De-icing

Flyers,

I went to fly on Thursday and low and behold my baby was covered with a half
inch of snow and ice. I could brush off the top 1/4 inch of snow, but the
bottom 1/4 inch was ice that was welded to the airframe.

I remembered that an instructor told me back in my primary training, that
you could de-ice a plane with properly diluted anti-freeze bought at an auto
supply and sprayed on with a garden sprayer.

When I asked my A&P he said that "...people use all kinds of crap, but he
didn't recommend any of it because it was bad for the plane. He said it
could eat the paint and ruin rubber. He said even the de-icer that they
make for airplanes is bad for the plane and that he'd never put that "$hit"
on his plane.

Now I'm scared to de-ice my plane. This is all new to me as this is our
first winter out of our hangar. The owner raised the rent in the spring and
we raised our middle finger in defiance. (BTW, I'm going to start a new
thread on this hangar issue...it will be called "What would you pay?")

So how to you all de-ice your planes and are my mechanic's fear justified on
the use of auto anti-freeze?

Kobra