Frozen Convertible

[Julietbravo]

I have a convertible with frameless doors. Every time I open a door, the window drops slightly as you pull the handle, and whenever you close a door the door closes and then the window rises to seal the glass against the rubber. My problem is that, during this cold snap, the glass freezes to the rubber surround. Being fairly mechanically sympathetic, I'm not sure that tugging the door open is doing the mechanism or the seal any good. I don't want to lubricate the strip because anything on the rubber gets on the glass, and then smeared on the glass when the window goes up and down.

My solution is to put a small (under office desk style) fan heater in the car with an extension cable running into the garage. When I get up in the morning I flick the switch in the garage and the car defrosts whilst I'm in the shower. It's a sub optimal solution - is there a better way? My garage is full, so that's out, and I don't want to use a car cover - dragging it off in the morning, covered in snow and ice, folding, storing etc etc.

What does everyone else do?

[Big E 118]

This is the stuff:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gummi-Pflege-Rubber-Stick...

[swisstoni]

Makes you wonder what they get up to during cold weather testing in arctic conditions when a little british frost can stick a door shut.

[CaptainRAVE]

Pull as hard as I can

[TooMany2cvs]

swisstoni said:

Makes you wonder what they get up to during cold weather testing in arctic conditions when a little british frost can stick a door shut.

British weather - pervasive damp, temperatures around zero deg C - is far worse for things "freezing shut" than properly cold conditions.

A light wipe-over of the rubber seals with silicone spray will sort it out.

[s p a c e m a n]

I once pulled the door handle off of a mk5 escort convertible because it was stuck solid with ice, was a fun morning

[anonymous-user]

s p a c e m a n said:

I once pulled the door handle off of a mk5 escort convertible because it was stuck solid with ice, was a fun morning

I did the same to the door handle on my dads Nova sr, not a convertible but happened at a time when dads weren’t sympathetic to their kids pulling handles off
Is it me or did it snow more when I was a kid? I remember that nova being in 2 foot of snow. I live in the same area and we just don’t get it now. I’m old blah blah blah

[tr7v8]

Big E 118 said:

This is the stuff:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gummi-Pflege-Rubber-Stick...

Just ordered some as the wife's MX5 occasionally freezes her out in cold weather.

[akirk]

Julietbravo said:

What does everyone else do?

own a non-convertible for cold days

[ghost83]

Faz50 said:

I did the same to the door handle on my dads Nova sr, not a convertible but happened at a time when dads weren’t sympathetic to their kids pulling handles off
Is it me or did it snow more when I was a kid? I remember that nova being in 2 foot of snow. I live in the same area and we just don’t get it now. I’m old blah blah blah

Global warming allegedly

[Buzz84]

I had exactly the same on a E-class convertible with frameless doors. As the door handle is pulled it drops the window a fraction to allow the door to be opened.

I kept a can of de-icer in the boot, when I went out to a frozen car I just sprayed around the perimeter of the window, waited 10-20 seconds for it to take effect, then just opened as normal. Never had any issues.

[Cupramax]

akirk said:

Julietbravo said:

What does everyone else do?

own a non-convertible for cold days

Own a convertible and a garage that's not full of junk

[Julietbravo]

Big E 118 said:

This is the stuff:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gummi-Pflege-Rubber-Stick...

Thank you. I live on the Dutch/German/Belgian border so I'll wander into Heutz tonight and see if they have any.

[RizzoTheRat]

Big E 118 said:

This is the stuff:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gummi-Pflege-Rubber-Stick...

Would that also stop the bottom seal squeaking against the glass every time I wind one of my back windows down, or will I just end up with it smeared all over the window?

[Julietbravo]

Cupramax said:

akirk said:

Julietbravo said:

What does everyone else do?

own a non-convertible for cold days

Own a convertible and a garage that's not full of junk

I know, I know. When you live in the Netherlands, your garage fills up with bikes quickly. I mean, they cycle everywhere. The local VW dealer has courtesy bikes; cycle paths cut across roads where cars have to give way and there aren't many roads without cycle paths - even bike lights at traffic lights. No one gets annoyed or cross, and in the 18 months I have been here I haven't seen a bit of road rage, just courteous driving. Whenever people come to stay we cycle to the pub, which means at least 8 bikes are required (2x families of 4) - at least they are cheap, 25-50 Euros gets a serviceable 'granny bike'), plus a couple of road bikes and MTB complete the set. Hence the full garage.

[silverous]

Not a z4 by any chance is it? My brother got the garage to take his back as it was causing him real problems freezing up in car parks when he was trying to get home etc.

[The Tea Boy]

Used to put a tiny bit of vaseline on the seals on the mx5. Worked a treat.

[bqf]

Big E 118 said:

This is the stuff:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gummi-Pflege-Rubber-Stick...

Ha ha exactly what I was going to post! It's marvellous stuff.