Motors Ice Scrapers.

Any recommendations please, for an ice scraper that works well and, won't break when called upon to shift harder ice, preferably based on personal experience. Had an AA one but, proved very short-lived. There is so much utter rubbish out there, it's hard to decide what to buy.

 

Picked up a cheap (maybe £4?) one from Tesco, has been doing sterling service for years now. I don't think you need to overthink this one tbh!

 

I just use a generic T-Handle one from the supermarket. It serves me well on the Yorkshire Moors and it was about £1.50. Like this one except mine's blue.


ASDA does a stainless steel bladed one if you truly hate your car.

 

1 scraper to rule them all;
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B009SKM7FY/ref=pe_27063361_485629781_TE_item?th=1

 

I have a plastic one that is encased In a thermal glove that goes half way up my forearm, no cold hands for me, very good, no idea where it comes from though, either halfords or Eurocarparts but it is the scraper to rule them all.

 

Another vote for the generic red T shaped one. Worked well for us over all the years.

Start of winter, I've bought a larger one with a brush on one end and a scraper on the other. For brushing away snow. Plus, fitted all season tyres to one of our car. No snow this year, typical.

 

Warm (not hot) water is the most effective and doesn't scratch glass and/or paintwork either. Double bonus is it demists the windows by warming them, so you can jump straight in and drive off.

Downside is that over extended periods of very cold weather it freezes inside the doors etc and can cause other exciting issues.

Master race level is buy and EV/hybrid that has pre-heat, or a wasteful old car like mine with a pre-heater.

 

55 yrs old, driving for 36 years.
Very luke warm water on a collection of cars...never once happened.

 

Generic scraper with a cover that looks like an elk to keep your hands warm.

If in a bind, credit cards or the like do a great job.

 

I did it deliberately on a car I had with a screen that had cracked already - to get stone chips to crack it needed to be practically boiling, pre-cracked it was a lot less generous of course.

 

I always used to use warm water and, have never cracked any window but, where our car is parked, I can’t go leaving patches of ice for others to slip on. As it is, the old T shaped style scraper seems the way to go or, if I feel like spending more, the Randy Scandi one. Thanks all.

 

I remember defrosting my car and spotted a neighbour coming out of his house with a steaming kettle. I heard the windscreen crack from across the street.

 

A long time ago, I had just the car for that.. A VERY tired old Opel Ascona Diesel, very slow, cracked windscreen and generally on the last of it's last legs. Best of all, the only reason I could make the brakes work at all, was because I was doing a lot of cycling then, including a lot of climbing the steep hills up on to the Mendips.

 

My driver has never complained of the cars icing as he brings them out the garage?

Joking aside, Laura always does hers with a reasonably hot kettle, seems to work for her but I know she's playing a dangerous game.

I've mainly drive a hybrid, so I just turn it on from my phone and come out to a nicely warmed through interior and clear windows all round.

When I've taken the vintage Land Rover out in the ice, it needs next to nothing, often it doesn't even freeze as it sits sheltered at the back of the driveway shielded by the fence and garage. It's pretty much open to the elements in the interior so there's no real temperature differential on the screen, and it's perfectly flat so scrapes effortlessly on the areas that do ice up. Just set full choke, stab the throttle in twice, and it turns and catches immediately, a little blip on the throttle and it idles away nicely with tailpipe emissions that let you know it's got nothing but a back box. It's been night and day since I fitted an electronic distributor.

 

Magical melt ice button is the future

 

Had one of those on my Focus, nearly twenty years ago. Best feature it had.

 

Instead of playing around with water (and risk cracking the glass) use a windshield snow cover.

 

Until they drop support: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-68426263

Grrrrr, my wife loves this feature on her Leaf.

After getting EV, I used the pre-heating idea with an electric heater in ICE car: