If winter won’t go away and take the ice and snow with it, you can at least keep it off your car’s windshield with the Quick Removal Windshield Snow Tarp. The tarp measures 79″ wide X 47.5″ long X 1/8″ thick (56″ wide excluding the flaps), so it’s big enough to cover the windshield of most cars and trucks. To use, you just spread it over your windshield and close the side flaps in the front doors of your car. The tarp also has seven magnets sewn between layers of fabric to hold it in place on your car without scratching the finish. It’s long enough that it covers and protects the wipers and the washer fluid nozzles, too. Instead of having to waste time and gas running the defroster while you scratch away at the built up ice and mounds of snow, you just open up the doors and flip the snow away. The tarp folds up to fit in a pouch that you can store in the glove compartment of your car. When winter’s over, the Quick Removal tarp will also work as a sun shield to keep the cabin of your car a little cooler.
The Quick Removal Windshield Snow Tarp is $19.99 at Hammacher Schlemmer. At that price, I find myself wondering if a second one would fit over the back hatch of my Outback…
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That’s pretty cool!. We have a cover on the car for that reason (in the city, private parking but outside).
The car cover is great for 3 out of the 4 seasons…as it sometimes gets frozen onto the car (hood/trunk) in the Winter. A windshield-only cover would solve that problem and reduce the need for scraping.
The problem with these kinds of windshield covers is that the door rubbers are closed less tight, which allows more cold and humidity to enter the car.
This is an old idea – I had one of these in the early 80s. The issue I found was that unless you can start with a completely dry, frost-free car it easily freezes to the window/frame. So if you remember to put it on before a storm comes you can probably get it off the first time – but you can’t easily reuse it after you arrive and park if it’s still snowing, because your window will be warm from your defroster so the surface will freeze the cover onto it as it cools.
From the Hammacher Schlemmer link :
We regret that this item is no longer available.
Thanks for sharing this! I would love to have a tarp like this to make the winters easier on my truck. It is never fun scraping your windshield and then accidentally chipping the glass from too much stress. In fact, I think I am going to look for something like this so that I can be ready next winter!