Popular TikTok creator Jordan Howlett (@jordan_the_stallion8) is back with yet another life hack, this time about the correct way to defrost your car’s frozen windshield.
Arctic freezes and snowstorms threatening to break low-temperature records are currently underway across the entire country, leaving Americans under a windchill warning for dangerous cold and wind. And with freezing temperatures comes the potential for damage to your car, if you’re not careful.
That’s where Jordan’s hack comes in. In a TikTok video that has received 2.1 million views after just 24 hours of being on the platform, Jordan offers his advice on how to defrost a car window.
The creator stitches his own video with another from TikTok account Specere (@specere), which had posted a clip on Nov. 11, 2023, where they suggest pouring hot water over a windshield in order to defrost it. However, a number of viewers in the comments pointed out that using boiling water is a surefire way to shatter the windshield.
Jordan reiterates this in his own video, explaining, “When you put hot water on a frozen windshield, it will shatter immediately.” He follows his claim up with a story from his own childhood.
Jordan says that as a child he was fascinated by the way a car windshield would freeze overnight and just like TikToker Specere, he thought that pouring hot water over the glass was the solution.
“So I tried this out on my neighbors car,” Jordan says, before adding that the car was, “a brand new Mercedes [the neighbor] had just got.”
The creator says he filled up his insulated water bottle with hot water and proceeded to pour it over the windshield, only to watch it shatter immediately. Undeterred and thinking this was just a coincidence, the young man tried to defrost two more windows on the same car, only to have them break just as the windshield had done.
“That’s when I figured out it was the hot water. I panicked and left,” he says.
Unfortunately for little Jordan, he left his water bottle marked “Property of Jordan” at the scene of the crime and was caught. He adds that he also learned about paying bills that winter as he had to make monthly payments to his neighbor for the repairs.
The creator helpfully adds at the end of the video, “If you wanna make a natural de-icer, just put cold water, isopropyl alcohol, and dish soap. That will make a natural de-icer that has a lower freezing point than water. Spray it overnight, and it should help by making your windows not freeze over.”
@jordan_the_stallion8 #stitch with @Specere #fypシ ♬ original sound – Jordan_The_Stallion8
Viewers were highly amused by Jordan’s anecdote.
One commenter wrote, “That’s quite the introduction into the adult world,” while another quipped, “Not the Mercedes & property of Jordan,” along with several laughing emoji.
Others provided the science behind what happens when trying to defrost a windshield with hot water and having it break. “Thermal expansion. Most things expand when heated. When the expansion happens too quickly it causes the shattering,” wrote one helpful viewer.
Someone else even suggested an alternative method to Jordan’s, writing, “1 PART WATER + 1 PART VINEGAR + SPRAY BOTTLE = NO MORE ICE. You can use this on your windshield & your handles.”
The Daily Dot reached out to Jordan via email for further comment.
