The 10 Best Windshield Covers
This wiki has been updated 30 times since it was first published in January of 2017. Unless you love waking up extra early to scrape snow and ice off your vehicle's windshield in the frigid mornings, one of the covers on our list is a wise idea. These elegantly simple items allow you to clear inches of accumulation from your car, truck, or SUV in a matter of seconds. We've selected models that keep heat at bay, too, so you can get plenty of use from them in the summer as well. When users buy our independently chosen editorial selections, we may earn commissions to help fund the Wiki.
1. OxGord Winter
2. Kinder Fluff Foldable
3. IceScreen Classic
Editor's Notes
October 27, 2020:
Anyone who parks outside frequently, especially during cold winters, will appreciate one of these protective windshield covers. They’ll help safeguard your front window, and often the windshield wipers and side mirrors, from annoyances like ice and snow. This can save you hours of accumulated time each winter from having to work away at your car with an ice scraper. Today the IceScreen Classic comes on board, which is a product originally created in the United Kingdom in 2012 by a dad tired of struggling to get out the door with his kids on frigid winter mornings. It measures almost four feet tall and over five feet wide, so it’s a good choice for crossover SUVs as well as many compact cars. Flaps that tuck inside the doors help it to stay put on your ride and safeguard it against theft. It replaces the somewhat similar Evautolution Premium, which is also made of military-grade material, but which is unavailable at this time.
The OxGord Winter remains a highly popular choice, thanks to its affordable price and durability. You can purchase versions designed for the windshield as well as the rear window, and each attaches at four points to keep it securely in place, even in rough weather conditions. It helps prevent frost from forming, and is also versatile enough to double as a sun shade, making it usable all year long. The Mofeez Motorhome is compatible with class C Ford RVs made between 1997 and 2018, and it provides a good deal of privacy, along with protection. Corner pockets slide over the doors to keep it intact, and they’re both easy to put on and remove. The NFL FrostGuard would make a nice gift for the football fan in your life, as they can proudly let everyone in the neighborhood know the team they root for. It’s made with a weather-resistant PVC lining and sturdy straps to keep it in place. Unlike some others, this cover also protects the side-view mirrors. It’s available for purchase in most NFL team logos.
October 05, 2019:
At this time, we've opted to remove the BriteNway Non-scratch, as it doesn't quite live up to its name and could lead to scratches if users are not overly cautious when putting it on or taking it off. Although this is often due to user error, the risk probably isn't worth it for most. And speaking of risk, we decided to keep the MatCC Multi Season, even though it can cause water to leak into a car in heavy rain. This is not uncommon with models that have pieces that close in a car's doors; for this reason, it's best to use a windshield cover when there is ice, snow, or sun, and not in a downpour.
As for top choices, the Delk Polarshield and the OxGord Winter remain hard to beat thanks to durability and relative ease of use. We also opted to add one sun shade, the Kinder Fluff Foldable, and one small car cover, the Safe View Half Cover. This latter is a good option for those who have to park under trees and are tired of pollen, bird droppings, and all the rest sticking to their windshield, moon roof, and rear window.
Special Honors
Totally Covers Custom Sun Shade You can kill two birds with one stone thanks to the Totally Covers Custom Sun Shade, which can be personalized to include your business's name or logo. That way, the heat in your car goes down while your public profile goes up. totallycovers.com
IceScreen Pickup Truck Magnetic Designed specifically with the size and shape of pickups and vans in mind, this durable covering can save you from countless hours of scraping throughout the winter. It’s got extra magnets for a super strong grip and panels secured inside both front doors as an anti-theft measure. It’s easy to remove and store, and made of material that resists mildew and scratching. It’s designed for the Chevrolet Silverado and TrailBlazer, GMC 2500HD, Dodge Caravan, Honda Odyssey, Chrysler Pacifica, Toyota Sienna, and more. icescreen.com
4. Delk Polarshield
5. Mofeez Motorhome
6. NFL FrostGuard
7. EcoNour Premium All Season
8. SnowOff Smooth
9. Safe View Half Cover
10. MatCC Multi Season
Your Windshield Cover In Winter
In the past, that drive has been seen through a barely clean windshield that you scraped just enough to get out of the driveway on time.
It’s hard waking up on a cold winter’s morning. Your body heat has created a pleasant little cocoon of warmth that shatters the moment you move the covers too much. You make your way stiffly through your morning routine, warming up a bit in the shower, but freezing over again as soon as you have to get out. You can hear the frigid wind rattling the windows. Drafts sneak in from everywhere. It’s earlier than usual, because you knew it was going to snow, and that in order to get to work you’d have to do a bunch of extra chores just to get out of the house.
