Melt Down - A great frost and light ice remover

Just in time for winter, Melt Down is our new Aussie made ice remover that uses a concentrated alcohol formula with no harmful methanol, strong solvents or salts, but still works a bloody treat on melting frost and light ice. 
We extensively tested it to be safe on paint, chrome, rubber, mirrors, plastic and plastic/ polycarbonate or glass headlights and leave a nice streak free finish on glass. And also make sure it did not refreeze after you use it too!  

The testing and development

We began the development of this product in the early winter months of 2017, after Eileen from AutObarn Echuca messaged me and said she really needed a good de-icer for their customers. A quick call to our chemists confirmed they could make a really good one - so we began the journey! The irony of us living in sub-tropical Queensland and making / developing a de-icing product in a place that never even drops below zero was obviously there!! 

We did a lot of the initial testing all here in Qld, by making sure it was going to be very safe on all different areas of our cars, then we did our ice tests in a local restaurants walk in freezer! Once we were happy it worked great, we sent the formula for some real cold testing to the depths of the cold south with the help from our friends in Wagga, Bathurst, Mt Bulla and of course AutObarn in Echuca!

A couple of different formulas were tested over the space of the winter and one came back as the winner - Melt Down was born. However, by the time testing was done, so was winter, so we've been patiently sitting on this formula for at least 6 months before releasing it now! 

So how does it work?

Melt Down uses multiple pharmaceutical grade alcohols (no you cannot drink it, even in "emergencies") that were chosen by our chemists for their ice melting abilities. Now, these multiple alcohols are very concentrated and have a lot lower melting point than water, so when you spray it onto the ice, the diluting effect of the ice and concentrated alcohol mixing produces a little bit of heat, which speeds up the ices melting process. Then the alcohol and water start to dissolve and blend together, lowering the ices melting point which also prevents it from re-freezing. It's a pretty cool bit of chemistry; literally! 

How do you use it?

To use it, simply spray quite generously onto the frost or light ice, then sit back and watch as it slowly melts it all away. Once the ice has melted (between 1 to 5 minutes depending how cold or severe it is) you can use the wipers or even an ice scraper to clean up any residue. On the windscreen, we love how it leaves a lovely, streak free finish.

Things we have found in the testing; if you have heavier snow, you need to remove the snow from the surface first, then spray onto the ice on the bottom. Also, the colder it is, the slower it works, so spray a little more product if needed, but it always melts away the ice.

Best thing is it does not refreeze! We have tested it in -20 degrees in a food freezer (in our video above here) and with the lowest ever Aussie temp recorded being -23 degrees in the snowy mountains, it's more than ready for the coldest local conditions and our chemists tell us it will still work it colder temperatures more than double that too! 

So I hope those poor buggers living in the colder parts of Australia love this new home grown formula - we put a little bit of Qld warmth into every single bottle. 

It's available at many AutObarn stores and others who sell our car care by special ordering it in with part code: BOMELT. 

If you have any questions, please email info@bowdensown.com.au or FREECALL our office on 1800 351 308.

Winter is coming! Embrace the cold,
Dan Bowden