car ice sculptures
Jan. 18th, 2007 11:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
indigo_rose99I went out of the house for the first time in days last night. T & I had planned a dinner in the middle of the city with my aunt and uncle for a while. They called me to let me know that they were on the edge of the city at about 4:45pm, with a plan to meet us at 6pm. I thought, "Gee, maybe I better go de-ice my car."
I put on clothes suitable for other people to see me, put on gloves and hike boots and went outside to my car. The passenger side was not too bad... A few minutes of scraping and knocking off ice, and I managed to get inside the car and turn on the defrosters front and back. And then... And then... And then I stood outside for the next hour and fifteen minutes, cracking and scraping off ice. I focused on the windshield, deciding that the defroster would take care of the back window and the driver side windows were pretty much a lost cause. The ice varied in thickness, up to an inch thick in some places. Seriously. Yes, an inch thick. Ok, it was even thicker than that around the windshield wipers, which I also gave up as a lost cause. T arrived around 6pm, and took care of the back window as I finished up the windshield. He was the one who took care of the driver's side windows -- rolling them down from the inside and knocking out the ice from that direction.
Yes, and in all that time, the defrosters only helped. Helped. They did not actually completely melt the ice. They just made it... looser.
We arrived at dinner about 45 minutes late. Turns out, inside the city it was above freezing! How very strange! My car had not been melting in our driveway, but melted enough to take off the last sheets of ice in the parking lot of the restaurant (it is bad form to have sheets of ice fall off and hit other cars while one is driving).
I could see last night that T thought I was all kinds of wimp for it taking me that long to dig out the windshield of my car. It took him an hour today to dig out his truck -- and that was after the temperatures rose yesterday AND this morning!!! It was like a defroster had been working on the whole truck before he even started. His attitude toward me digging out my car last night underwent a subtle shift. *smile*
I put on clothes suitable for other people to see me, put on gloves and hike boots and went outside to my car. The passenger side was not too bad... A few minutes of scraping and knocking off ice, and I managed to get inside the car and turn on the defrosters front and back. And then... And then... And then I stood outside for the next hour and fifteen minutes, cracking and scraping off ice. I focused on the windshield, deciding that the defroster would take care of the back window and the driver side windows were pretty much a lost cause. The ice varied in thickness, up to an inch thick in some places. Seriously. Yes, an inch thick. Ok, it was even thicker than that around the windshield wipers, which I also gave up as a lost cause. T arrived around 6pm, and took care of the back window as I finished up the windshield. He was the one who took care of the driver's side windows -- rolling them down from the inside and knocking out the ice from that direction.
Yes, and in all that time, the defrosters only helped. Helped. They did not actually completely melt the ice. They just made it... looser.
We arrived at dinner about 45 minutes late. Turns out, inside the city it was above freezing! How very strange! My car had not been melting in our driveway, but melted enough to take off the last sheets of ice in the parking lot of the restaurant (it is bad form to have sheets of ice fall off and hit other cars while one is driving).
I could see last night that T thought I was all kinds of wimp for it taking me that long to dig out the windshield of my car. It took him an hour today to dig out his truck -- and that was after the temperatures rose yesterday AND this morning!!! It was like a defroster had been working on the whole truck before he even started. His attitude toward me digging out my car last night underwent a subtle shift. *smile*
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
ice tips
Date: 2007-01-18 07:20 pm (UTC)i realize you may never have to do that again, but... i used to use hot water to melt ice off my windshield until one of my coworkers warned me that the windshield could crack. he suggested mixing water & vinegar 1:1 and using a spray bottle to spray it on... works amazingly well. i have no idea why.
Re: ice tips
Date: 2007-01-18 09:45 pm (UTC)Re: ice tips
Date: 2007-01-18 11:54 pm (UTC)How to Remove Ice From Your Windshield
Vinegar articles - Using Vinegar On Your Windshield
Super Secrets for Car Care and Repair
None of those mention whether the vinegar affects the paint, but I also found this article on car detailing that talks about using distilled vinegar to remove water spots so I'd assume it won't hurt the paint:
Paint Polishing Clinic
Re: ice tips
Date: 2007-01-19 12:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-18 07:37 pm (UTC)Cover is probably a good idea
Date: 2007-01-18 09:53 pm (UTC)Usually my "other" car is parked on the street. But I decided to park it in the driveway because our street is on a very slight incline and I didn't want my (crazy, unpredictable, with small children who do really stupid things) neighbors to slide their cars into mine. It seemed like the kind of thing that... just WOULD happen if I left it out on the street.
Since I was woken up (the 2nd time) on Tuesday by one of our neighbors doing what I imagine (based strictly on the sound, since all window screens were so iced over as to be impossible to look out) was sliding donuts on the ice? I have to think it was the right decision.
Besides. You've seen pictures of my car. Would YOU take it out on icey, sandy, salty roads? ...I didn't think so.
Re: Cover is probably a good idea
Date: 2007-01-18 11:42 pm (UTC)And I agree that not leaving a car on the street is a good call.