DECENT screenwash?

Tahrey1043 · Post by **Tahrey1043** » Mon Nov 29, 2004 11:24 pm

OK, with the cold snap last night, and having to drive to the station this morning, i found that my screenwash, despite having been given the requisite top-up of concentrate to "harsh winter" spec ("just in case") is, in fact, bobbins.

Car was encased in frost when i found it, gave the screens, windows, mirrors locks and washer nozzles a good blasting with de-icer and climbed aboard, fans a whirling and staying in 2nd. A couple hundred yards up the road, the ice started to come back..... no worries thinks i, i've got anti-freeze screenwash, a quick squirt will see me right now the nozzles are clear

Squirt squirt...................... voosh......... the outside world turns to white. Good job i was going quite slowly at that point, approaching a junction, so just hit the brakes and all was peachy (after a second go with the de-icer and jamming the wipers on to full speed to prevent further build-up). Had this problem a couple years back whilst heading along at speed though and was just lucky that the rushing wind blew a lot of it away before it could blind me.

Instead of the halfords crap that's in my tank at the moment (and the poundstretcher stuff that was soon to replace it), can anyone reccomend anything that will actually bloody WORK??? And put proper honest to goodness (non-paint marking) antifreeze on the screen that will scare off frost instead of encouraging it to build up a whole night's thickness in three seconds flat?

P1ssin' winter, it's such a pain.

bstardchild · Post by **bstardchild** » Mon Nov 29, 2004 11:34 pm

I use the carplan stuff...... Its wonderfull (and stinks) but then in the winter I do use it in 50/50 mix - even when the screen is covered in a thick layer of frost quick dose and even with a cold screen before the heater has kicked clear vision...... but it requires a few more doses on the move due to wind chill but I've never had a white out yet

dxg · Post by **dxg** » Tue Nov 30, 2004 1:20 am

The Halfords green stuff is awful. I don't know if they've changed it in the last couple of years, but with the Polo's aero blades it just smears everywhere. Impossible to drive with it in this low winter sun.

So...

I hate to say it, but...

Get yourself down to your dealer and get some VW stuff. It's really good(!) Make sure you get the right kind - the blue display bottles are for "normal" jets, there's another kind in a white bottle for fan jets.

The stuff just evaporates off almost immediately. Comes heavily concentrated so a bottle is "supposed" to last a season. Cheapish (I think about Â£3.50 a bottle). Works really well.(*)

Deek.

(*) Haven't tried it in *really* cold conditions, yet though.

cyhliu · Post by **cyhliu** » Tue Nov 30, 2004 2:24 am

I've used the VW stuff and not had any problems so far but then I dont' really do any early morning drives anymore so can't say I've really tested the stuff. However I've been told that I can't use any other screenwash seen as my car is of the fan type jet...great, more money to VW.

Tahrey1043 · Post by **Tahrey1043** » Tue Nov 30, 2004 2:28 am

whats a fan jet?

and is there any VW garage thats likely to be open late, or am i to wait til the weekend

cyhliu · Post by **cyhliu** » Tue Nov 30, 2004 3:26 am

I guess usual jets spray out two streams/jets of water whereas mine spray out like a fan, not two jets of water but one jet that spreads out wider the higher it goes towards the screen...a bit funky, there are no metal nozzles instead just a plastic bit with a slit in it that can be moved up or down accordingly.

Late VW dealers, I think the one in Brum opens till 6pm or 7pm...to one in Sheffield opens till 6pm (although they are packed and ready for 5.16pm!)

bstardchild · Post by **bstardchild** » Tue Nov 30, 2004 7:36 am

dxg wrote:I hate to say it, but...

Get yourself down to your dealer and get some VW stuff. It's really good(!) Make sure you get the right kind - the blue display bottles are for "normal" jets, there's another kind in a white bottle for fan jets.

The stuff just evaporates off almost immediately. Comes heavily concentrated so a bottle is "supposed" to last a season. Cheapish (I think about Â£3.50 a bottle). Works really well.(*)

My MKIV has fan type jets and Carplan stuff works fine - but like I said I run quite high concentration in the winter

Tahrey1043 · Post by **Tahrey1043** » Tue Nov 30, 2004 11:05 pm

well i *thought* i'd put a high conc in!

will have to run it neat perhaps.. no water whatsoever

hardhitter · Post by **hardhitter** » Wed Dec 01, 2004 9:58 am

I found Decosol Screen clean excel is brilliant stuff.

Tahrey1043 · Post by **Tahrey1043** » Wed Dec 01, 2004 8:32 pm

never even heard of 'em...

is it halfordsable?

what about a bit of fairy liquid and a 2 litre bottle of cheap vokda?

bstardchild · Post by **bstardchild** » Wed Dec 01, 2004 8:44 pm

Tahrey1043 wrote: never even heard of 'em...

is it halfordsable?

what about a bit of fairy liquid and a 2 litre bottle of cheap vokda?

They specialise in traditional stuff - do a vinyl/leather cleaner too thats the dogs.... not seen it recently tho....

Halfrauds - tyre foam and t-cut is about their limit

Waste of good vodka (cheap vodka - expensive vodka once its mixed who the hell can tell)

hardhitter · Post by **hardhitter** » Wed Dec 01, 2004 9:04 pm

have a look here; http://www.decosol.co.uk/

Gareth_GT_Hatch · Post by **Gareth_GT_Hatch** » Wed Dec 01, 2004 9:17 pm

An ice scraper works for me. It means your screen is dry rather than wet then and itll take longer for the ice to return. I use IsoPropyl Alcohol in my screenwash which I get from work.

Tahrey1043 · Post by **Tahrey1043** » Fri Dec 03, 2004 2:18 am

i can tell cheap vodka from expensive in mixers thank you very much. but i'll still quaff the 4.99 a litre stuff with orange juice/coke/whatevers left in the communal fridge like it's going out of fashion, puke my guts up, choke down a pint of water and pass out.

well, used to. explains my uni grades.

it was just cold enough to form ice today, just, and my screenwash seemed to be able to slowly cut through the stuff once the nozzles were de-jammed (finger heat - de-icer ran out) rather than turning into it. slowly.... i may get generous and mix either the halfords or the poundstretcher stuff in the classic 50:50 mixture and see what it makes of the british winter that way round. allegedly they've got isopropyl in as well.
((if push comes to shove i can always half-inch a medicinal alcohol handy-spray from work (pocketable - designed to be carried everywhere so you can sterilise hands after washing) as an emergency back-up))

learned my lesson though - a trawl thru asda for bread, suit jacket and xmas light bulbs (yay for bloke shopping) ended up with basket brimming also with more de-icer, a much-needed scraper (79p for a rubber handled job, bargain) and a squirty bottle of some stuff that's supposed to stop ice from even forming if you spray a little on when you park up. put it on when i got home from shops, lets see how it does.

somewhere round here i've got last years scraper, but it is a bit rubbish... it's gimmick was it had a built-in... removable... torch. The torch is still around and in occasional use.. the scraper was just too unwieldy.

bstardchild · Post by **bstardchild** » Fri Dec 03, 2004 10:12 am

hardhitter wrote:have a look here; http://www.decosol.co.uk/

And bugger me got a paper from a sainsburys filling station and there was decosol screenwash on a nice stand ready for purchase