Unfreezing car doors for dummies by different levels of difficulty / severity

It’s winter, there’s snow everywhere and all the auto enthusiasts enjoy a good snow once in a while because who doesn’t like some serious snow drifting? But there’s a nasty side to winter too.

There are a lot of bad things that can happen to your car in the winter; One of them can be discovering in the morning that your car doors are frozen shut but you can prevent that with a little car care by following some steps. It’s all about simple car maintenance during winter!

So, it’s time to go more in depth with the “I can’t get inside my car” problem by throwing in some top tips that’ll start with the easiest solutions to open a frozen car door, evolving into more complex how to defrost stuck car doors:

• push before pulling– simplest way to open a car door that has been frozen shut is to give it a push before trying the handle.
• warm and I repeat, warm water– try pouring some warm water on the frozen rubber door seals.
• the towel inside / outside method– put a slim towel on the top of your door and close it; you’ll get a part of the towel inside of the car and one on the outside from which you can pull in the morning while also grabbing the door handle (this dissipates the pressure applied on the handle and you prevent it from breaking).
• cold water and salt– it’s as simple as that, to unlock a frozen door, you only have to take a big cup of COLD water and mix 2 table spoons of salt in it. After that, gently pour on every part of the frozen car handle.
• silicone spray for prevention– if you spray some silicone lubricant on the rubber door seals the night before, you’ll prevent getting a frozen stuck door.
• hand sanitizer for more than just your hands– the hand sanitizer which you always keep in your pocket has alcohol and alcohol will melt the ice on your stuck car door.

Frozen shut doors are now a thing of the past with these simple top tips which I’ve gathered from people who take good care of cars in the winter; By the way, you can also try some plain cooking oil which you can rub on the rubber door seals before going to sleep (you know.. oil and water don’t mix, thus you won’t get ice around there).