. This suggests that as a result of this, the paintwork will crack, and scars will appear on the rubber elements. And here automotive glass may even break into small pieces. For this reason, hot water should not be poured on a car under any circumstances.
2. In addition, it is better not to try to scrape the ice from the car windows. Everything is explained by the fact that in this way it is really possible to scratch glass surface because ice microparticles are very hard. In this case, it is recommended to use a special defroster.
How to clean the car from snow and ice?
First of all, the air intake of the climate system is cleaned. After that, the engine starts in the vehicle. Do not rush to turn on the glass heating. You need to wait until the engine warms up well and starts to supply heat. Next, the snow cover is removed from the glass using a soft cloth.
It is worth waiting until the ice crust begins to thaw on the windshield. During this period of time, you can clean the roof. For these purposes, a soft brush with an elongated handle is used. It is important when cleaning to direct the snow into the area luggage compartment. At the same time, it is worth taking care of removing snow from the doors.
Next, the trunk and hood of the car are inspected. It is necessary to eliminate snow from their surface, but it is not worth peeling off the ice. All windows of the car are covered with a defroster, it is important that a good view opens up before the driver's eyes.
Ice or snow on car windows lead to an emergency. In the fight against this problem, the owner of the car will be helped by such devices as a soft brush for the car from snow, a scraper or special means sold in car dealerships.
It is known that 10% of all accidents that occurred in the winter are associated with ignoring drivers Vehicle the presence of snow accumulations on the roof and ice on the windows.
A car in the snow does not have the right to start moving, as this threatens with safety violations both for the owner himself and for oncoming road users.
Cleaning vehicles mechanically
Before proceeding with the direct removal of icy and snowy areas, the machine must be started and turned on.
Mechanical cleaning is done with a scraper or brush. Preliminary removal of the surface layer of ice from the glass when using these devices leads to accelerated warm-up vehicle and a significant increase in visibility.
The scraper for the car must be made of gentle, soft material, which will prevent the appearance of on and microcracks. The use of hard, unsuitable improvised items leads to the destruction of the paintwork and the development of corrosion processes. Violation of the integrity of the glass threatens to cloud it and leads to a reduction in visibility.
In the process of cleaning with a scraper or brush, one direction should be followed. This is done in order to prevent ice crystals from scratching frostbitten areas of the car.
The use of chemical compounds for glass cleaning
To remove snow and ice in car dealerships, vehicle owners can purchase what are called auto defrosters.
The deicer is a solution or aerosol that is sprayed with a pressurized spray gun or can onto areas with frost.
Instead of such drugs, many drivers use alcohol or anti-freeze. The application method is the same as in the previous case.
There is another inexpensive option for removing snow and ice from the surface of a car, but it can have a detrimental effect on metal parts. The use of salt or saline solution will help to cope with ice. However, it is important to remember that the cleaning process in this case must be completed with a thorough removal of salt crystals, which have a corrosive effect on the metal.
On the video - a method of cleaning a car from snow and ice:
Solving the problem with heat
Get rid of snow on the windows will help. Under no circumstances should boiling water be used for these purposes! Otherwise, the appearance of microcracks in the paintwork and glass cannot be avoided.
Warm water should be immediately removed from the surfaces, since at low temperatures it instantly turns into ice, and the work done will be useless. With "non-freezing" or salt, the crystallization of water will occur a little more slowly.
In the form of a thermal factor in the fight against icing of glass, you can also use an ordinary household hair dryer or a heating pad with hot water, but not boiling water. These products are considered the softest, not harmful to the surface.
Preventive actions
- Before parking the car, the driver is advised to give it some time to cool down all systems. Five minutes before turning off the engine, do not use the heater, turn on only the blower, and also ventilate the interior. All this will reduce the humidity in it, respectively, the windows will not fog up. On cooled glasses, frost formation will be minimal.
- The use of anti-foggers causes water droplets to roll off, that is, an ice crust will form only at the bottom of the windows. In this case, visibility will be practically preserved, and the cleaning process will not cause any particular difficulties. Instead of specialized funds you can use a solution of alcohol and glycerin.
- Leaving the car for a long time outdoors, you should cover the windshield with ordinary plastic film. In this way, ice floes are formed on the coating, while the window is protected.
There are many ways to deal with frost. However, it is much easier than solving it. Organized car parking in a covered garage or the use of a waterproof cover will save the driver from unnecessary worries.