You bundle up: layers, thermals, thick socks, heavy coat, gloves, scarf, and hat. You grab your snow shovel and throw open the front door. On the first day of winter it was magical. A blanket of white brightly reflecting the distant sun. Now, the white’s gone grey, and everything just looks filthy and difficult.
You shovel a path to your car, knock enough snow off the driver’s side door to get it open and warm it up. You grab the windshield scraper out of the backseat. Then, you remember. You did something smart since the last snowstorm. You invested in a windshield cover. This time, when all that snow came tumbling down, it landed not on your car’s front glass, but on a durable layer of rip-stop fabric, probably nylon or polyester, definitely waterproof. You remember what the instructions said to do at this point, and you do it, carefully removing the cover just as they said you should. And, suddenly, your windshield is clear. No ice build up, no ten inches of snow, no work to be done.
At this moment, the rest of your morning doesn’t seem so daunting. You’re proud of yourself for the investment you made, and that pride carries you all the way through the rather dangerous drive to work. In the past, that drive has been seen through a barely clean windshield that you scraped just enough to get out of the driveway on time. Today, you can see the road as clearly as you would on a sunny spring morning. Heck, you can almost feel spring coming just around the corner. Winter’s not so bad after all. Not if you’ve got the right tools, anyway.
Your Windshield Cover In Summer
It’s terrifying how hot cars can get when left in the sun in summertime. Even with the windows cracked and a palpable breeze making its way through, that temperature seems to rise without end. It’s a significant hazard for anyone getting into the car, and an even bigger danger for any person or pet left inside for too long. But why does your car get so hot so fast, and what can you do about it?
It’s a significant hazard for anyone getting into the car, and an even bigger danger for any person or pet left inside for too long.
Well, as the sun beats down on your vehicle, its heat mostly enters your car through the glass of the windshield (and, if it’s tilted at the proper angle, the back window). That heat energy lives mostly in the visible spectrum, at least until is strikes something on the inside of your car, like a dashboard, carpet or seat.
It’s important to remember at this point that everything emits some amount of heat radiation, but most of that radiation exists on the infrared spectrum, so we can’t see it with the naked eye the way we can see visible light rays. As the innards of your car absorb heat radiation in the visible spectrum from the sun, they begin to emit higher levels of heat radiation along the infrared spectrum. Two things happen next that drastically speed up the rate and intensity of the heating process.
First, the glass windows and windshield prevent that infrared heat from escaping. Second, the trace water vapor and CO2 in your vehicle absorb the ambient infrared energy, superheating the air inside the car. If this all sounds a little familiar, that’s because the same technique of using glass to trap heat radiation has been used by greenhouses for centuries.
When you employ a windshield cover in the hot months, you effectively block out the majority of the sunlight that would otherwise have made its way into the car. If there’s no sunlight to heat the seats and other internal components, then there’s no infrared radiation to superheat the air either, and the inside of your vehicle will stay much safer, and much more comfortable.
Why Bother With A Dedicated Windshield Cover
You may be wondering why you can’t just grab a tarp and a couple of bungee cords and save yourself the trouble of investing in a dedicated windshield cover in the first place, and you wouldn’t be totally foolish for thinking that. At their core, these devices are little more than durable, waterproof covers that can prevent sunlight from passing through the glass of your windshield or snow and ice from accumulating on the outside of it.
As a result, they stand to do a better job protecting your vehicle from the elements, as well as from themselves.
But there is some folly in employing such a crude facsimile of a device on your car. That’s because the windshield covers on our list are purpose built, meaning that they’ve been created to do this specific job. As a result, they stand to do a better job protecting your vehicle from the elements, as well as from themselves.
Let’s say you went with the tarp approach. Well, tarps are usually basic rectangles, which means that there’s going to be some overhang that’s susceptible to the wind. At best, this will allow a little light snow or ice to accumulate, but at worst, it could cause the tarp to fly off, negating its positive effects immediately. A good windshield cover provides an exceptional fit, ensuring that it will sit tight against the glass no matter the conditions.
Tarps also have grommets around their borders that you would use to attach those bungee cords. The problem here is that both of those are metal elements that can scratch your paint or damage the windshield itself. A dedicated windshield cover attaches much more gently, without utilizing anything that could harm your car.
Karen Bennett lives in Chicago with her family, and when she’s not writing, she can usually be found practicing yoga or cheering on her kids at soccer games. She holds a master’s degree in journalism and a bachelor’s in English, and her writing has been published in various local newspapers, as well as “The Cheat Sheet,” “Illinois Legal Times,” and “USA Today.” She has also written search engine news page headlines and worked as a product manager for a digital marketing company. Her expertise is in literature, nonfiction, textbooks, home products, kids' games and toys, hardware, teaching accessories, and art materials.