By Kamil Kaluski
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?
Jeff Glucker
I throw on snow tires, but that’s about it. It’s nearly impossible to not be within walking distance of a Tim Horton’s, so if anything happens to me, it’s my own fault.
No. https://media3.giphy.com/media/fGuqeA6PiXINa/giphy.gif
You should. Just watch this in your car, and it will be Winterized.
:finger:
Yep, no need here either.
I throw on snow tires, but that’s about it. It’s nearly impossible to not be within walking distance of a Tim Horton’s, so if anything happens to me, it’s my own fault.
The SS gets a good wash/wax and the snow tires get put on – aaaaand then it sits in the garage until spring
The GTX gets the battery pulled, sun visors tipped down, a box of dryer sheets unloaded, and the cover put on
The pickup gets nuthin’ – it’s ‘winterized’ all year long
The Jeep gets a good wash/wax. Last year (it’s first winter) I tried something different (for me at least) – after a great hosing down of everything underneath, I sprayed everything with this stuff https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81WxF2JRERL._SL1500_.jpg
I’m sold – no surface rust on ANYTHING. I’ll do it again this fall.
Wash, wax, put on a battery tender, and cover up the SS for the winter plus get some money back from the insurance company since it will be in storage. Winter tires for my Volt and my wife’s car once snow is in the forecast. Sometime before that get the garage heater and coveralls out of the attic and wake up the snowblower. Then wait for spring or at least decent snow for the winter to have fun in. Last few have just been mostly just cold and slushy.
I’ll get the Hakkapeliittas thrown on before the snow flies, and based on the struggles it had during last winter’s cold snap, I should replace the battery. This season, I should also do the brakes; the rears are grabbing a bit, and I don’t want that to happen on slick roads. I should waxoil the undercarriage, but I probably won’t. Rain X on the windows. It doesn’t stop them from frosting, but I have convinced myself that it makes them easier to scrape.
Just the usual waxing, silicone on all rubber round doors etc., fresh “cleaning oil” in all locks (even though the price suggest it might be snake oil) and in mid-October it’s time for winter tires. Since we live right next to the fjord, which balances temperatures, we don’t have knee deep snow here, usually. But we have black ice, often more or less constantly. So I swear by studs. But the new-to-us EV is the first car I’ll try with studless M+S winter tires, and I’m quite excited to see how that works out. Especially with the instant torque. I’m also done with taking care of all visible rust on the cars. We mostly drive on a main road that has “black road status”, meaning the road authorities have an ambition to keep it ice-free at all times. That translates to insane amounts of road salt. I have learned from earlier mistakes that Japanese sheet metal has no wiggle room for even the slightest hint of rust through such conditions…
Considering it’s still 95 degrees here, I’m starting to think that summer is never going to end.
But no, I don’t winterize any of our vehicles beyond throwing the bike on the battery tender.
I put on snow tires, take off the bike rack, buy a Sno Park pass, top up the washer fluid with winter formula and put a shovel in the trunk. This year I may get some cheap ski carriers and swap them for the kayak mounts instead of folding down the back seats to carry skis.
The combination of mandatory traction tires or chains in the mountain passes and real life experience of snow and black ice in my neighborhoodmakes good tires a smart investment.
If it is supposed to get below 20F I might check the antifreeze. If it snows I stay home and wait for it to melt, usually gone by 2pm.
No. Central Ohio has a temperate climate, and I drive year-round, so I don’t do anything special for any season. On my cars, maintenance happens based on usage, not temperature.
The SS gets a good wash/wax and the snow tires get put on – aaaaand then it sits in the garage until spring
The GTX gets the battery pulled, sun visors tipped down, a box of dryer sheets unloaded, and the cover put on
The pickup gets nuthin’ – it’s ‘winterized’ all year long
The Jeep gets a good wash/wax. Last year (it’s first winter) I tried something different (for me at least) – after a great hosing down of everything underneath, I sprayed everything with this stuff https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81WxF2JRERL._SL1500_.jpg
I’m sold – no surface rust on ANYTHING. I’ll do it again this fall.
I need to hurricane-ize my vehicles.
Another flood day in Houston will have me browsing for LMTV’s.
Stay safe down there.
Thanks, I think we’re pretty guilty of building in a lot of marginal places over the past couple of decades. My place is fine, but this is the swamp, no getting around it.
I would advise buying one of these, and parking on the porch. It seems to be a frequent occurrence now, unfortunately… http://marinetek.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/marinetek-floating-solutions-floating-houses-reposaari-village-finland.jpg
Making all homes have a hull and the ability to rise on piers like a floating dock sounds like a decent building code idea at this point.
Yes. Winter wheels with snow tires, ice scraper/snow brush, winter version of windscreen liquid. And this year’s special, new glow plugs for Audi, only tenner a piece so manageable. Also, as this car has frameless doors I need to use something so windows wouldn’t froze to seals as they have this function were they open 2 mm every time someone opens the door.