First Winter :(

[TimmyC]

Originally Posted by ToySub1946

I lived in Seattle for a couple of years.

With light snow one day, tv and radio recommended taking public transportation rather than driving one's own car.

Same day whilst downtown, Near Pike Place watched a public bus attempt to go up the hill towards First Hill or Capitol Hill. Hopeless it was for that bus. Nice means of transportation if you wanna sit on a bus for a couple of hours waiting for it to be towed...or for the snow to melt.

I live like 20 miles north of Seattle in the suburbs, I can't imagine dailying a FRS on Seattle hills... Especially with all that traffic.

[TimmyC]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Like I preach all the time it isn't the tread that are at issue with the stock tire it is the temperature. BC, PNW and many of the northern states you can probably get away with all seasons or even brief periods on the summers. Where it actually gets cold is a whole different ball game. Was minus 20 (-4F) here this morning and even at that relatively warm temperature my snow tires were firm enough that I gunned it a bit to heavy on a corner and swung the rear out by accident. If I had all seasons or summers on I would probably still be spinning down the road.
Summer tires are very hard so they soften in the heat, all seasons are a little softer so they work in temperatures approaching but still above freeing and winter tires are soft as shit until the temperature drops to just above and below freeing.
When talking sliding around on summer tires in the cold and snow you may not always have the safety and control you think you do.


Having said all that I love sliding it around in the snow with the snow tires on so that I know I actually do have some control.

Minus 4!?!? How long does it take to warm up your car?!?

[Ultramaroon]

Originally Posted by TimmyC

Minus 4!?!? How long does it take to warm up your car?!?

Much much longer if you're running the heater from a dead cold.

[Uplink]

Originally Posted by TimmyC

Minus 4!?!? How long does it take to warm up your car?!?

Speaking of which... I seem to recall a warning somewhere about 'no excessive idling' but no explanation. So in a range of stop-and-go traffic to patrol car at a checkpoint, does anyone know? It takes a loooong time to warm up on these bitter cold mornings (10-15 minutes and it's still well below the cold mark). How much is too much?

[lukey86]

Wow, the biggest thing us Aussies have to worry about going from summer to winter is changing from a short sleeve to a long sleeve shirt...

[Ultramaroon]

Originally Posted by Uplink

Speaking of which... I seem to recall a warning somewhere about 'no excessive idling' but no explanation. So in a range of stop-and-go traffic to patrol car at a checkpoint, does anyone know? It takes a loooong time to warm up on these bitter cold mornings (10-15 minutes and it's still well below the cold mark). How much is too much?

If you can handle leaving your heater temp set to full cold the engine will heat up much more quickly. That heater core is a very effective radiator.

[chaoskaze]

Originally Posted by G-awesome

am I the only crazy one that loves sliding this car when there's snow with stock tires on quiet side streets?!? (safely and in control on relatively flat roads of course )

But yea...since there's no grip whatsoever even with 1cm of snow, you'll get stuck with the slightest slope on a driveway so you'll have to finesse the car out careful without spinning out of control

problem is that u can do that with stock tire even when there is no snow thou....

my stock tire is near the end of it's life & it's an adventure everywhere I go.

but ya OP, you need snow tires!!! Stock tire has no grip at all even on wet roads, on snow it's too exciting for ur own good.


Btw is there any way for our heater to get up to temperature faster? It takes forever to get hot when I was already frozen soild.

[PureShield]

Originally Posted by G-awesome

I had a few close calls with some power poles.......in the alleyway lol

I'm from Vancouver as well and we have definitely been getting lucky the last few winters with little to no snow.

[PureShield]

Originally Posted by TimmyC

Minus 4!?!? How long does it take to warm up your car?!?

Although it hasn't snowed in Vancouver, the temperature as been like that here as well and it got down to -8 Celsius about a week ago. As for warming up my car, it takes about 5-10min to warm up in the morning.

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by chaoskaze

...........
Btw is there any way for our heater to get up to temperature faster? It takes forever to get hot when I was already frozen soild.

Well, @chaoskaze you could change out the thermostat with one with a different heat range (which I recommend that you NOT do).

You could secure a piece of cardboard in front of the radiator ……. till the engine warms up (don’t forget to take it out).

Wear a “car coat” ( anyone remember those .. ??) and a pair of gloves ….. like we did back in the day.

Y, I remember, back in the day (or night in this case), going out on cold winter nights, in my friends old pick-up truck, that the floor board was rotted away on ….. (yes, they used to be made out of wood and they would rot away). Now you talk about cold!

Oh, why we out on cold winter nights .. ?? We were “pest hunting”, for our FFA project …… shooting pigeons in farmers barns, twisting their heads off, putting the heads Mason jars to take in for points.

humfrz - have BB gun will travel

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by TimmyC

Minus 4!?!? How long does it take to warm up your car?!?

Oh it gets colder then that at times.


As Ultra stated the heater works as a rad so I let it run for 5 minutes or so without the heater on, then 2 or 3 with the heater on low and once the coolant is warm I turn it up to 2. Once the windshield starts to defrost the I give it another 2 or 3 minutes and off I go.
This sounds like a pain in the ass but it is just the way things are so I am used to it taking 10 or 12 minutes to be drivable every cold day..

[Sarlacc]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Oh it gets colder then that at times.


As Ultra stated the heater works as a rad so I let it run for 5 minutes or so without the heater on, then 2 or 3 with the heater on low and once the coolant is warm I turn it up to 2. Once the windshield starts to defrost the I give it another 2 or 3 minutes and off I go.
This sounds like a pain in the ass but it is just the way things are so I am used to it taking 10 or 12 minutes to be drivable every cold day..

Around here we usually see -5°C down to -20°C this time of year. It's -12°C right now.
Before I got a garage (uninsulated and unheated, but dry) I used to leave my car running with the defroster on full until the windshield was thawed.
Now I just start it up, turn the seat heater on full whack, pull on my gloves and go.
Yes, I know it's not good for the engine... but it's just a car.

[Tcoat]

Won't let me quote you again Sar!?
If the windows are not frosted too badly and I can actually see then even when that cold I just let the engine run long enough to drop out of high idle and off I go. The above procedure is just for when I need to heat things up because there is so much hard frost or ice I can't see and I want to soften it up enough to scrap easier. Unfortunately a garage is not, nor has ever been a luxury I have had.


The Cali guys that don't want to drive because it may rain and they just washed their car two days ago would be appalled to see what gets done with that snow brush and scrapper.

[Sarlacc]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Won't let me quote you again Sar!?

Not doing it on purpose this time...

Originally Posted by Tcoat

If the windows are not frosted too badly and I can actually see then even when that cold I just let the engine run long enough to drop out of high idle and off I go. The above procedure is just for when I need to heat things up because there is so much hard frost or ice I can't see and I want to soften it up enough to scrap easier.

Yeah, I know exactly what you mean. Those mornings when you're in a hurry and find an inch of solid ice between the snow and the car... and the doors won't open... *shudder*

Originally Posted by Tcoat

The Cali guys that don't want to drive because it may rain and they just washed their car two days ago would be appalled to see what gets done with that snow brush and scrapper.

Not to mention the sound that scraper makes