It’s that time of the year when the first chills run through your body and you decide that it’s time to pull that old hoodie out of the deep confines of the closet. Your car feels it too, and may show it by illuminating the tire pressure light. The heated air coming out of the vents feels weird. For some reason things squeak and rattle more. It’s not even October but winter is coming.
In my attempts of avoiding the autumn blues, and red and oranges, I started looking forward to the ski season. For the first time, this year we decided to rent a little cottage for the season in New Hampshire, roughly a two-hour drive from home. It’s good and bad, as now we have no excuse not to go away every weekend. I even feel forced to do so as I want to get my money’s worth out of the house. That means I need a car that’s ready for it.
I looked around the 4Runner.
- It needs an oil change and a transmission fluid change. Easy, but requires an appointment and a few hours (I don’t have a driveway).
- The BFG KO2 tires are good but perhaps should be rotated.
- Brakes, I gotta check the brakes.
- I think the exhaust may have a rust hole in it.
- But instead of doing all that I ordered a new set of speakers.
- I still have the Hella horns I bought over a year ago that need installing.
- I got a new phone/GPS mount, too. It’s important to be hands-free!
- I should replace the shocks, if I’m gonna be all OCD.
- Two of the bolts that secure the OEM cross-bars to the rack rack rails seemed to have back themselves out. I replaced those.
- I got LED bulbs for the fog-lights to match the headlights.
- I swapped out engine and cabin air filers, so there’s that.
- I’ve been meaning to do an oil-based undercoating for years.
- Seats are gross, damn kids, I should shampoo them while it’s still warm out.
- And I did give it a good bath.
Do you winterize your car?
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