Many that frequent Curbside live in an area of the world that doesn’t have winter weather or perhaps a relatively short and mild season. For those that fall into that category, consider yourself lucky. For the rest of us that live in more northern regions, winter is a well-defined season. Many, like your author, are “fortunate” enough to live in an area with long cold winters. Along with the snow and cold comes the road salt used to keep our roads safe and free of ice and snow. Consequentially, for northern classic car owners, a long winter slumber is standard practice at this time of the year. Those that don’t have classics still have a daily driver that will have to face the poor road conditions, snow and cold weather. These conditions certainly tax a vehicle considerably more than in mild conditions and so many owners will do some winter prep on their daily drivers as well.
Tucked away for a long winter’s nap
As the owner of several daily drivers and classics, autumn can by a busy time for me, in particular once I add in my required property maintenance. All of my vehicles see some sort of winter preparation, but the old cars are a bit more involved. For my classics, I typically start with a good cleaning, a wash, wax and interior cleaning. When the day comes for me to park the cars for winter, I will take each for a good drive, long enough to get all the fluids up to operating temperature. I also fill the tank with fresh ethanol free gas and fuel stabilizer. This is followed up with an oil change and chassis greasing. I have two sets of wheels and tires for my old cars, so I swap to my storage set to prevent flat spotting on the good tires. It also gives me a chance to thoroughly clean the wheels and tires and inspect/clean the chassis and suspension parts. Finally, I remove the battery and cover the car with a car cover. The battery is connected to a maintainer over the winter. My cars are stored in a heated garage and remain untouched until the spring. I don’t start the engine to run it on occasion like some owners.
Winter tires are perhaps the most important change I make to my daily drivers. They make a massive difference in handling and braking. Even my 4×4 truck gets them.
My daily drivers are relatively modern and so not too much preparation is required. My routine typically starts off with the annual visit to Krown Rust Control for the oil spray rust proofing. I check the paint and perform any minor touch-ups as required. I will give the vehicle a good thorough wash and wax to help protect the paint and clean off the excess rust proofing. Once the weather forecast shows that snow is imminent, I install the winter tires and wheels on each. I also take this opportunity to service the brakes. Although modern disc brakes are a massive improvement over the drums of the past, the late model designs are prone to seizure in northern climates (at least in my experience). Removal of the pads, cleaning and lubricating the sliding points makes a big difference in ensuring proper brake performance and longevity. Finally, I usually also take the time to change the wiper blades and give the vehicle a once over to ensure all systems/fluids are okay.
Now that you know my routine, what is yours? What if any winter prep do you perform on your daily driver and/or classic car?
While doing all of the above on my collector vehicles, I make sure all openings are sealed against mice, squirrels, raccoons and birds. That includes the carb intake and tailpipes. Had a friend who had a mouse crawl up the tailpipe of his Packard one winter. The nest it made in one of the cylinder bores caused the connecting rod to snap when attempting to start it in the spring. Very bad.
With the classic cars, I add Stabil to the tank before filling them up with plain old 10% ethanol gas. I make sure they’re clean and vacuumed, and then I put 42 lbs. of air in the tires and unplug both battery cables. For the cars out at the storage barn, I tape the tailpipes and put on a car cover. That’s it.
In February of 2007, I swapped the winter tires on my old Volvo wagon for all-seasons. Gave away the snow tires, and drove 2000 miles in a southwesterly direction. Problem solved.
Yes, I did the same, but back in 1983, though I did get the company I hired on with to move me…not that I had that much, including my ’78 Scirocco, plus my school books, my total belongings were around 4000 lbs back then.
I had snow tires for the Scirocco that were mounted and I brought those with me, got kidded as I put them on my car for several falls just to use them up (get my money’s worth)…also had some rust work done. Unfortunately, the Scirocco didn’t have air conditioning, though I lived with it for 3 years (traffic wasn’t so bad, I’d never be able to do that now) then bought a GTi with air conditioning and sold the Scirocco..still miss it though I realize it was good for someone 40 years younger than I am.
Don’t really have winter maintenance per se, but as it is a lot cooler I tend to do bigger jobs then..like my timing belt …my 2000 Golf probably could use another one. Tend to replace wiper blades before the winter, though I just ordered a pair for my Mother’s car, rather than my own. Wax the car 2x/year, (one in the fall) which I’ve done since it was new…paint is fading a bit on the plastic parts like door handles and mirrors, but otherwise looks OK. This Friday will have been 20 years since I drove to Houston to buy it, the longest I’ve owned any car (and it is my only car). I do change the oil at 5000 miles but I don’t drive many miles, and that is just shy of once per year for me. Know around town is harder on oil, but I do use synthetic; on my GTi I even had a bypass filter but gave it up on the Golf. Also found my battery fails around the 4 year mark so I replace it proactively ignoring the warranty which needs it to fail to claim on, which is usually a big pain; do the same on my Mother’s car, so this is a bit of a convenience tax. Tires when needed, but that’s not often with few miles driven, but tend to do that in the fall. Even had the complete suspension redone in 2011, it rides a bit higher than stock, with progressive rate springs, might actually be needing to do them again.
