---
title: 'How to Prepare Your Car for a Snowstorm'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=oj9y7Okr4Fk'
video_id: 'oj9y7Okr4Fk'
date: 2026-08-05
duration_sec: 882
---

# How to Prepare Your Car for a Snowstorm

> Source: [How to Prepare Your Car for a Snowstorm](https://youtube.com/watch?v=oj9y7Okr4Fk)

## Summary

ChrisFix demonstrates how to prepare a car for a snowstorm and safely remove snow afterward. He covers essential tips like filling the gas tank, combat parking, applying silicone to locks and weather stripping, and using covers to prevent ice. The video also shows snow removal techniques using a leaf blower or a brush with a microfiber towel, and warns against common mistakes like using hot water on glass.

### Key Points

- **Fill the Fuel Tank** [00:42] — Ensure a full tank of fuel before a snowstorm. This provides extra weight over the rear axle for better traction (especially for rear-wheel drive), and ensures you can stay warm if stuck or stranded.
- **Combat Park Your Vehicle** [01:48] — Back into your parking spot (combat parking) so you can drive out forward. This improves visibility for oncoming traffic and kids, and makes it easier to plow through snow pushed by plows.
- **Top Off Wiper Fluid** [02:47] — Fill the windshield washer reservoir with de-icer fluid, which is alcohol-based and helps remove snow and ice from the windshield.
- **Prevent Locks and Doors from Freezing** [03:13] — Use silicone spray on door locks and weather stripping. Silicone is hydrophobic, displacing water so it can't freeze. Apply to locks, weather stripping, and hood latches to prevent freezing.
- **Protect Mirrors and Windshield** [05:59] — Cover side view mirrors with Ziploc bags and the windshield with a canvas cover or garbage bags. Lift wiper blades to prevent them freezing to the glass.
- **Shovel Snow with Waxed Shovel** [08:05] — After the storm, shovel the driveway. Apply paste wax or spray ceramic to the shovel to prevent snow from sticking, making shoveling easier.
- **Remove Snow Safely** [09:27] — Use a leaf blower for fresh powder to blow snow off without touching the paint. For heavier snow, wrap a brush with a microfiber towel and use light pressure to avoid scratching.
- **Avoid Scratches and Damage** [12:44] — Never use plastic scrapers on paint; only on glass. Never pour hot or boiling water on glass as it can crack. Use a warm water bag to melt ice instead.

### Conclusion

By following these preparation and removal tips, you can avoid common winter car issues like frozen locks, dead batteries, and scratched paint, ensuring a safe and stress-free start to your day.

