Windshield washer fluid/antifreeze?

[SameGuy]

It’s that time of year…

Snowbelt SE owners: what windshield washer fluid do you use? I’ve bought the Costco -40° stuff for what seems like decades, often adding a surfactant like Optimum No Rinse to it (1 oz per gallon), but the MINI manual says that the fluid should contain no additives with silicone, which most premixes include these days. I could pick up the concentrate at the dealership, but at a concentration good down to possible winter temperatures here (-6°F happens in December, but not often, which would be 1:1), it becomes pretty expensive by the gallon when the Costco stuff is $10 for four gallons. For January it would be even worse, needing a 3:2 mix to be adequate down to -25°F.

Do I have other choices?

 

[Lainey]

Call me crazy, I juet use whatever my dealership tops off with. In all my years of living in the midwest I haven't done anything special. It usually does not regularly get below ‐15F or -20F here. My first year owning this car it was -15F the first few weeks I owned it. Never thought to swap out when I had no issues.

 

[teslarati97]

Blue stuff is generally okay but I like the little 1 pint BMW concentrate and water at 50/50. (can adjust concentration as well..1 part concentrate to 3 parts water is like for ~2F).

 

[SameGuy]

I’ll pull out my Mr Wizard Junior Titration Kit and mix dynamically all season… except I don’t actually go through that much windshield juice — I haven’t added any since taking delivery four months ago. Last winter I think between both cars I used maybe five gallons (both of us commuting five or six days a week plus shopping and the usual extracurricular stuff).

 

[Puppethead]

Mark me down as "whatever the dealer uses" as well, although now that my SE is beyond the service period I'll have to actually think about it since I won't be going in for regular oil changes. But even at -30 ºF I've rarely had an issue with washer fluid freezing on the windshield.

Antifreeze (the stuff for radiators) is the only fluid I ever worried about for cold weather. It's important to have the right kind in hot weather too, needing to have a higher boiling point than water. But this is another thing no longer needed with the SE.

 

[teslarati97]

Mark me down as "whatever the dealer uses" as well, although now that my SE is beyond the service period I'll have to actually think about it since I won't be going in for regular oil changes. But even at -30 ºF I've rarely had an issue with washer fluid freezing on the windshield.

Antifreeze (the stuff for radiators) is the only fluid I ever worried about for cold weather. It's important to have the right kind in hot weather too, needing to have a higher boiling point than water. But this is another thing no longer needed with the SE.

You still need the water/glycol for the engine and battery cooling. I know Hyundai Kona EV owners are now experiencing the 35,000+ mile low-conductivity coolant change. Should be less of an issue for the MINI because the batteries don't run as hot as the high-nickel Korean chemistries.

 

[SameGuy]

Ok, well… ordering 12 pints off Amazon is cheaper than driving into midtown to the dealership (or even the closer BMW-only store) and buying pints one or two at a time. Maybe I will hold off until they call me to tell me that my stupid shutters are in and I’ll have them top it up while doing the repair.

 

[Puppethead]

You still need the water/glycol for the engine and battery cooling.

That's not something that needs regular topping off in the SE, though. It's a closed system. I'm sure it's something that's checked during the 2-year maintenance schedule.

 

[SameGuy]

As alluded to in another thread, I ordered a case of 12 pints of the BMW winter windshield washer fluid concentrate from Amazon. With tax, it works out to around CA$7 a pint (~US$5) compared to CA$17.99 (~US$13) at the dealership (I checked today). Kind of a no-brainer.

 

[teslarati97]

As alluded to in another thread, I ordered a case of 12 pints of the BMW winter windshield washer fluid concentrate from Amazon. With tax, it works out to around CA$7 a pint (~US$5) compared to CA$17.99 (~US$13) at the dealership (I checked today). Kind of a no-brainer.

With tax and shipping it is worthwhile! Anywhere in the $4-$5USD/pint is considered good.

It's actually the same washer fluid as summer but you can adjust the concentrations for summer and winter. A 1 part concentrate to 1.5 parts water will get you to about -25F (-31.7C).

You probably can get away with 1:2 for probably -8F (-22.2C). Anything above 32F or 0C is like 1:80! If you weigh out the entire pint first, you can mix by mass instead of fl. oz.

 

[MrSnrub]

Ok, well… ordering 12 pints off Amazon is cheaper than driving into midtown to the dealership (or even the closer BMW-only store) and buying pints one or two at a time. Maybe I will hold off until they call me to tell me that my stupid shutters are in and I’ll have them top it up while doing the repair.

Link?

 

[SameGuy]

Amazon dot com

I paid $58.42 with Prime including NY sales tax (8%).

