Monday, January 7, 2008

ice, anyone?

It is an understatement to say that it's been cold around these parts lately. It's been icy, and frigid, and icy, and snowy, and icy, and COLD. Really, really cold. One day a couple of weeks ago, I had to visit 6 stores to try to find ice melt for our driveway, and was out of luck every single time. Josh had to try to break up the ice with the edge of the shovel and hope that no one slipped on what remained.

As you can imagine, I try not to leave the house with Gabe when we're in the middle of these kinds of freezes, but sometimes I have no choice. Luckily, I received two Prestone products for my car through Parent Bloggers that came in handy during those times. I tested out Prestone's Windshield De-Icer and Windshield Fluid Booster. I have to admit that I'm a fan of additives. I've bought Prestone's fuel additives for the last few years, and I don't know, but I think they help. I like thinking that I'm helping out my car by giving it a little boost. I felt the same way about the ice fighters.


The Windshield Fluid Booster is a specially formulated concentration that you add directly to a vehicle's washer fluid reservoir. This powerful formula helps improve ordinary washer fluid performance to remove light ice and frost, repels the build-up of dirt and salt from road spray and helps prevent dangerous re-freeze from forming on a car's windshield.

I added the Windshield Fluid Booster last week, and although we didn't have tons of ice build-up during this last week, I did notice a marked improvement in the dirt and salt build-up. In the winter, I'll have to run my windshield wipers several times during a short drive because other cars kick up tons of gunk onto my windshield. After adding the Windshield Fluid Booster, I ran the wipers and washed my windshield once and didn't have to do it again. I felt like the windshield seemed clearer and didn't look nearly as dirty once we'd arrived at our destination. Even Josh commented that the windshield looked better. Prestone also sells a special winter washer fluid that I think I'm going to buy.


The second product, the Windshield De-Icer is made from a concentrated high performance ice-melting formula. The product, when sprayed on car windows, helps melt ice fast and even reduces dangerous refreeze. It also has a convenient ice scraper top to help clear away ice.
The Windshield De-Icer is the type of canister that you would keep in your car for days when you find your windshield frozen and in need of scraping. You can either spray the windshield and then try to scrape it off, or you can use the scraper that comes attached to the can. The Windshield De-Icer formula seems especially convenient because the scraper and spray are attached, so you only need one product. In a huge freeze, where you walk out to find inches of ice on your windshield, I think that you might need another larger scraper to assist you, but for thinner layers of ice on your windshield, or for frozen wipers or patches of ice, I think this product would be great.

Boston winters can be tough, and I'm always looking for ways to make life easier (especially since we have a one car garage and I don't park inside). I don't have tons of time to spend on icy mornings scraping the car, especially now that I have Gabriel. I can't leave him alone while I run outside, and I hate to leave him in a cold car for too long. I think the Prestone products, both the Windshield Fluid Booster and the Windshield De-Icer help to make icy mornings easier and faster. I'd definitely give them a try if you face snowy and icy days as well.

Check out Parent Bloggers or Prestone for more information!