We don’t get much snow and they don’t use salt when it does snow. That said a number of the vehicles in my care do get a set of winter tires. Other than that it is pretty much put on a new set of wiper blades since we do get a lot of rain in the winter.
Ours are all drivers, so no storage chores but:
1. Make sure the washer fluid bottles are full with the low-temp stuff
2. Make sure the wipers are fine and usually order a backup set to have on hand in case one gets damaged, including rear window wiper if so equipped.
3. Put the Winter tires/rims on – although the truck and Jeep now have tires that are winter/snow rated but still year-round tires, they worked great last year and didn’t wear bad this summer. The Tesla I still need to get winter tires for, thanks for the reminder
4. Put a snow brush/scraper in each car
5. Put an extra set of gloves in the truck
6. Check all the fluids and give everything underhood a once-over since it’s always more of a pain to be forced to do stuff when it’s cold, wet, and dirty out.
7. Put in the all-weather floormats if I switched back to carpeted in the spring
and most importantly:
8. Scour the garage for leftover winter stuff (wheels/tires/mats/parts from cars that were sold over the summer without it and put it on craigslist or ebay.
In MN: prep by waxing, over inflating tires before our first frost, rainX.
In AZ it was turn on a pulsating light in the garage to keep the pack rats spooked.
First year in Chicago? Sell it. Parking dibs are a real thing (I saw some things over the years), plus where do I drive my car to where parking isn’t more hourly than my wage…
Do an oil change before putting it away so it doesn’t sit there with a sump full of contaminents through the winter. Wax-oil if it’s going to be used at all. We don’t get much snow but they have a tendency to perform preventative gritting and salting at the mere hint of freezing temperature. Might be different this winter with a lockdown.
I am a firm believer in fresh oil before storage as well. My car has been stored that way for 48 years, and I do the same with all of my gas powered equipment.
Swap over to snow tires, top off wiper fluid and check wiper condition. The Suburban got some paint touch up and will be getting a full Fluid Film undercoating treatment. I also lucked into a barely used set of studded snow tires on OE rims for it for a deal-you-can’t refuse price.
I moved from Pennsylvania to Southern California. Problem solved. 🙂
You should probably test the AC and make sure the sun visor hinges are lubed properly. 🙂 You know, just in case, don’t want to be stranded, might get a nasty sunburn.
It does snow here. We had a place 6500ft above sea level. Winter tires on the 4×4 and making sure there are cable chains and gloves in each vehicle were the main thing. New wiper blades and washer fluid anti-freeze complete the prep. Note, roads are never salted. True winter tires were a great investment. All Terrain were no better than Highway All Season on compact snow and ice. We only put 4000 miles/yr on the truck, so the (studless) winter tires are left on all year.
I share the same experience that all-terrian tires are not nearly as good as true winter tires, even if they meet the snow tire rating spec. My brother used to live on a private road with a steep driveway. His 4×4 truck barely could climb his driveway with brand new BFG A/T tires. With winters installed, it did it with ease.
We do get snow in Baltimore, but not that much. That said they WAY over-salt the roads here at the mere mention of flurries in the forecast.
2007 Mustang: Clean it up (and keep it that way throughout the winter – see picture below from years ago when it was my DD). Take it out for long drives on nice days. Sometime in October (ok, I’m now 3 days late), change the oil and lubricate any squeaking components. Get a coat of wax on it, time permitting. If not, I just use a product like Turtle Wax’s “Wax & Dry” every time I wash it over the winter. Don’t drive it in the snow, despite how much fun going on Donut Patrol used to be with a RWD car…
2009 Lancer (wife’s car): The clear coat is peeling, so I just keep it clean. Change the oil in October (ok, see above… I’m now 3 days late). Stay on top of the fluids. Since this car is our snow car, I wash it immediately after the snow event is over. (again, see the picture below of my Mustang… snow is NO EXCUSE for not keeping your car clean!)
2016 Civic (my DD): Use the car. Clean it as often as possible, especially right after a salt event. Just stay on top of the fluids and tire pressures. That’s about it.
This is a more typical Baltimore Maryland winter event… Ice Ice Baby!
This may be why our SHA (State Highway Administration) is so salt happy around here….
The retired Mustang from such DD foolishness, and her replacement.
This is a more typical snow event for her… Kept clean in the winter, and not brought out again until the rain washes the salt away….
