Some of these Wrenching Wednesdays will be a chance for us, the writers of this fine site, to share our infinite wisdom with you. Other times, we’ll just have open threads to hear your problems and see if we can assist as a community. Today, I’m quite curious to hear what everyone here does to get their cars ready for winter and why.
Growing up in Texas meant that winterizing a car mostly consisted of remembering not to pour hot water on a windshield on the rare occasions (about once every 36 months) we’d get a light freeze. It wasn’t uncommon to watch people discover the thermal limits of safety glass in real time.
Now I live in New York and the winters are extremely random. A few years ago, it felt like it snowed every Thursday and all the surfaces were covered with salt, grime, and dirty snow. Last year it only snowed heavily enough to sled one time and even that melted off by the afternoon.
[Editor’s Note: When I first moved from LA to NC, I seem to have forgotten a lot about the concept of “winter.” I had my big old RV, and neglected to “winterize” it, which in the RV world has to do more with plumbing for biological needs than mechanical automotive needs. As a result, the freezing water blew out my pipes, and I had to spend like $4,500 to fix it, which we thought was worth it, because we liked using the RV so much.
Then, like the second trip out with it. it stopped running. I tried to get it going for a few weeks, and now it’s sitting in my driveway, long immobile, Turning into more of a disused guest house than anything that could actually, you know, move. I’m an idiot. – JT]
For my Subaru, I’ve recently replaced the tires with newer CrossClimate 2s and I’ll give those a fresh rotation soon. I’ve also cleaned the car and given it a new coat of wax to help resist some salt, though I’ll surely have to do that again. The car is almost due for an oil change so I’ll take it to my mechanic to get everything updated. Finally, I’ll toss on some new wipers as the ones I have are a little mediocre.
The BMW? I’m not sure yet. It’s sitting on extremely worn all-seasons. It’s a Texas/California car so I’m hoping to not drive it as much. Also, I’ve got to fix the heater or I’m not going to survive.
Where do you live and what are you planning?
Massachusetts, so pretty much just making sure under-body panels aren’t falling off on the winter beater/camping van, and that it has a valid inspection sticker. Other than that, not much. I don’t change tires on vehicles because it’s not necessary in this area, so nothing really changes from season to season.
People actually prepare for foul weather?
Signed,
All of Texas
(I’ll probably restock on candles for the inevitable cold-weather power failure and buy a tarp to cover what’s left of my poor cactus. None of those are car things. I’m not getting my car out in the ice if I don’t have to, that’s for damn sure.)
I turn the HVAC knob from cool to heat, and then hope for the best from there.
I live in Arizona, and not in a part that gets snow regularly like Flagstaff. So not a damn thing.
Winterizing my old Ranger means throwing the tow straps in the back (for me or someone else), and that’s about it.
I live in the South, so winter is just a mildly cool day most of the time. My routine is usually just getting all the oil changes done on my fleet while the weather is nice.
Yeah, this is (for the most part) our wrenching weather.
In the Southern UK we basically just get rain, rain and more rain (with maybe a day or two of frost).
So I’ll be getting the roof seals on the EOS maintained (and the rest of the roof mechanism serviced), and topping up the screenwash…
(also need to find out why the steering creaks….)
Upstate NY here. Winter here really blows. I’ll be getting a set of Michelin cross climates for the van, as we’ve been very pleased with the set on our Forester. They’re nearly as good as a dedicated snow tire in the snow, and decent enough/long wearing in the summer. For cars where you could give a crap about handling like a crossover or van, they make a lot of sense.
I live in a Gulf Coast state. I throw an ice scraper in the glovebox. I never used it last winter. Don’t hate me.
PNW here, which means it’s more about being rain ready.
•RainX treatment on every glass surface
•Wiper blade replacements (including tiny ones on headlights (so cute))
•Clean deciduous tree detritus out of drainage channels
•Decrease driving speed
•Increase following distance
•Disposable poncho in the glove box
•Thick quilt folded in thirds to cover the back seat (for doggy comfort, upholstery cleanliness and in case of emergency)
•Old chore coat hung on the “oh shit handles” dry cleaner hook behind the drivers seat
•Increased driving anxiety and rear view mirror attention
•Up my dosage of antidepressants
Pretty simple everyday stuff really.
Oh… and switch the radio from FM to AM so I can listen to ESPN.
And if snow hits and sticks…
•Tiny snowman hood ornaments.
I love that the “oh shit handles” are the universal, worldwide, accepted name.
I’m trying to arrange the order of some custom-wound Grin all-axle side motors for the custom “bicycle”/microcar. This way, I can have motors on the front wheels, which coupled with the current Leafbike 1500W 3T motor in the rear, will give me AWD. AWD which is definitely needed for stability and traction when riding in the snow. So the purpose of this upgrade isn’t ONLY going to be for trolling Hellcats…
The pack of Molicel P42A batteries I have in it can make 20 kW continuous. I’m currently only using 10kW of that, but the extra 2 motors will be able to allow me to use its real potential. With this upgrade, what will be a roughly 100 lb vehicle will have roughly 300 lb-ft of torque at 0 rpm available, with AWD. It will feel like being shot out of a cannon at a full power launch.
Whatever spec it gets built to, I need to get Torch to drive it!
Qld Australia here. What is this winter you talk of?
As we are coming in to summer (likely on the extreme side this year), the only prep I do is check which of my mates project cars still have AC stripped out of them, and avoid going in them!