The UK has entered a very cold and harsh 2010. To the joy of school children in Scotland, schools have remained closed since the beginning of Christmas. People have been snowed in all around the UK, whilst in other parts the roads are pretty much clear. Everybody however has been caught out by the frost. Silhouettes of ice are left on the ground outlining where a Soft Top car stood earlier.

I always envy my neighbour while he de-ices his hardtop – he always finishes before me. The reason I’m a bit slower is because of my Soft Top plastic rear window. When the weather gets cold like this, it is very important to de-ice it properly. The cold makes the plastic rear window very brittle, so attacking it with an ice scraper has a similar effect as grabbing a Stanley knife and chopping it up.  

The best way to de-ice a Convertible Tops Plastic window is by starting the engine and by turning the heating right up and let the heat do the rest. Under NO circumstances must you even touch the plastic rear window, as the slightest bit of pressure will tear the vybac sheet window!

If you’ve got a soft top with a glass window, but no heating elements, it is safe to scrape. Just make sure you don’t apply too much pressure to the window as the frost may potentially have an effect on the bonding of the window. We advice you NOT to use de-icer liquid as this could stain the hooding material around the glass.

If you have a glass rear window soft top with heating elements, just turn on the heated rear window switch as normal and let them do the rest. Generally you can treat a glass rear window the same as a rear window on a hardtop, just don’t use de-icer liquid or apply too much pressure.