Getting Ready To Drive In The Snow

[majestic]

some things i do every winter:

- wipe over all door seals with wd40 (stops water sitting here and freezing) avoids ripping the rubber seal of the car

- spray the wing mirror hinges with some wd40, if any one knocks them they should fold in easier (its no fun driving with a missing mirror let alone in bad weather)

- increase the washer fluid ration so its less likely to freeze at the lower temps

- clean and re-grease hinges and catches especially the drivers door boot and bonnet.

- Spray wd40 into the drivers door key hole to stop this freezing up (some modern cars use fobs instead)

- replace wipers and battery in key fob

- check main battery voltage is healthy

- throw a spade, some old carpet in the boot (sleeping bag, toe rope, folding pruning saw, foot pump, boots, gloves, coat and pillow always in the boot any how)

- make sure my AA/RAC card is up to date just in case

most of the other bits mentioned previously in this thread as well


hope that helps

Majestic

[Magz]

WD40 good idea, I'l try that. my door was stuck fast the other morning. I moved the car today, have it where the sun comes up first now, should give me a head start on the defrosting

[janso]

Cat litter is good as a substitute salt for traction..... If you really are having problems with traction, you could let at least a third of the air out of each tyre giving it increased surface area thus more traction.

Remember to carry a foot pump NOT an electric gizmo to pump them back up again ... A not relying on battery B keeps you warm!!

Try to stay on main roads as they'll get the attention from the gritters and traffic use should help break down the ice to slush for a while in the day. Country lanes, especially those with gradients will be ice rinks and downhill slaloms, going around the cars already piled up as I found today much to my amusement!!

Snow chains may be of use, check Halfords, but be competent in knowing when to use them and how to rig and de-rig them on the vehicle.

[Magz]

Ummm have though about snow chains, if it gets really bad I may get some, I could walk to Euro Parts from here, Like I was saying to my friend this evening, only 2 things I'm really worried about, is sliding down the hill and hitting another car ,and all the stupid people that don't know how to drive at the best of times never mind in the snow and ice I bought 2 bags of cat litter today and loads of salt.

[janso]

Forgot to mention snow socks for car tyres!! In between nothing and chains, easier to fit and are happy to go over tarmac I think, so you dont have to jump out and take chains off all the time....

[scotspreps]

The 4x4 (old Pajero in our case) goes uphill no problem on snow and ice but downhill it's just as liable to slide as anything, perhaps more than most because it's heavy, so we use the engine and remember the best bit of winter driving advice I was ever given, 'Drive like you've got no brakes, because effectively you probably haven't!'

[brer fox]

TIP if your stuck; take your floor mats out and put them under your tyres for extra traction

[scotspreps]

This morning I found 1 of the 5ltr containers of petrol in my wifes car was frozen solid. The container looks OK but I've put it in a plastic tub in the back porch to thaw slowly. In the past I've thawed out old diesels then run them on fuel that froze in the tank but I've never had petrol freeze like that.

Does anybody have any idea if the petrol is likely to be any good when it has thawed? I could try it in a petrol cooker I've got in the store but I don't want to risk running the Shogun or Generator on it if it is likely to cause a problem .

[highland-bushcraft]

The problem is that petrol that you buy at the pumps has a 10% - 20% bioethonal mixed in with that and the cheap petrol also has a low octain rating which means that it has less short chain hydrocarbons. I think that i am right in saying the higher the octain rating the lower the freezing point.

My petrol run about which is a year old has been so gutless recently in this cold weather and i did all the usual checks, air filter, plugs ect ect to see if that was causing the lack of power. THen i tryed Primium 99 octain petrol which is more expensive but what a difference it has made in the cold weather i got the power back

I just think that mabey the cheep petrol that you get especialy from super markets just is poor quality and does not have the same power as petrol that we got years ago, and mabey that is why it is freezing

[bigpaul]

Think about keeping a spare set of windscreen wipers, shop around for the best deal, if yours get messed up in the frost and ice you've got a spare set to replace them with, no point in wanting to replace them and the spares shop is 10 miles the other side of the snow drift. keep in a stock of screen wash (dont just get 1 bottle get several) and a stock of de-icers, they think i'm mad at the shop when i buy an armful of de-icers" expecting cold weather Sir" YES!!