Woman’s clever towel hack could stop your car windscreen freezing overnight

A TikTok user has shared a clever ice prevention hack, involving just a towel. (Getty Images)
A TikTok user has shared a clever ice prevention hack, involving just a towel. (Getty Images)

The UK is currently in the midst of a cold snap with temperatures regularly dropping below freezing.

While the chilly weather has provided some much needed lockdown relief in the form of snow days, having to de-ice your car when you need to get out is a not-so-fun consequence.

Thankfully, one woman has shared her genius de-icing hack, which will save you from having to spend an age scraping ice off your windscreen.

Forget having to fork out for expensive de-icers, because all you’ll need to keep your car front frost-free is an old towel.

Sharing the nifty trick to video sharing platform TikTok, the woman revealed she put a towel over her windscreen to stop it freezing overnight.

Read more: How to correctly de-ice your car this winter

The method worked a treat in terms of keeping her windscreen free of frost, but the TikToker seemed somewhat surprised to note that the towel had absorbed the water and had frozen rock solid.

“When you put a towel on your windscreen to stop it freezing overnight,” she said giggling.

“It’s frozen itself.”

She later confirmed in the comments that she wasn’t expecting the towel to freeze, she had thought it would be soggy.

Read more: Fake your way to warm car seats with Amazon's seat warmers

People were pretty impressed with the simple windscreen protecting tip, with the video quickly clocking up over 145K likes and receiving tonnes of comments from those keen to give it a go.

“Can we please try this,” one TikTok-er wrote.

“This is genius,” another commented.

Others suggested tips to keep the towel in place.

“Use your doors to keep it in place or it could blow away,” one person offered.

Watch: Putting viral TikTok hacks to the test.

Why the hack works

According to Sara Thornton from the digital weather service Weathertrending.com the trick works because the towel absorbs the water and freezes instead of the windscreen.

“Whenever temperatures fall below freezing, any moisture in the air will condense onto cold car surfaces and quickly start to freeze,” she explains.

“So anything that covers your car’s windscreen and absorbs that moisture will save you a lot of early morning hassle.”

Read more: Elizabeth Hurley lights up Instagram by sharing semi-topless snapshot in the snow

Having to de-ice your windscreen is time consuming.(Getty Images)
Having to de-ice your windscreen is time consuming.(Getty Images)

For anyone concerned about having to sacrifice their beach towel to avoid the morning scraping, Thornton has some other ice-prevention tips.

“An old bit of carpet or even the mats from your car’s footwells will do the trick just as well, and you can even use tin foil,” she says.

Another less obvious, but equally effective, hack is to spray your windscreen the night before a big freeze with a solution of water and vinegar.

“The vinegar is mildly acidic and this should be enough to stop the overnight freeze in its tracks,” Thornton explains.

Thornton also has some words of warning for those who don’t act in advance to prevent a frosty car.

“If you forget to take preventative measures and are faced with an iced up windscreen in the morning, never try to defrost it by pouring very hot water onto the glass,” she explains. “The sudden change in temperature could cause your windscreen to crack.”

Watch: 9-year-old girl figure skates on frozen street.

Advertisement