I’m in Northern California, so I suppose winter prep here means check the wiper blades or apply Rain-x for when the rains come. Sadly the rains are late in arriving this fall.
Now if I were a skier then there would also be something involving snow chains for trips up to Tahoe.
While living in upstate NY, followed the below schedule so as not to be stranded:
a) check on the age of the battery, replaced every three years no matter what
b) slightly aggressive all season tires on the CUV, replace each 50k miles
c) radiator flush every 4 years, same with radiator hoses and fan belts
d) visit car wash after each snow fall, NY road salt has no mercy
e) oil changes every 5k miles
f) wiper blades replaced 3 times a year
g) jumper cables, ice scraper/snow brush, small tool bag, candy bars, blanket, flashlights, etc in recovery bag in cargo area
The above may have been a bit of overkill, but never had any weather related issues during the 8 years and 220k miles while living on the edge of the snow belt.
Other than swapping to snow tires and putting a heavy wool blanket in the trunk for a potential emergency, I did no specific prep to the SS for winter driving. No prep to the truck or wife’s car (which had all-seasons).
The tractors and yard equipment all got their annual oil and filter changes, with a top-off of fresh gas treated with Stabil, then run 5-10 minutes to pull same through the fuel system.
Now that we’re in the Middle South, I really won’t need to do any prep to the vehicles, and already sold the snow tires.
Because of the prior research (https://www.howtosavemoney.ca/which-rust-proofing-service-is-best ) I use Corrosion Free. Some are available at Canadian Tire, but I use an independent dealer, – they do a better job and cheaper.
As for tires, I run All-Weather. They’re Severe Weather rated (an image of a snowflake on the mountain on a sidewall) but could be used 12 month in a year. Made by Nokian. I just got a new set last week. If you want to save some money, you could buy an older generation design by getting Nordman Solstice (aka Nokian WR G3).
I did all of the touch ups in the beginning of October, vacuumed as well as cleaned my windshield on the inside to avoid Sun glare during morning and evening commute. Snow brush will be going in the back seat soon (I don’t like to get a dump of snow inside the trunk, see attached picture). A jug of a windshield washer is in a trunk and it’s Rain-X All Season (rated to -40°C).
Corrosion Free is great stuff. You can buy it in aerosol cans or in bulk from TSC stores. I find their product is better at protecting the chassis than Krown. Krown is great a creeping but I find it doesn’t stay on the undercarriage too well. I typically will do my own touch-ups with Corrosion Free.
One nasty surprise I had was I was checking my windishield washer fluid supply on the shelf, I had bought a jug on sale at walmart this summer. Come to find out it’s “summer formula” that I had purhcased, which is only good down to…. 30F. So basically I had bought blue dyed water. Glad I noticed that before I poured it in.
Since I live in Vancouver, British Columbia, I prepare for winter by putting the headlight switch to “auto.”
Moving to Southern California would be a great idea – could be near to my old ’63 ‘Vette, which has been stored there since 2014.
As it is, my DD Karmann will be stored about 1/3 mile from my Chicago home and driven occasionally when no snow or salt (or brine – ugh) is about. Got a garage heater, so hope I can do some upgrades during the winter. Unlike last year I’m mostly working from home, so I can do without a beater with a heater.
Coastal UK doesn’t get much snow, so the family XC60 will just be equipped with blankets, snow shovel and a couple of nice warm dogs…..
My 2006 Crown Vic might not be a classic, but it’s a relic and somewhat exotic to this immigrant.
Last weekend I fixed a puncture in my Blizzaks and put them on. I normally put a couple of bags of rock salt in the trunk along with the shovel and I don’t let the tank get much below 1/2 full, for ballast. I have never come close to getting stuck. I looked at a spot of surface rust on the wheelarch and thought “I should do something about that”. I applied a dia de los muertos Johnny Cash bumper sticker and had a beer.
Hopefully I will get around to getting a new battery shortly as I don’t trust the old one and the car sometimes has to sit still outdoors on the tundras of southern Minnesota for a week at a time.
When I lived in Scotland my winter prep was the same as everyone else’s. Leave the summer tires on and hope for the best. Then have a beer.
Replacing a battery every three years in cold climates is a very good move. Even where I live I do it every five years.
There’s lots of great advice here.
I’m fortunate enough to have a dedicated winter car. At present its a 2000 Volvo S70 with winter tires. FWD , a powerful heater and heated seats makes for a nice winter companion. It also has awesome factory rustproofing. Many structural and chassis components are galvanized, the only car I’ve seen so blessed. All other components are painted and plated to fend off rust, awesome construction.
I prep the Volvo for summer storage and bring it out in winter.
My former winter car was a 1990 Cherokee, a better winter machine but not nearly as rust resistant.