## Transcript

Hey guys, ChrisFix here and today I'm going to show you how to get your car or truck ready for a snowstorm. We've had a ton of snow lately and tomorrow we're supposed to get anywhere between 4 and 12 inches of snow.
It's going to be a storm overnight and that gives me the opportunity to show you guys how I get my vehicles ready and show you the tips and tricks I've learned over the years of living somewhere that gets a ton of snow. And I make it real simple and real easy so the next morning when you wake up you're not scraping ice off your windshield.
your battery's not dead, your door isn't frozen shut, you get in your car, and you drive off, and you're good to go. You won't be late for school, you won't be late for work, and you'll get to where you need to be nice and safe. So let's get started. Now the first thing I recommend
you do is make sure you have a full tank of fuel. This is very important, so check your fuel gauge. If we check the gauge, you can see I am low on fuel. I definitely want to fill this up now, because tomorrow the gas stations might be closed. Also, if I go out tomorrow and I get stuck or get
into an accident, I want to make sure I can run my vehicle without worrying about running out of gas because if I could run my vehicle, I could stay warm. If I run out of gas, I could freeze and it wouldn't be good. And the last reason why it's important to fill up your fuel tank is because
the fuel tank is typically in the rear of the vehicle and that means all that fuel will be extra weight over the rear axle. Now, if you have a rear wheel drive car or truck, that's especially important because that's how you're going to get your traction. Actually, some people put metal and
sandbags in the bed of their truck to get more traction, or you could put it in the trunk of your car to get more traction. But in this case, a simple thing such as filling up your fuel tank could add 100, 120 pounds. Every gallon of gasoline is about 6 pounds.
So a 20-gallon tank, about 120 pounds of gasoline over that rear axle to get you some more traction. Something super simple that you could do really easily, you need to get fuel anyway, could help you a lot if it snows. So go fill her up.
Alright, after you're done filling your tank, the next tip is to always combat park your cars in your driveway or in your parking spot. All combat parking is is backing into your spot and I like to combat park my vehicles in general but especially during snowstorms so I'm backing
in both my cars at the end of the driveway. And this is super helpful because tomorrow you won't have to back out. You can go straight out and this helps a lot because if there's a snowplow guy coming around the block or if there's a car coming around the block you'll see them and more
importantly it's going to be a snow day tomorrow so if there's kids in the street and you don't see them backing out, that could be dangerous. Now we have the car facing this way, you'll clearly see if there's any kids in front of you, and it's a lot safer to leave your driveway that way. Also,
when the snowplow guy comes around the block, he's going to be pushing the snow up against your driveway, unfortunately, creating a big pile of snow. It's a lot easier for your car or truck to go through that forward than if you were going in reverse. So, back in your car, combat park it,
and you'll be good to go. Alright, so we have a full gas tank. We are combat parked. The next thing to do is to make sure that you have enough wiper fluid. So washer fluid is alcohol based. You can see it says de-icer right on there.
So it'll help remove any snow or ice that might get on your windshield. So make sure you're filling the wiper reservoir. And although it seems like common sense, many people don't think about topping off their wiper fluid until they run out. Okay, good. Now our wiper fluid is topped off.
Now my next tip is very helpful for preventing your doors and locks from freezing. You ever try to go over to your door and put the key in and it won't turn or it won't go in because it's frozen solid? Or maybe you try to open your door and you pull it on it and it's just frozen solid.
You feel like you're gonna rip this handle off because the whole thing is frozen and won't open up. You can even get into your car to warm it up That way you can melt the ice Well the trick is to use a silicone spray like this I link this in the description of my video so you can easily find it What silicone does is it hydrophobic meaning it repels water
It displaces water. So water won't be able to freeze if it's not there. So what you do is get a paper towel under here, get your spray inside that lock. Don't spray a lot. You just need a little bit like that, and you are good to go.
That displaces all the water that might be in there. That way it won't freeze. And if you want to be thorough, you can get your key and just work it in there like that, and that'll make sure all that water gets displaced and the silicone works its way in.
So now we don't have to worry about the lock freezing shut, but how do we make sure that our door doesn't freeze shut? And it's actually pretty simple. So around the entire door is weather stripping. This prevents water from getting into the interior of the car, but it also holds water,
not very much, but enough that when it freezes, it could freeze itself to the body of the car. weather stripping right here that could also hold water and freeze and then freeze to the door. So to prevent water from sticking to the weather stripping get in towel and spray it with silicone
like that and then you're going to wipe the silicone onto the weather stripping making sure you get complete coverage. It doesn't have to go on sticks just make sure you wipe down the entire piece of rubber and the good thing is after you do this it will last all winter and you won't have to
