Ice buildup between rear window and trunk

[Mr.Tan]

Today is the first real snow we have gotten here in my area, and first chance to really take the S4 out and have some fun with it/drive it in snow.... was a nice comparison between it and my xdrive 335 i had before..... However, i noticed something that was quite annoying at certain times that required me to "clear" it to not have it make a terrible noise. I was getting a decent buildup of ice/super hard snow between the rear window and the trunk where they merge when the snow would melt from rear window defroster and slide down and collect there. Almost like snow would slide off the window/surrounding areas and slip down into that gap and then freeze them together causing a very annoying cracking sound inside the car. I cleared it off twice and each time it seems to have gone away, so I kicked the idea that it was something else causing it and that was infact the problem.


Has anyone else (who drives in snow) had this problem? Is there anything to do to prevent it besides just clearing all the snow off of the car so nothing can melt and fall down? Or is this only my car doing this haha

[Gregmendez]

Yeah, I hate it when that happens.

[LYKUNO]

I'd highly recommend waxing the car with Collinite 845 Insulator Wax, particularly in the area where the trunk and rear window merge. I use this wax in the water runoff channels of the trunk, and door jambs as well and have never experienced that kind of ice buildup. I've used it on my cars for decades, and always put on a coat of Collinite before winter starts.



Here's a testimonial of sorts for the Collinite Insulator Wax that I saw on the Autogeek detailing site: "Re: Collinite 845 - the "Rocky Balboa" of waxes ...About 30 years ago I was having a beer with a co-worker. We had just started stocking the Meguiar's line at the dealership and were discussing our favorite waxes and polishes. An old man leaned over and said "Collinite, kid-that's all you need". I just blew it off. I had seen the stuff at my local hardware store. Plain bottles with names like Insulator Wax, Metal Wax and Sapphire, no advertising in the car mags, certainly couldn't be any good. ... Fast forward to 2010. After joining up here, the name Collinite appeared again. I went back to the same hardware store, dropped 15 bucks for a bottle of 845, and laid a couple coats on my winter driver. Great stuff! Applied in early December, it's still beading in late January. I use it on glass too. Windows stay cleaner and I do less ice scraping than I've ever done before. We've had 25 days of snow in January and I've never had a window refuse to open because of ice.I know the old guy has long since passed, but if I ever see him again, I owe him a cold one."

[Johnnycash]

do you not have the luxury of a garage?

if not you probably need to clean the snow off of the top of your car better so it doesnt migrate down on the rear window when driving and subsequently into that gap after the defrosters melt it away...

[Amorphic]

do you not have the luxury of a garage?

if not you probably need to clean the snow off of the top of your car better so it doesnt migrate down on the rear window when driving and subsequently into that gap after the defrosters melt it away...

I wish I did. A garage in the lower mainland of BC will set you back 500 grand minimum (for a house).

[Mr.Tan]

I'd highly recommend waxing the car with Collinite 845 Insulator Wax, particularly in the area where the trunk and rear window merge. I use this wax in the water runoff channels of the trunk, and door jambs as well and have never experienced that kind of ice buildup. I've used it on my cars for decades, and always put on a coat of Collinite before winter starts.



Here's a testimonial of sorts for the Collinite Insulator Wax that I saw on the Autogeek detailing site: "Re: Collinite 845 - the "Rocky Balboa" of waxes ...About 30 years ago I was having a beer with a co-worker. We had just started stocking the Meguiar's line at the dealership and were discussing our favorite waxes and polishes. An old man leaned over and said "Collinite, kid-that's all you need". I just blew it off. I had seen the stuff at my local hardware store. Plain bottles with names like Insulator Wax, Metal Wax and Sapphire, no advertising in the car mags, certainly couldn't be any good. ... Fast forward to 2010. After joining up here, the name Collinite appeared again. I went back to the same hardware store, dropped 15 bucks for a bottle of 845, and laid a couple coats on my winter driver. Great stuff! Applied in early December, it's still beading in late January. I use it on glass too. Windows stay cleaner and I do less ice scraping than I've ever done before. We've had 25 days of snow in January and I've never had a window refuse to open because of ice.I know the old guy has long since passed, but if I ever see him again, I owe him a cold one."

i'll have to look into that stuff. I did give the car a good wax before winter, but it hasent seemed to help at all and I didnt do the windows. Thanks for posting it!

do you not have the luxury of a garage?

if not you probably need to clean the snow off of the top of your car better so it doesnt migrate down on the rear window when driving and subsequently into that gap after the defrosters melt it away...

i have a garage, but my other vehicle is parked in it and I don't want to leave it sitting outside. I'll have to just take the extra time and clean ALL the snow off of the car to see if it avoids this happening.

[Lamprey]

Out of curiosity, do any of you that use Collinite Insulator Wax use (or have used) Opti-coat? I used it over a year ago and people still think I just waxed my car. So, I was curious if people also apply wax over the Opti-coat too. I know you can, I just haven't had a need to do it so I wasn't sure if waxing would make much of a difference in this scenario if one had already used opti-coat..?