I also maintain my daily road warrior, a 1993 Grand Marquis as a back-up car throughout the winter. I install 4 winter tires and perform all needed maintenance before it gets too cold. Any potential problems get repaired, even if they haven’t failed. I noticed the starter solenoid was poor and the battery was weak last month so both got replaced to ensure cold weather reliability.
My summer fair weather driver (98 Continental) and current roadworthy classics (77 Marquis and 83 Supra) were stored for the winter – remove the battery, fill the tanks with premium fuel, lift the cars on blocks, protect the interiors, and complete all needed fluid changes.
My other 13 cars are all still in storage. Two are restoration projects so I prep them like the classics above, but the others are still in suspended animation, waiting their turn so no special prep needed.
Volvos really do totally rock in regards to rustproofing, that sounds like just the ticket for a long lived comfy winter beater. I had a ’01 A4 Quattro (2.8, 5spd) two winters ago, put it on some heavily discounted Hankook iPike snow tires ($48 a pop at Pep boys) and boy that thing was just about the ideal winter ride. That Audi was probably just a bit short of the Volvo on being totally impervious to salt, but it was MILES ahead of the Japanese/domestic cars I had previously owned. Stuff like brake lines, any sort of brackets or fasteners on the underside of the car that would turn into lumps of oxidation were like new.
Winter comes early and hangs around for a looooong time in Alberta, so the “preparation” is pretty simple:
1. Take the 3-season tires off, and put the winter tires on. Both are mounted on rims, so this happens in the driveway. Takes about an hour.
2. Fish out the block-heater plug from it’s summer position tucked behind the grille, to it’s winter position hanging outside.
3. Run the block-heater extension cord from the plug on the wall to a handy spot near the driveway.
4. Move the snow brushes from the underfloor well in the trunk, up above. (Note that these never actually leave the car.)
If I’m lucky, this happens before the first major snowfall…though that’s rare. Around the end of April, it all happens in reverse.
Interesting to hear about these preparations. Here in Virginia, my winter preparation is as follows:
In November, we’ll have our first chilly day, so I think about checking tire pressure. In December, I finally get around to it.
Some time in December, I’ll leave for work one morning and find frost on the windshield. Then I’ll tear through the basement in a panic looking for the ice scrapers.
In January it’ll snow once or twice. After the salt washes off the roads, I’ll take the car by a carwash with an undercarriage wash.
Well, that’s about it.
We have two daily drivers and one pleasure vehicle, our ’95 Thunderbird. I don’t drive the T-bird when there’s salt on the ground, and when the roads are salted for extended periods (which does happen occasionally here), I’ll just let the T-bird sit and idle for 15 minutes or so if I haven’t driven it in a while. But in our climate, there’s not too much need for long-term storage.
Maine weather. Dedicated studded snow tires. These will get you there and keep you on the road if you know how to drive in winter. Test the antifreeze. If it isn’t good down to -40F change it. Load test the battery. Check belts. Check battery, solenoid and starter connections for corrosion, clean if needed. Winter wiper blades, the shorter the better. It’s better to have a 12 inch wiper that stays defrosted than to run the factory 22 inch wiper that ices up on the ends and then doesn’t wipe anything. Load up the scrapers, snow brushes, a small snow shovel, a tow strap, an extra jug of washer fluid and a tube of sand. Don’t use kitty litter because it turns into grease when it gets wet. Put extra clothes in the car and a blanket, just in case.
Wisconsin here, plenty of snow and salt. The Mustang gets the tank topped off and Stabil added. Then it gets parked tight against the garage wall, battery hooked to a trickle charger, mothballs in trunk and cabin to keep mice away, and covered up. I don’t start it until it comes out about four months later.
The non-all wheel drive daily drivers get snow tires. All four daily drivers get a whole lot of Fluid Film sprayed everywhere I can think of.
I also replace batteries every three years on the daily drivers.
No winter prep needed in my sub tropical climate. We use our hobby car more over winter. Vinyl seats and no A/C does that.
Change the washer fluid to winter blend.
Put scraper in the car.
Check wiper blades.
Have extra hats and gloves in trunk.
Have can of windshield deicer.
That’s about it.
Not to be a contrarian, but I actually LOVE winter! I detest hot weather and humidity and actually dread summer in the same way many folks dread winter. I live in Pennsylvania, so our winters can range from relentless to total non-events, depending on the whims of Mother Nature. For me the winter prep consists of one last waxing for my wife’s car and mine. Change of fluids as needed. Wiper blades if necessary. Checking to make sure jumper cables, blankets, spare fluids, flares, etc are stocked in each car. Beyond that I’ve rarely had a problem getting around in the white stuff even with all-seasons, although winter tires definitely do make a world of difference if you’ve got ’em.