reapply. Also don't forget to wipe down the weather stripping on the door itself and be careful not to to get any silicone on any of the interior trim. So with the weather shipping on the door and in the door jamb lightly coated with silicone this is good to go and we don't have to worry about
our door freezing shut. And one last quick thing to spray down with silicone that a lot of people forget about is the hood latch or in this case on this Jag we have two hood latches and you want to just spray down enough to displace any water. You don't have to go crazy. We have one there
and we have one here and this is actually pretty important because think about it. In the winter a lot of times batteries go dead. You'll need to get a jump start. If you can't pop your hood because it's frozen shut you won't be able to jump start your car and you won't be able to get your car
running. That wouldn't be good. So a quick spray of silicone on your hood latch is all you need and you're good to go. And real quick I just want to show you my truck's hood latch because this is pretty common on most vehicles. The Jaguar is a little bit different. The hood latch is usually
in the middle like that and you can just spray it down like that. Nice and simple. That's all there is to it. And the last tip I have will prevent the glass from becoming a big sheet of ice. You
won't have to scrape it in the morning. And the same thing with your side view mirrors. They won't become a block of ice. And it's actually really simple what you need to do. We'll start with the side view mirror because I hate when these freeze. You can't use a scraper on the side view mirror
because you'll damage that mirror. So the trick to prevent any ice from forming is to grab a Ziploc bag like this. And it's pretty simple. All you need to do is cover your side view mirror, get it all the way on there, and zip that bag tight.
And what that's gonna do is that's gonna prevent any snow, any sweet rain, anything that'll freeze onto here from actually getting on here. It works so well, it's so easy. So, all you have to do is put one of these on each mirror. Now for the windshield, the first tip is to lift your windshield wipers so they don't
freeze to the glass. And then I like to use a canvas windshield cover that's made specifically for keeping snow and ice off the glass. And as you can see, it covers the entire windshield. you could tuck this in underneath the wiper arms here, and also here, so it will look a lot nicer,
and prevent the ice from getting in over there, like so, and then it has these straps that go right around the mirrors, and they're soft so they won't damage your paint, and that kind of holds it in place like that. And then now, any snow that falls on here, any ice that might freeze on here, it's easily removed just by removing this canvas piece.
Now I get it, not everybody's gonna have one of these, or you might not want to buy it. So in a pinch you can use garbage bags to cover the windshield like so Since the windshield is large I using two bags and the trick is to make sure they lay flat against the glass so they cling tightly to it So the garbage
bags actually do a pretty good job at clinging to the glass just with a static cling. Now if it gets really windy this isn't going to hold in place the same that the canvas will but if you put your
windshield wipers down like that it'll hold the bottom and if you know it's going to get windy You can add a little bit of painter's tape to the top. One piece here, one piece in the middle, one piece on the other side. Painter's tape won't damage your car's paint, and it'll hold it in place.
And you have something that actually works to prevent ice and snow from getting on your windshield. I can't wait to show you tomorrow how well these tips and tricks work. So now all we have to do is wait for some snow, and with a little bit of editing magic...
Oh man, look at all this snow. This is way more than the forecast. But the good thing is it gives me the opportunity to show you guys how to get all this snow off the car quickly Easily without scratching the paint and you did have to work already last night when you got the car ready for this snowstorm
So let's get started. First we want to shovel the snow from the driveway. This snow is actually pretty heavy and starting to get icy So it's a good thing we're getting this done now rather than later and annoyingly this snow is sticking to the shovel Which makes it pretty heavy and with that snow packed in there it gives you less volume
you're gonna shovel less snow. But don't worry, I have a quick tip on how to prevent the snow from sticking to your shovel. Let me show you. First, you're gonna want to dry the shovel so there's no snow or water on it. And the trick to keeping all that snow from sticking
to the shovel is to grab something like a paste wax and you can wax the entire shovel and let it sit for like five minutes. Or if you want, you can even use a spray wax or spray ceramic, in this case I have a spray ceramic, and all you need to do, spray a bunch
on and you're gonna let it sit for five minutes. And then you can buff it off with a fresh microfiber towel and now your shovel is washed or ceramic coated. And as they say, the proof is in the pudding. So let's shovel up some snow and as you can see the snow slides right
off. The hydrophobic wax or ceramic coating that you use will keep the surface slick so the snow doesn't stick. Alright, so with the snow removed from the driveway, now let me show you how to safely remove the snow from your car. And the reason why I say safely
is because most people use a brush like this to get the snow off their car. And a brush like this, these bristles will definitely scratch the finish on your car. Guaranteed. They're too stiff. Even the soft end on the brush, the squeegee end, could scratch
your paint. So how do you prevent that? Use something soft like a microfiber towel and cover your brush and now your brush could be used with less risk to scratching your paint. Now to hold this microfiber towel in place so it doesn't
