Spring has sprung in Chicago, and that means a lot of things: Warmer weather, longer days, beautiful flowers blooming everywhere you look. But it also means the resurgence of our little six-legged friends—insects. Along with the rest of nature, bugs come out in big numbers when winter turns into spring. They’re annoying, they’re abundant, and they have an adverse effect on your car’s exterior. The place that gets it the worst? You guessed it—your windshield. Bug splatter not only makes your car look bad, it can hinder your visibility! Below are our tips for getting the bugs off your windshield and hood and keeping them off.

Apply Baby Oil

This is an old-school DIY trick. Non-stick baby oil applied lightly to the exterior of the car including the windshield is a great way to make clean up a breeze. It won’t do a lot to repel insects or deflect them, it makes scrubbing them off the glass a whole lot easier.

Wax On

One of the absolute best ways to deflect bugs while you’re driving is to apply a fresh coat of wax to your vehicle. Granted, this is more for the hood and the grill than the windshield, but it’s a good tip nevertheless. For the best protection, we’d recommend applying wax about every two weeks.

Bug Deflector

Believe it or not, there are shields you can buy that help deflect insects away from your hood and windshield. How does this work? Contrary to what you might immediately envision when you hear the word “shield”, these are not giant plexiglass plates that block your vehicle’s hood and windshield. Instead, this is a thin strip that affixes to the grill of your car. The deflector redirects airflow so that instead of bugs getting swept into the airstream that surrounds your vehicle while barreling down the road, they are diverted up and over the vehicle.