TIP 1. Noticed last week all the people running wipers in snow, but i was not. Reason??? I do not run defrost constantly with snow, I direct heat to floor and vents. Reason: keeps windshield cold and snow does not melt.

TIP 2. When I have to defrost in the morning I never use windshield heat when snow covered. Reason: Heat blast on glass with ice and snow on outside surface can crack windshield. What I do is place heat controls use cabin heat and clear at least the snow off. If ice coated, I let cabin warm then clear ice. The gas is cheaper than the wshield.

 

I leave the heater off till the truck warms up. But sadly for me I can't switch between floor panel or defrost. It blows out of all of them. I also found that keeping the wipers off the windshield while it snows and not driving will keep them from getting frozen to the windshield and breaking... Last winter we had a lot of rain snow over here and I had replaced my wipers almost 5times. My grandpa tells me that when I lose traction to head for the shoulder

 

i start my truck..direct it to the floor and leave it on medium (just enough to hear it and know its on). then wipe the truck off and go do whatever..by the time i get back the trucks warm enough. my wipers usually dont stick..idk if the washer fluid i use helps or not lol

 

In the future, rather then replacing wipers that don't work properly, take a paper towel and wipe the blades with Isapropyl alcohol. This will take all of the oils out of the blades and allow them to function like new. But remember, wiper blades, no matter how new, will not function properly on a windscreen full of bonded contaminants. I use a clay-bar on my windscreen at least twice a year, and I keep it clean with Stoner's Invisible Glass with Rain Repellant so it beads water constantly. That saved me when my wiper motor quit working in the middle of a rain-storm earlier this year.

 

Heat on defrost won't cause too many problems, mine is blasting heat on it and gets snow piled on it regularly from plowing. 3 years with this truck and no cracks, using defrost probably 95% of the time.

 

Me too ^^^

 

Talking about start up after sitting at night and ice and snow on em. Windshield people here attribute the cross breaks just above the defrost vents with this. Once its defrosted and running no problem.

 

I go out in the morning at 6:35am, start my truck put defrost on high and go back in the house for 15mins then leave. The temp hovering around 20 with snow and ice on the windshield. I've been doing this for 18-19 years. The thing is that with the defrost on, the windshield gradually heats as the truck does. Not all at once, which would possibly crack the windshield. When you first start the truck the air coming out is cold and slowly gets warmer. Now if come out of the house with a cup of hot water and throw it on the windshield, look out it's probably going to shatter. Very seldom do I ever take it off of defrost.

 

Never had a windshield crack from using heat with snow or ice on it. I've even done stupid stuff like throw hot water on them.

 

I guess I got this bugaboo when one of my techs started a van that had like 20 inches of snow and ice on the windshield and left it run without clearing it. When he cleared it was cracked, no problem before. The window people were loving that week.