Winter Driving Tips

Mon Dec 20 20:42:13 2004 EST (-0500 GMT)

WRCIt’s cold, the thermometer I keep in my kitchen said it was -15 Co outside last night and 15Co inside. The water line to my toilet is frozen because I think it might actually cover every inch of my house’s outside wall. So with all this winter weather out there I thought I’d share my tips for winter driving.

    WRC

  1. All season tires = no season tires. With the cheap foreign labour now available to North America, winter tires and black steal rims are cheaper and easier than you’d think.
  2. Keep at least half a tank of gas in you’re tank, no matter what the size. The condensation in the empty tank can freeze and plug-up the fuel line. If this does happen to you either get the car into a warm place or get someone to fill up an emergency can of gas for you and bring it back to you inside the warm car (with a window cracked, and the lid secured, and the safest driving they’ve ever done). This happened to my sister last week and she had to get a tow to Canadian Tire and wait for three hours to have them simply start the car and give it back to her. [[Three years later it looks like this might have more to do with a bad starter than fuel – or my sister]]
  3. WRCIce scrapers, a shovel, washer fluid, oil, a blanket, food etc. are all important to keep in your car.
  4. Make sure those windshield wipers are OK. I like to up-size my wipers, as long as they don’t touch when down they’ll be fine. That way you’re not peering around a frame of salt to see traffic lights.
  5. Make sure that your coolant is toped up – for the most part your engine should be OK, but you want that heat inside the car!
  6. WRCBe sure that your headlights are useful. New bulbs aren’t that expensive, and you’ll feel that much safer once you can see that far down the road. I wonder how some manufactures Chry5ler can get away with selling such dim lights from the factory.

The Ministry of Transportation Ontario has a good winter driving guide. It’s too bad the MTO isn’t very good with web site layout. Here it is: www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/safety/winterdrive/winterdrive.htm

One Response to “Winter Driving Tips”

  1. iMatt :: The Blog of Matt Clare » Blog Archive » Scrapping my car Says:

    […] More winter driving tips can be found here: mattclare.ca/wordpress/2004/12/20/winter-driving-tips/  […]