Cold Weather Car Hacks and Tips

Winter’s been here for a while now, and there may be a break in the cold, but it’s hard to say for sure how long it will be before temperatures drop again. Cold weather is rough on cars, especially if you don’t have a garage to park in. If cold weather is coming around again, follow these tips and life hacks to help you and your car make it through the cold for this and future winters. Also, come visit Phil Meador Toyota in Pocatello, Idaho for service before the season changes.

Lift your Windshield Wipers when you Park

This can be tough to remember, even for those who have lived in snowy areas for their entire lives because you often just want to get inside when you turn your car off. Take a couple of minutes to pull those windshield wipers up so they don’t get frozen to your windshield. Even if they get coated in ice from freezing rain, they are easy to crush ice off than it would be to dig them out of a block of ice on the windshield.

Buy a Frost Cover for your Car

While it doesn’t seem like a hack since you have to buy something, it solves a whole lot of problems at once just to buy a frost cover. Unless you have a garage or carport, a frost cover is an easy way to prevent ice buildup and it even makes it easier to get fresh snow off your car. It’s like a tarp fitted to the shape of your car!

Prevent Interior Fog with Cat Litter or Baking Soda

Human breathing is humid, and your car often traps that humidity, and it turns into a filmy fog or frost on the inside of your windshield. Cleaning your windshield will fix the problem, but it might be too cold to spray any cleaner, so try to use cat litter or baking soda as a preventative measure. Fill an old sock (without holes) with cat litter and secure the end so the litter doesn’t fill out, and lay one or two of these at the base of your windshield. The litter will absorb moisture and prevent the fog from forming. You can do something similar by keeping a box of baking soda in your car. You can buy baking soda with “windows” where you peel away some of the cardboard and a layer of mesh keeps the powder from falling out.

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