Digging the car out of ice

[nanette1985]

My son's car was parked on the street for several days during the ice and snow, and now the tires are surrounded by about 10 inches of frozen stuff. My thought is to just leave it until spring to thaw, but I guess we have to get it out somehow.

I assume we'll need a tow truck - any other ideas? He's a poor college student and I'm the even poorer mother of college students.

Thanks.

 

[Demon-Xanth]

Get a hammer and chisel, be patient, be careful, take breaks to warm up from time to time.

 

[Demon-Xanth]

...and pour some alcohol (ie: isopropyl) to loosen up the tread once you get the area around it clear.

 

[Jahee]

Originally posted by: princess ida
My son's car was parked on the street for several days during the ice and snow, and now the tires are surrounded by about 10 inches of frozen stuff. My thought is to just leave it until spring to thaw, but I guess we have to get it out somehow.

I assume we'll need a tow truck - any other ideas? He's a poor college student and I'm the even poorer mother of college students.

Thanks.

Lol i'm sure you'd be popular after that!

 

[Gibson486]

This happened to me when I first moved to boston. I left my car outside during a snow emergancy. When I went to go get my car the next day, the whole car was covered. I could not find it at first. Appearently, some people throught it was a snow bank and they kept piling snow on my car. It end up being a 4.5 foot hill. It took me a whole day to get my car out. You just have dig, dig and dig more.

 

[Savij]

Get a metal pick and shovel. It shouldn't take you more than a few hours.

 

[nanette1985]

Thanks, all. I used the metal ice chipper and just did a little at a time all day long. I was hoping that the sun would come out or it would warm up, but no luck. I finally chipped away enough to release the tires and give it a little distance for movement, and after a bit of rocking back and forth WOOHOO out it came.

That alcohol thing was great.

This was solid ice. I notice that a lot of other cars are similarly immobile.

Thank you.

 

[Black88GTA]

I've used the "two 5-gallon buckets of extremely hot water poured slowly around the wheels" method with great success many times in these situations

Just don't attempt to de-ice your windows with it.

 

[jagec]

Originally posted by: Black88GTA
I've used the "two 5-gallon buckets of extremely hot water poured slowly around the wheels" method with great success many times in these situations

Just don't attempt to de-ice your windows with it.

Probably the cheapest and most effective method for the least amount of money. Of course, all that water will freeze right up once you're gone, but that area was all icy already.