A clear windshield is crucial for safer winter driving

Canadian drivers tend to know a thing or two about driving in tough conditions. Blizzard-like snow, slushy parkways, and more ice than the Toronto Maple Leafs see in a season are just a few of the hazards with which we contend every year – and why most of us feel confident unleashing a chuckle or two when news reports from Atlanta show the place at a standstill after just 5 centimetres of the white stuff.

Schadenfreude aside, it pays to be prepared. Part of one’s automotive winter arsenal, in addition to winter tires and a good snow scraper, is maintaining a reservoir full of quality windshield wash to help prepare for our country’s bad weather mix. Windshield wash is arguably the Rodney Dangerfield of car care: routinely ignored and overlooked but cursed upon when it isn’t present when needed. Most drivers can identify with the annoyance and dread felt after pulling the wiper stalk to summon a spritz of the stuff only to be rewarded with a pathetic dribble of fluid and perpetually dirty glass.

That’s why it’s important to always have at least one jug on hand, tucked away in your vehicle’s cargo area. Rain-X® ClearView windshield wash, with its exclusive water-repelling technology, is just the ticket for seeing more clearly and being safer on the road. The brand’s major product at this time of year is its newly formulated Winter Shield formula, easily spotted in stores by its distinctive yellow colour. Its powerful de-icing ingredients work to repel rain, sleet, snow, and all other assorted misery which tends to fall from Canadian skies during winter. Recent work by Recochem Inc. researchers have improved Winter Shield’s freezing resistance from -40°C to -45°C; while five degrees may not sound like a lot, it could just be the difference between a clean windshield and a dangerous mess.

While on the subject of temperatures, it is important to know these “freeze resistance” values refer to conditions far beyond simple ambient weather. For example, whilst the air during a commute may be -5°C, consider that driving at 100 km/h on the Don Valley Parkway subjects a car’s windshield (and the wash fluid being spritzed upon it) to windchill values far beyond what’s being reported by the CP24 meteorologist. An increase in one’s speed or a decrease in ambient temperature results in exponentially frigid conditions for the windshield – explaining why Rain-X formulates its windshield wash to work in such severe measures.

In fact, the X-Treme Protection line of fluid from Rain-X® ClearView goes a step further, engineered to deliver ultimate freeze point protection down to a bone-chilling -50°C while repelling the winter triumvirate of sleet, snow, and ice. Their new Bio Source formula, meanwhile, is made of a plant-based ingredient derived from a renewable energy source and is good to -35°C.



No matter which variant is selected, know that all the Rain-X® ClearView formulations have exclusive water-repelling technology, a blend which promotes the production of water-beading particles which tend to roll easily off the windshield for better clarity. In preparation for notoriously tough Canadian winters, Rain-X® ClearView’s exclusive water-repelling technology has been tested at Ontario Tech University, optimized in harsh conditions and against other formulations to help offer outstanding windshield visibility in wet winter weather.

Unlike concentrated products, Rain-X® windshield wash formulations are ready to use right out of the bottle and do not need to be mixed with water. In fact, doing so would dilute the fluid and negatively impact its freeze point protection. For optimal performance, be sure to empty the windshield washer fluid reservoir completely (especially if it was full of summertime wash which can freeze below 0°C) before adding Rain-X® ClearView.

And, as a final tip, go ahead and warm the windshield by letting your vehicle run with its heater on for a few minutes prior to hitting the road. This will help prevent ice accumulation or freezing once underway, while also helping keep the car’s wiper blades in good shape. To eke maximum performance out of your fresh bottle of windshield wash, ensure the vehicle glass and passenger compartment are nicely heated before calling for a spritz of Rain-X® ClearView windshield washer fluid.