Primary Navigation Mobile

The best products for winter driving

  • Winter poses a new array of challenges for drivers
  • Make sure your car is ship shape and healthy
  • The essential kit you'll need for safe winter driving

Written by Ryan Gilmore Updated: 4 April 2024

What are the best car products for winter driving available? The winter months throw additional challenges at us when driving. Roads become slippery, daylight is limited and the temperature drops. Driving becomes more difficult in these situations, and as such, there are products, including travel torches, that you will need in order to master driving on those cold winter journeys.

Tackling issues from your windscreen frosting over each morning to finding grip on your tyres is the epitome of winter driving. From finding the best de-icer products to dehumidifiers, winter brings all sorts of challenges.

The key thing to remember with car products for winter driving is to be prepared. Tyres, for example, should be regularly inspected to make sure they are at the correct pressure, as found in your vehicle’s handbook. If not correctly looked after they will not be as effective, and therefore, they will not as well on slippery roads. Though not as essential as good old ice scrapers, you may want to consider installing winter tyres because they have a higher performance in cold conditions than standard tyres.

Best car products for winter driving at a glance:

Editor’s pick: Swedish Ice Scraper – Buy from Amazon.
The best snow chains: Konig CB-12 Snow Chains – Buy from Amazon.
The best snow shovel: AA Emergency Snow Shovel – Buy from Amazon.

It’s more common for car batteries to fail during the winter months, so having a battery booster or battery charger will ensure that you never have to beg your neighbours for a jump start and end up late for work. You should also ensure that you have enough supplies to keep yourself safe from the elements and that you adjust your driving style to ensure that you are as safe as you can be and are able to avoid hurting yourself and others.

The best car products for winter driving

We're starting with a small but important tool for winter motoring. A good ice scraper will limit the use of toxic de-icers and make clearing an icy windscreen effortless.

We're huge fans of the Swedish Ice Scraper for its excellent quality, comfortable handle and ability to remove both thick and thin ice from glass. Each side is diamond polished for ice removal, with one side bearing a little indent for clearing windscreen wipers.

Pros

  • Perfect for winter
  • Built to last

Cons

  • Longer delivery times
  • Price
    4.0
  • Features
    5.0
  • Performance
    5.0
  • Build
    5.0
  • Overall
    5.0
  • Tested by Ryan Gilmore "Every single aspect of this ice scraper has a real ergonomic, tactile feel to it. From the laser-etched acrylic blade to the neoprene handle that stops my hands from freezing solid. No other ice scraper has felt this durable either, it cut through the worst winter could throw at it with ease."
The best torch to keep in your car

Rrp: $49.99

Price: $42.68
Alternative Retailers
Walmart
$42.68
Scheels
$59.99
A glovebox torch will be a sight for sore eyes during a breakdown in the inky darkness of winter. And this incredible option from NEBO is the one to have in such a nightmare-ish situation. Aside from the quality, the standout feature for motorists is that this will transform into a work light with a magnetic base for hands-free tinkering.

Pros

  • Excellent quality
  • Powerful beam

Cons

  • Not the smallest torch
The best battery charger
For a reliable way of maintaining your car battery and extending its life, look no further. The MXS 5.0 from Swedish company CTEK is as well made as it is simple to use. It's designed to recharge and recondition 12V lead-acid car batteries, the type fitted to the vast majority of cars. It's small for easy storage too, which is nice.

Pros

  • Keep your car battery working
  • Extends battery life

Cons

  • Not a jump starter
The best snow chains
Price: $94.95
Alternative Retailers
Lowe's
$109.95
Ideally, snow chains should be made to last and offer impeccable grip when things get breezy. Konig's CB-12s are both great value for money and are of a reputable standard.

As with any snow chain, you will need to move forward a few times to make sure they're fastened properly. But they should serve you well if you ever need to make a trip up some snowy mountains.

