QOTD: Hello, Winter
We don’t know about the rest of you lot, but the vast majority of us who toil at this august publication reside well within the snow belt. Starting around this time of year, shovelling, bundling up, and generally cursing at cold weather is a daily occurrence for most of the masthead.
Modern cars are virtually maintenance-free these days — save for vital fluids, of course — especially compared to the Bad Old Days when one had to gap plugs and set points in order to get to church on time. Despite this, are there any particular ways in which you prepare your car for winter?
Winter tires (four of them, please) are a must around these parts. They aren’t legally required like they are in La Belle Province, but to do without rubber bearing that three-peak mountain snowflake is only inviting disaster when the mercury falls. (Your author had a falling Mercury one time, but that was thanks to sagging springs on a Grand Marquis.)
Underneath the back seat of a 2018 GMC Sierra, for which I dole a monthly stipend to GM Financial, resides all manner of winter-ready gear from jumper cables to a blanket to energy bars. Seriously. As we knock on the door of 2020, I am 99-and-a-bunch-more-nines-percent positive I will never need any of that, but their presence stems from a childhood filled with tall snowdrifts and stalled cars and maternal warnings ringing in my ears about perishing on a Newfoundland roadside while a vicious winter storm covers my car. These days, the chance of that is minuscule; yet, I still cart around all that crap.
What do you pile on or aboard your rig — necessary or not — once the snow starts to fly?
[Image: © 2018 Matthew Guy/TTAC]
Matthew buys, sells, fixes, & races cars. As a human index of auto & auction knowledge, he is fond of making money and offering loud opinions.
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I closed my kitchen window because it was getting too cold inside after mid night.... I hate the snow, rain and cold so much I moved as far West as one can to get away from it . You alls have my deepest sympathy . -Nate
For the three cars that live where winter means cold and snow, I put them in the garage, plug in the battery maintainers, and take off the liability and collision insurance. Then I get my butt on an airplane south - October 10th this year, I was late leaving. Where winter prep means driving the GTI with the windows open and the Fiata with the top down. 82F and not a cloud in the sky on the Gulf coast of Florida today. :-)
Since I live in San Diego, I wax the car, clean the inside of the windows to prevent fogging, and replace the wipers. When I lived in the snow belt, that all I did there too. Que sera' sera'.
Oh, yeah ~ yesterday I bought two pairs of BOSCH 'icon' wiper blades, damn things are $26 apiece ! . They're Winter blades although I hope to never drive in the snow again, they've lasted in the L.A. smog for up to four years so worth the price I think . I finally tossed out my old long wooden handled ice scraper along with my snow shoes, never used them so why keep them ? . -Nate