Best car screen wash 2026
These eight washes aim to keep your windscreen clean, but which of them is our clear test winner?
When you get a warning light on the dashboard or are suddenly faced with a dribble as you operate the windscreen washers, you know it is time to top up the screen wash reservoir.
Many drivers just pour in whatever is on the shelf at a service station or top up with water, but there is a real difference between a fluid’s cleaning ability and its resistance to freezing in winter.
A smeared windscreen is a safety issue, so it makes sense to buy the best wash you can and keeping a bottle in the car’s boot. It usually works out cheaper than buying at a garage or main dealer.
To stretch them further, some fluids can be mixed with water in summer to make them more economical or left undiluted in winter to ensure they keep flowing in the coldest weather. Which of the eight is our clear winner?
How we tested them
We expect fluids to be useful all year round, so put the screen wash at the suggested winter concentration in a syringe and placed it is a freezer, checking if they were still flowing at one, two and three hours at -15 degrees Centigrade.
We took another sample mixed to the summer ratios and tested it on our windscreen to check how it shifted simulated bird droppings, insect remains and grease smears after a 10-second wash/wipe. We then took into account value before tallying up the final score.
Best screenwash
Keep reading to discover the best screenwash to cut through the grime…
Prestone Extreme Performance Concentrated Screen Wash
- Price: around £4.75
- Size: 2,500ml
- Rating: 5 stars
- Contact: tesco.com
Used - available now
2024 Toyota
Yaris Cross
13,901 milesAutomaticPetrol1.5L
Cash £24,490
2017 Toyota
Yaris
39,642 milesAutomaticPetrol1.5L
Cash £12,873It’s another win for Prestone, which still blitzes the dirt and resists freezing better than any of its rivals – at a very reasonable cost. Used neat it remained fluid in the deep freeze, which means that it will be able to act as a de-icer on cold mornings. As a 2.5-litre bottle is under a fiver, using it undiluted won’t break the bank either.
In summer it can be diluted at up to 1:19 to make it even better value for money – it could make 50 litres from one bottle. We tried it at 1:4 and it cleared our debris and grime easily.
Autoglym Ultimate Screenwash 500ml
- Price: around £7
- Size: 500ml
- Rating: 4.5 stars
- Contact: autoglym.com
If you want to keep a bottle in your boot so you can top up whenever you need, then Autoglym Ultimate Screenwash would be our top choice.
The company claims that the product will resist freezing down to -45 degrees Centigrade if it’s used neat, but even at the suggested 1:4 ratio it was still fluid and squirting after two hours in our freezer.
Autoglym suggests an ‘Optimum Clean’ dilution of 1:9, and even at this ratio the screenwash did a good job in the cleaning test. This mix means it offers acceptable value for money too.
Tesco Concentrated Screenwash
- Price: around £4.00
- Size: 2,500ml
- Rating: 4 stars
- Contact: tesco.com
It’s not as cheap as the fluids from its supermarket rivals, but the Tesco own-brand Screenwash can be diluted 1:4 in summer to spread the cost. Left neat it claims to give protection down to -10 degrees and it stayed liquid in our freezer for three hours before starting to go slushy.
At a 50:50 mix it shifted almost all the bug and nearly cleared the grease. But we’d still pick the Prestone, because it performs better, even when diluted more with water.
Asda all-seasons screenwash
- Price: around £4.00
- Size: 5,000ml
- Rating: 4 stars
- Contact: asda.com
Although it’s not quite the cheapest in this test, the Asda all-seasons is arguably the best value. It is less than £4 for five litres, and it can be diluted 1:3 if you don’t expect freezing conditions.
It protects down to a claimed -2 degrees when used undiluted, and it stayed liquid in the freezer for an hour before freezing. It was good at cleaning even when diluted, moving the bird dropping and only struggling on the grease.
Halfords Berry Scented Screenwash
- Price: around £8.00
- Size: 5,000ml
- Rating:3.5 stars
- Contact: halfords.com
There is a bewildering array of screenwash choice on Halfords’ shelves, but for this test we chose its own-brand all-rounder with claimed protection down to -10 degrees and an aroma which smells like a soft drink.
It stayed fluid for the first hour in the freezer, but was slushy after two and solid by hour three. Its cleaning performance was impressive, vanquishing the grease and most of the bug. But its supermarket rivals do a similar job for less.
CarPlan Demon Freeze
- Price: around £7.00
- Size: 2,500ml
- Rating: 3 stars
- Contact: mymotorworld.com
As the name suggests, the Demon Freeze is designed to work well in the winter. We tried it at the suggested 1:1 dilution to give protection down to -10 degrees and it was still ice-free after two hours in the freezer and only showed signs of going slushy at the three- hour mark.
Demon Freeze did a reasonable job of cleaning the grease at this ratio, but struggled with the bug. It can be diluted further in warmer weather, but rival fluids are still better value.
Ride & Go Cherry Scented Screenwash
- Price: around £3.00
- Size: 5,000ml
- Rating: 3 stars
- Contact: aldi.co.uk
Ride & Go is the cheapest wash we could find, because it can be found in Aldi at just £2.99 for a full five litres. The only alternative which would cost less is water straight from the tap. It doesn’t make any claims to give winter protection, and unsurprisingly froze after just an hour.
The cherry scent smells sickly when you are filling your reservoir, but is more subtle when you are inside the car. It left traces of both the grease and bug in the cleaning test, though.
Infinity Wax Screen Wash
- Price: around £5.70
- Size: 500ml
- Rating: 2.5 stars
- Contact: mymotorworld.com
The instructions suggest a 1:10 mix for general use or 1:5 for -15 degrees, yet it quickly solidified in our freezer, even at the more concentrated dilution. It cleared the bug reasonably well, but made almost no difference to the grease. High cost also counted against it.
Verdict
It’s another win for Prestone, which gets the blend of freeze resistance and cleaning just right, at a reasonable cost. Autoglym is second and works well when diluted, but the cost means it is best as a back-up. Tesco takes third place with a good combination of value and all-round performance.
- Prestone Extreme Performance Concentrated Screen Wash
- Autoglym Ultimate Screenwash 500ml
- Tesco Concentrated Screenwash
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