Defroster rant

[exc911ence]

So we got a whack of freezing rain last night and then the temperature plummeted to -17 overnight... my Jeep had a 1/4" thick coating of ice on every surface this morning. I started it up and began the lengthy process of scraping the ice off the windows, noticing that the rear window defroster was making short-work of the ice build-up while I hacked and cursed at the accumulation on the front windshield. So here's my rant... why the hell don't the car manufacturers put electric defroster grids on the front windows too?!? It took 10 minutes of idling before the heater had enough jam to start melting the ice on the front window, whereas the rear was clear in barely a minute (with some scraping).

I think the front window is somewhat more important than the rear so why is that the only one with a electric grid on it?

Stupid winter.

/rant

[lm6y]

I think the Ford Windstars had a heating grid under where the wipers park. Made it much easier to scrape when you had a starting place to scrape. Visibilty is the only thing I can think of.

[willtel]

My Range Rover had a heated windshield. A replacement with heating elements was $1400.

[Rot 911]

I believe that was an option of the 84-89 Carreras. I just start my 4Runner, go inside, finish getting ready for work and by the time I get back outside things are nice and toasty.

[DaveE]

I park in the garage.

[carambola]

you know that you can pour alcohol (isopropol) on the ice to help melt it.

[Paul K]

My Land Rover LR3 has one, and it's great!

It's an option for the wife's Mini Countryman, but only if you buy one in Canada We would have gladly paid for the option! Both are garaged, but if you run into freezing rain, a heated windshield is the only way to go.

Write to Jeep, can't hurt!

[Jrboulder]

Piper malibu's have a hotplate. It costs like 27k to replace if IIRC.

[Zeke]

The law prevents any obstruction of view through the main view area of a front glass. You aren't supposed to even get a stone chip repaired in the area covered by the wipers. Otherwise, it would be a good idea.

[Heel n Toe]

Get a shower curtain liner... drape it across the windshield, open both doors and tuck the liner inside the top of the doorway, then shut the doors.

In the morning, open both doors and yank the liner off the windshield. Problem solved.

[willtel]

Originally Posted by Zeke

The law prevents any obstruction of view through the main view area of a front glass. You aren't supposed to even get a stone chip repaired in the area covered by the wipers. Otherwise, it would be a good idea.

The elements in heated windshields are too fine to blur forward vision. The majority of Land Rovers have them, mine was a '95 model.

This is a 911 windshield but the wires looked the same in mine.

[75'930cab]

I just got rid of my 05 Range Rover that had a heated windshield and I always wondered why more cars don't have it. It had very very small wires in the windshield that you didn't see unless you really looked for them.

[Oh Haha]

Try using RAIN-X on the windshield, I use it on all of our vehicles and it helps the ice melt faster. It has alcohol in it so that's probably why. It also makes cleaning dead bugs off easier.

[recycled sixtie]

Originally Posted by willtel

My Range Rover had a heated windshield. A replacement with heating elements was $1400.

There is the reason right there - $1400 for replacement!. Park your vehicle in a garage. So many folks park their cars outside and risk the elements and breakins. Painful to witness the same neighbors next door who get their cars broken into on a regular basis. No alarms, no use of the garage. How stupid! Rant over.

[javadog]

Originally Posted by willtel

This is a 911 windshield but the wires looked the same in mine.

HEY, that looks like one of my old 930s...

Note that in the 911/930, the front defroster grid was only 5 or 6 inches high. I think its main purpose was to help keep the wipers from loading up with ice when they were parked. Never drove that car in snow and ice, so it didn't serve much purpose...

JR

[recycled sixtie]

Excuse my rant exc911 especially if you do not have a garage to put your Jeep in!

[jcommin]

Warm water does the trick too.

[exc911ence]

Originally Posted by recycled sixtie

Excuse my rant exc911 especially if you do not have a garage to put your Jeep in!

My garage is full of Porsche and motorcycles.... beaters live outside in the driveway where they belong.

Since posting this thread, I gave up and just moved out of the snowbelt and back to the balmy west coast. No worries of defrosting windshields now!

[Oh Haha]

My Suquinox sits outside so wifey's van and the SC can be in the garage.