How To Prevent And Fix Frozen Car Doors

One of the worst auto-related problems you can encounter in the winter is a frozen car door. It could be a tragedy when you’re in a rush. There are, of course, practical ways to unfreeze it, but it takes time. So you certainly wouldn’t want to get the hassle of unfreezing it. Therefore, the old saying, “Prevention is safer than treatment” is perfectly suited to this situation.

Let’s look at how you can keep your car door from freezing and if it’s still frozen, check out our blog and see how to unfreeze your frozen car door.

Here are all the ways you can stop a frozen tragedy from happening:

Protecting the Vehicle From Weather Effects

The weather effects are the most obvious reasons for the gate to freeze. If ice conditions like frost, freezing rain, freezing fog are forecast, do your best to protect your vehicle from such conditions.

Parking your car in an outside parking spot is the most important form of avoidance. Therefore, get your car in the garage as soon as the weather starts to seem grim. Don’t leave your car parked outside overnight. Temperatures can drop dramatically during the night in the winters.

However, we understand that not all of you have keys to a covered parking spot or a heated garage or anything like that.

In such a case, a car cover or a tarp may be your best friend. A car cover can significantly reduce the amount of rain and snow precipitation that can enter the window sections. It is therefore very helpful in the case of an ice storm or extreme conditions. Though, it’s still a good idea to cover your car during the winter nights, even if the weather is pretty good.

Apart from that, you could try a small hack, too. You can use duct tape to cover the lock of the door to keep it from freezing.

Cleaning Of The Door Frame

This is one of the most important steps to prevent the door from freezing. Several times, dirt and debris are deposited on the door frame, which causes a slight gap. As a result, liquid and dust is poured in and deposited around the soil and the void. As a result, the window freezes shut when the temperature drops.

Have a Test On The Rubber Gaskets

As mentioned above, car doors freeze as water enters into holes and openings in your car door frame. Today, most times, the guilty party is not the window, but the rubber gasket on the door. Search if the gasket is scratched, broken or just dusty. Cracks and holes created by bent, broken or filthy gasket can easily help the moisture to soak in the door’s frost closed.

If the gasket is cracked and broken, remove it. In some situations, it may not be stained or ripped, but it may be too old. It’s safer to have that oldie repaired before it becomes a problem.

However, if the gasket is properly formed, it can still lead to frozen windows. The reason is simple and has already been stated–you’ve got a dirty rubber gasket on the door frame. Yeah, what’s the fix, just wash it up!

You can use a clean cloth and warm water to wipe away all the dirt. Then clean again with a dry cloth to guarantee that there is no water left behind.

Always, make sure you clean both the gasket on the frame and the window. When necessary, consider doing this “ritual” inside a shed or in a warm place so that the water doesn’t ice as you wash the gasket.

Use a Defensive Fluid

Now, this is one of the best solutions around. All you need to do is cover the door rubber gasket with a soothing fluid. This fluid could be different things, but the easiest one to use is a rubber conditioner. The rubber conditioner was specially formulated for rubber items and is meant to last for a long time.

But, there are other choices as well. The next best thing to do is apply a silicone lubricant. It’s pretty cheap and can last for a few days, and it’s also easy to find in car shops. Nevertheless, it can damage the paint and should therefore be used cautiously.

If you do not have any of the above listed products, you can also use a cooking spray or WD40 or any mild lubricating oil.

The aim of using the above-mentioned substance is to use it as a protective solvent to remove water and thus minimize the amount of moisture that reaches the door seal.

You can use a microfiber towel to add any of the above-mentioned lubricants. A paper towel is also expected to work. Spray the lubricant over the rubber gasket and cover it thinly with a microfiber cloth or paper towels.

Using Alcohol Rubbing On The Lock

You can use alcohol rubbing directly over the lock to avoid the freezing of the door. It’s not the door, but the lock that freezes shut. Applying alcohol to the lock at least once a week during the winter will help prevent a frozen door. Nonetheless, make sure that your preferred rubbing-alcohol has at least 60 per cent alcohol. Apply the liquor on the lock with a microfiber cloth or paper towels and scatter it thinly. It can also help melt ice on a frozen bolt, but the procedure is usually slower than other de-icing techniques.

You may also use petroleum jelly instead of rubbing alcohol, but it tends to leave a sticky stain.

Use A Lock Lubricant For Severe Problems

If the alcohol does not seem to work properly, you can use a lock lubricant instead. The lubricant lock is often recommended by experts. Nonetheless, different types of lock lubricants are available on the market and often experts continue to vary in their opinion on which lock lubricants are better. Graphite lubricants are the most commonly used ones and generally come in a bottle of air that can be pressed directly into the keyhole. Many, though, notice that it collects moisture over time and leaves a gunk on the ring.

Teflon-based professionals were the most recommended. It is made with Fluoropolymer Teflon which has superior performance. The downside, though, is that many people find it messy and thus not successful. When you can’t carry Teflon-lubricants, you can also look for less grease-free lubricants.

You can also use the WD-40 as a lock lubricant if you can handle the smell of it. Apply the WD-40 liberally to the door and locks before the weather starts to freeze. The nozzle of the WD-40 can also be used very well to inject it into the keyholes.

If you’re having a long winter, you may need to reapply any of the lubricants on your lock and gate.

Use A De-Icer

Ok, this one is more of a post-treatment because it is effective only when the door has been closed due to ice build-up. But the reason we’ve listed this move here is that people keep the de-icer in their trunks. And when you need them, your car door is locked… that’s why we want you to keep a little can of de-icer in your bag or garage, and that’s how it’s a preventive measure here.

Final Word

Ok, these were our tips to help you stop your car door from freezing this season. All the tips listed here are mostly preventive in nature, except the last one. We did, though, explain why we included that metric here. You’re going to have to put these ideas into effect before the weather starts to get cold. It would be a good idea to take action at the end of the season. We hope this post will support you, and we’d like to hear how much you’ve learned from it. Let us know your thoughts, viewpoints and observations in the comment section below.

Newport Motors is a used car dealership located in Las Vegas Nevada. We have a wide variety of used cars and offer mechanic and service shop.