Pros

  • Good build quality
  • Great value

Cons

  • Very overkill for most of the UK
The best jump starter

Rrp: $124.95

Price: $99.95
Alternative Retailers
Walmart
$18.00
Blain Farm & Fleet
$89.99
Tractor Supply
$134.99
Like CTEK, NOCO is an industry leader in battery care. Its GB40 battery booster is safe and straightforward to use and will, therefore, have your petrol or diesel engine (up to six litres and three litres, respectively) started in no time. Simply follow the simple guide and connect the clamps to any 12V battery to revive it. It's small enough to fit in a glovebox and can act as a regular power bank too.

Pros

  • Restart dead batteries
  • Doubles as a power bank

Cons

  • Overkill for small engines
The best tyre inflator
Price: $45.53
Poorly inflated tyres will cost you more at the pumps and could even be dangerous in the wet. This tyre inflator from Ring Automotive is reliable, compact, and reasonably powerful. The included LED torch will prove so useful for a night-time flat, and the small size makes it a really handy device to keep in the car in the event of a flat.

Pros

  • Well-made
  • Compact design

Cons

  • Only good for tyres
The best rain repellent
This product is primarily for motorcycle usage - notably for cleaning the visor on helmets. However, the tech used can be perfectly effective for glass, including that found on your car's windscreen.

If you need a repellent that doubles as a cleaner that can do it on a wide range of translucent materials, this is your best pick.

Pros

  • Easy to apply
  • Effective cleaner as well

Cons

  • Could leave streaks
The best compact snow shovel
Price: $31.10
For the times you need it, it's a godsend; for the rest of the time, it folds away nice and small. At 24cm folded and 59cm unfolded, this small snow shovel clears snow and ice in no time, thanks to the addition of serrated edges. Definitely a tool you don't think you need until it's too late.

Pros

  • Well-made
  • Compact

Cons

  • Stubby handle
Our top choice for protecting the underside of your car comes from Bilt Hamber. It's a see-through wax that offers top-end protection without affecting how your car looks.

Being an aerosol-based product, it's incredibly easy to apply. You can use it on anything underneath your car, from subframes, wheel arches, chassis rails and much more.

Pros

  • Easy to apply
  • Offers ample protection

Cons

  • Won't cover the full extent of rust if it's severe
The best break down blanket
Wool is a brilliant fibre because it's durable, resistant to odours, breathable, and still keeps you warm even if it's damp. This particular woollen blanket is made from recycled British wool and is a useful 120cm x 150cm. If you find yourself stranded, a blanket like this will keep you nice and toasty.

Pros

  • Warm and cosy
  • Sustainably made

Cons

  • Style is subjective

What to consider with car products for winter driving:

It largely depends on where you’re based. If it snows heavily and you live in the north of Scotland, then your chances of needing a snow shovel and heavy-duty kit is probably quite high. More likely than if you gently cruise around central London. In that case, you could do with a glass squeegee. Snow chains are a hardcore option too. But not everybody needs it since the roads during the winter are generally well-cleared.

The next is how well your car behaves during a cold snap. If, for example, you’re running normal (summer tyres) and feel you’re not getting the best grip. Then upgrading to a set of all-weather tyres or winter tyres might be the solution for you. But if not, then we recommend you keep your tyre pressures and tread depths in good shape, and you should be okay. That is unless you’re in a rather extreme situation where you’ll need a set of snow chains.

Lastly, it’s good practice to keep your engine clean with either diesel or petrol injector cleaners. They help clear up carbon deposits that build over time. Ensuring your engine is clean will mean an easier cold start-up when the temperature gets really breezy. This makes the stuff even more essential than snow socks. A dirty engine combined with cold weather doesn’t go together all that well.

Ryan Gilmore is the Deputy Autos and Tools Editor for Parkers, specialising in car cleaning and hand tools. A veteran car cleaner; if it details, waxes or washes he’ll be on hand to make sure it’s worth your money.

Sign up to the Parkers Newsletter to keep up to date with more of the latest reviews, news, and recommendations from the Parkers team.

Just so you know, whilst we may receive a commission or other compensation from the links on this page, we never allow this to influence product selections – read why you should trust us