[Bruce M]

Quick question.

My mini is being built currently (I think) , borderline date to choose the heated screen option (dealer told me not available yet ) . So I ordered the heated mirrors/heated washer jets, has anyone used these in wintery conditions to clear ice from the windscreen? Were they effective or was the dealer encouraging me to waste my money. (only £40 tho )

Thanks in advance,

[Damo]

Get them well, worth the £40 if only for the heated mirrors. Not had ice yet on windscreen so can't comment.

[olddad]

23% F when I got off work this morning. Hopped in the car, two lights on the seats, rear defrost, front defrost, two short squirts of the washer and a few wipes and I'm off. By the time I got out of the parking lot I had pretty good visability all around and total to the front.

Am using a washer/deicer fluid as well in the jets, but it's the four little jets of warm fluid that erases the ice right now.

[HarryHBMCC]

Agreed, the heated bits are great! The mirrors are awesome and the heated jets are great too, with the heated seats being a bonus.

I'm not sure how much good the actual heated front windscreen (with wires in it like the rear) will do. With heated jets and de-icer fluid on the outside and defrost vents on the inside I don't know how much faster it could be cleared with wires in it.

Harry

[tip]

My folks in Ottawa have a subaru outback with the heated wind screen. I drove the outback then the mini a few weeks ago. I didn't find that the outback cleared the windscreen any faster than my mini which is not equipped with a heated screen.

Charles.

[Damo]

I don't know aboutt the heated screen (I've got climate so just hit a button and it clears in a few seconds) but as I said the heated mirrors and washer jets fir £40 are top.

[JohnnyBoy]

Heated washer jets and mirrors rule!

[rayasp]

I have the heated washers&mirrors-for only £40-00 they are not just essential but a bargain(the same on an A2 is £105!)
RAYASP.

[kgelner]

On my way back home with my new MCS this Monday morning, I woke up in Clayton, New Mexico, with a few inches of snow on the ground and a heavy snow coming down.

I also have the cold weather pack, which includes the heated mirros and washer jets.

While the heated mirrors worked great, I had a bit of a problem in the wiper area. I was driving along the highway (two-lane with no divider) in a few inches of slush, and every now and then a truck or other large vehichle would come along the other lane and give the MINI quite a dousing in slush.

Almost always that was fine, but on one pass in particular a snowplow coming the other way threw a HUGE wave over me. After that point I had some fairly substantial amount of icy slush trapped in my washer blade, and the top half of my wipers really didn't do anything for me except smear more slush across my windshield. If I stopped the wipers in fact things got a bit better as the liquid was forced off the windscreen by the wind. Eventually I stopped and removed the trapped slush blob, and all was well after that.

From this experience I personally think the heated washer jets are more to keep the nozzles clear so the fluid will reach your windshield (a problem I had with my previous car) than a stream of magma that will melt everything before it. I tried giving my iced up wipers a long and healthly dose of liquid, all to no avail - it took manual intervention.

What I was thinking would be great option after that, was heated wiper blade holders!! Now that would be a great innovation.

[HarryHBMCC]

Agreed, the wiper blades are the weakest link here. One hunk of ice in the springs and they don't clean worth a darn. Winter wipers here I come!

Otherwise, at -18C (-2F) earlier this week, all worked fine.

Harry

[lightbody]

Quote:

Originally posted by Bruce M
...has anyone used these in wintery conditions to clear ice from the windscreen?

Heated washer jets are simply to stop the nozzles freezing - its not to provide water warm enough to de-ice the screen!

My nozzles have never frozen so I presume they work. Mirrors are hot to the touch at all times, and are excellent - even if its not cold, they steam rain water off which is brilliant. 40 quid is nothing... they should be standard. To NOT have these would be stupid!

[HarryHBMCC]

Most of the heated bits are standard in Canada -- I guess they think we live in a frozen wasteland or something. All you have to order is the heated seat option which I have and I'm thankful!

Harry