 

[teslarati97]

Amazon dot com

I paid $58.42 with Prime including NY sales tax (8%).

I don't think they ship to Canada, you will have to send it to somewhere like Burlington, Vermont at an Amazon pickup/locker and take a roadtrip.

 

[SameGuy]

A 1 part concentrate to 1.5 parts water will get you to about -25F (-31.7C).

You probably can get away with 1:2 for probably -8F (-22.2C). Anything above 32F or 0C is like 1:80!

Contrary to what many (most?) Montrealers like to brag about (“It goes to 40 below!!”), it rarely goes into the -20s (°C) here for extended periods, and almost never into the -30s (our all-time record is -37.8°C, set 65 years ago). For example, our lowest daily high this year was -19.1°C (-2.4°F) in mid-January.

I’ll gamble with the 1:2 mix until a polar vortex settles in.

 

[SameGuy]

I don't think they ship to Canada, you will have to send it to somewhere like Burlington, Vermont at an Amazon pickup/locker and take a roadtrip.

Yeah, Way Upstate New York is where most Canadians get their Amazon stuff. I’ve dealt with three or four package handling companies over the last 30 years, but I’ve stuck with one main one just 3 miles from the border since the late 90s.

During the border closures, I had the unique experience of visiting the “Halfway House,” a former pub straddling the frontier itself that had to change its vocation with the tightening of security after 9/11. With entrances to the building on both sides of the border, as long as one didn’t use the wrong door, one didn’t actually leave Canada or enter the US, and could turn around and proceed through Canadian customs to declare the legally-imported purchases.

Alas, the last time I went there was just before the border opened up early this year, when I found out that the 88 year old quebecois owner of the house, who ran this little gold mine full time, had recently passed. His American son-in-law was minding the store temporarily, sharing duties with the rest of the family while they figured out how to run it — they all have full time jobs and lives further across in NY and usually only helped with the web site and bookkeeping.

The place has a really interesting history, with an archive of photos from the 60s and 70s when people from both sides of the border would dock their motor boats and party on the deck and in the bar. It was a haven for American teens taking advantage of Quebec’s lax liquor laws and late closing hours. The pool table is still there amongst all the shelves and boxes And packages! There’s a line running across the floor of the main room indicating which side of the border is which. Just a really cool (and sadly, really run-down) place.

 

[GetOffYourGas]

I went to college at Clarkson in Potsdam NY and I had never heard of this place. I was in college on 9/11 so it wouldn’t have been shut down yet. And I was just their target age. Man I feel like this was a golden opportunity missed!!


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[MrSnrub]

Contrary to what many (most?) Montrealers like to brag about (“It goes to 40 below!!”), it rarely goes into the -20s (°C) here for extended periods, and almost never into the -30s (our all-time record is -37.8°C, set 65 years ago). For example, our lowest daily high this year was -19.1°C (-2.4°F) in mid-January.

I’ll gamble with the 1:2 mix until a polar vortex settles in.

And if it does get crazy cold it’s for a week or two at most.

 

[sacharama]

Is the content of the mini brand or BMW brand one at the dealership different than the ones that you can get at various auto parts store?

Is there any difference between the mini brand one and the BMW brand one?

To my surprise, various dealership said they don't use or stock the mini brand one as they just use generic one.

 

[MrSnrub]

Is the content of the mini brand or BMW brand one at the dealership different than the ones that you can get at various auto parts store?

Is there any difference between the mini brand one and the BMW brand one?

To my surprise, various dealership said they don't use or stock the mini brand one as they just use generic one.

Dealers buy it in bulk and it’s kept in a 1000l tank that gets refilled. Could be pumped to each bay or filled into another container. This is how we had it when I worked at a dealer. The branded stuff at the counter might be a little better than the stuff you get for 1.97$ at Walmart. I remember at the time the VW/Audi stuff was really good.

the local bmw dealers a jug for around 4.50$ cdn which is on par with similar premium screen washes. Likely Made by Reccochem

Similar the OEM branded car cleaning products are good as well. They were made by Sonax for BMW Group.

 

[SameGuy]

Dealers buy it in bulk and it’s kept in a 1000l tank that gets refilled. Could be pumped to each bay or filled into another container. This is how we had it when I worked at a dealer. The branded stuff at the counter might be a little better than the stuff you get for 1.97$ at Walmart. I remember at the time the VW/Audi stuff was really good.

the local bmw dealers a jug for around 4.50$ cdn which is on par with similar premium screen washes. Likely Made by Reccochem

Similar the OEM branded car cleaning products are good as well. They were made by Sonax for BMW Group.

Went by BMW West Island at 2:50 pm and it was… closed?