fall off, I like to use these binder clips and just clip that microfiber towel on the back of the brush. That way you don't have to worry about those clips damaging the paint and now we can use our brush with a very soft microfiber towel so we don't scratch the paint. Now before you go and use a brush even with a microfiber
towel it's better if you can remove the snow without actually touching the car. Let me show you. And you might be wondering how do you remove snow without touching it? Well using a leaf blower, electric or gas, these work awesome when the powder is fresh. Check
this out, this is another trick I wish I would have known sooner. Now the leaf blower definitely works better on fresh powdery snow and this snow is starting to freeze and get pretty heavy yet it's still working pretty good. It gets all the snow off the truck and we're
not touching the surface. Just make sure you don't hit the paint with the leaf blower. Otherwise this is completely touchless and works great so you don't scratch your paint. But if you compare that to the fresh powdery snow we had a couple of days ago, look at this the leaf blower works amazing. It blows the snow off effortlessly and leaves a completely
snow free car. Using a leaf blower is such an amazing trick. Once you try it you're not going to want to use any other method. So when the snow is a fresh powder, it's not frozen on there you didn start the car it not melted at all The leaf blower blows all that snow right off without touching the paint It really easy to do and it actually leaves a pretty clean surface and we blew off our garbage bags from the windshield and check it out the windshield
is looking absolutely amazing. No ice, no snow, and it's ready to go. The other benefit of a leaf blower over a brush is it gets snow out of the tough to remove spots. For example, the roof rack on my truck. Usually it's a pain to get all the snow out of here,
but with the leaf blower it blows it right out. And finally the last part is to get the snow off the bed cover and again it blows it right off even though it's pretty heavy now and starting to freeze. Now for the jack I'm going to show you how well the brush works with the microfiber towel.
Maybe you don't have a leaf blower or the snow is too heavy and icy. Well this is what you're going to use to remove the snow. The key is not to put any downward pressure onto the brush. We don't want to push it into the paint. Just let the weight of the brush slide along the paintwork.
This will let the microfiber towel skim across the paint surface without scratching it and you're going to get all the snow off your car like there's nothing to it. And finally check this out, once the snow is removed, the last thing to do is remove that windshield cover
and all the snow and ice comes with it, revealing a nice and clean windshield. And the last thing to do is remove the bags from the side view mirrors and check this out. Once you remove this, it is ice free and ready to go.
And I'll show you the truck as well because check this out. All the ice builds up on this instead of your side view mirror. Such a simple little trick saves you so much hassle. Just compare that to this, which is covered in ice and snow.
Luckily, that's actually coming off pretty easy, but if that gets frozen on there, that is a pain to remove. Just like this. You can see how it's frozen on there, and that is going to have to defrost. Never use a scraper on your side view mirrors.
And speaking of scraper, a lot of brushes have these scrapers on the end. Never, ever, ever use these on paint. Do not do that. You will scratch and damage your paint pretty badly. Even if there's ice on the top. Do not do it.
Only use it on the glass like this. Since glass is a lot harder than plastic, you don't have to worry about it scratching the glass with the plastic scraper. So I repeat, only use a plastic scraper on glass just like this. Now if you don't have one of these scrapers,
maybe you're at work or school or something and everything's frozen over. In a pinch, you can use a credit card or a gift card like this. Make sure you grab the whole credit card and just use the edge that way you don't damage it. Now be careful not to break the credit card, but look how well this works. In a pinch,
if you need to remove some ice, just grab a credit card out of your wallet and you'll be good to go. And one last quick tip on frozen glass, whether it's your windshield or side glass, never ever ever use boiling water or very hot water
and pour it directly onto your windshield or glass. It can crack it and that wouldn't be good. So just pour that out and instead what you're gonna do is grab a ziplock bag and just fill it up with hot tap water, not boiling water, just hot tap water like this,
and slowly slide the warm bag against the glass, which is going to melt away the ice. Just look at how awesome this works. You don't have to worry about the glass cracking, and that ice is being melted, revealing crystal-cleared glass that you could actually see out of.
You can also use this method on the windshield, the side view mirrors, and your headlights if they're frozen. So there you go. Those are all my tips and tricks on how to get your car ready for a snowstorm and then easily clean off the car so you don't scratch it, you don't damage it,
and you can get it done nice and quickly so you can get to school, get to work, wherever you need to go without being late. If you guys have any of your own tips to share, please comment them in the comments below. As always, I hope the video was helpful.
If it was, remember to give it a thumbs up. If you're not a subscriber, consider hitting that subscribe button. And as always, all the tools and products I use in this video are linked in the description so you can easily find them. And make sure you guys stay safe out there.