3 tips for taking care of your car's windscreen in cold weather

Actions such as defrosting the windscreen with hot water can have a very negative impact on it.

At this time of year, keeping your vehicle’s windscreen in good condition is of vital importance. Low temperatures, rain or snow can have a negative effect on your windscreen if a series of measures are not followed. Carglass, the company specialising in the repair and replacement of vehicle glass, offers a number of recommendations to preserve and maintain the safety of your car’s windscreen.

Defrosting the windscreen with very hot water, or with heater air at a high temperature, can seriously damage it due to the sudden change in temperature, in some cases causing it to crack. To remove ice from the windscreen, it is recommended to use a plastic scraper or spray the glass with alcohol.

On another note, it is recommended that the windscreen washer fluid reservoir is not filled with water alone; this way we will prevent it from freezing at low temperatures. If this recommendation is not followed, the water can freeze on the windscreen when we operate the system, which would seriously impair the driver’s visibility. In this regard, the use of suitable glass cleaning fluids is recommended.

An impact on the windscreen can turn into an irreparable crack with the sudden temperature changes of this time of year. The windscreen provides up to 30% of the vehicle’s structural strength. The rear window is vital for the correct functioning of the airbag and acts as a support for cameras and sensors of driver assistance systems. In this regard, it is recommended that any impact on the windscreen with a diameter smaller than a 2-euro coin be repaired as soon as possible to avoid greater costs. Otherwise, the damage could force the complete replacement of the windscreen.

Source: Newspress