How's the weather?

[Keonobi]

We're in the process of getting about 6-8 inches.  I think every snow plow available was only plowing in the opposite direction from my route to work, ie the other side of the road was clear, but somehow I still had to drive through three inches of snow on the road.  Come on Capital District, we get snow every year...

[Ben]

Just got done shoveling the white **** dumped on us last night. It had drifted at the end of my driveway, making it about thigh deep. The streets here are covered in about a foot of snow, so nobody's going anywhere today. Everything (I mean everything) is closed, so at least I don't have to go to work.

[iFett]

Everything (I mean everything) is closed, so at least I don't have to go to work.

Neat.  I'd LOVE a "snow day" but I don't think I'll see one here in my lifetime.   

[Keonobi]

Don't know exactly how far it is from you, but my employer has an office in Fond du Lac (sp?) Wisconsin and they were the only office closed today...

[Rob]

Agree with Mikey - aggravating to drivers behind you too.  Not having been in Chi-town in winter, not sure how cold it gets, but if you get a really dry cold spell and you don't clear the snow off the hood of the car and start driving, the snow will blow up on the windshield and then seemingly get into the intake, come out the defrost vents and fog up the window on the inside, really reducing the visibility.  Not sure how clearly I explained that but it's a bitch to deal with because you end up either having to use the scraper on the inside of the window or wait until the car is blowing real heat, not just cold air, to clear your vision.  I expect it happens in Chicago too, it does for sure in the prairies and it's weird.  

On the snow tires even with years of experience I think they're tremendously beneficial if you can afford them.  I grew up in this crap and drove for nearly 20 years without them.  I have them every year now and consider them to be a very wise use of money.  You certainly can get by without them if you are cautious enough.

Oh, and go find an open parking lot after it snows to go do donuts on purpose.  It is an absolute blast.  If you can get hold of an older rear-wheel drive car it's even more fun.  Aside from being fun it can be incredibly instructional on how little control you have once your tires lose grip. 

Thanks Brent, (and everyone) this is all good advice.  As for snow tires, about two months before I found out about the move I spent nearly $700 on new tires for my car..., so I'm not doing new tires now, I'll have to rely on driving slowly and salt on the roads.  Hopefully the ones I bought are all-weather or what not, I'll look at the paperwork for them and see what I've got.

As for the cold, I haven't been here long, but when I wake up tomorrow it's supposed to be 8 degrees out.  I'm sure it gets plenty colder up where you are, but by my standards that's down there.

The last few days, I did brush the roof and all off, a buddy that I carpool with is from Cincinnati and warned me about flying snow from roofs and hoods.

[P-Siddy]

You did ask about washing cars and I don't think anyone addressed that. I think once or twice in the season is good enough. Last year, the only time my car was washed in the witner was when I took it in to get the oil changed.

[Rob]

Really?  I was under the impression that it was a good idea to do that every week or two when salt is present?

[iFett]

Really?  I was under the impression that it was a good idea to do that every week or two when salt is present?

There's really no point IMO.  Vehicles rarely stay clean for a day or two at least out here.  I moved from Vegas to MN back in 01 and haven't seen a spot of rust on any of the vehicles I've owned - though I don't really check the undercarriage too often.    Oh - and my first and only accident I ever had happened the first week I moved here....and it was in the Summer.  Here I was petrified worried about spinning out in the Winter, but it's not so bad.

[Rob]

I don't mean for having them look nice, I mean just for preventing rust.

[Jeff]

Any time it gets above 20^oF and there's sun in the forecast, I usually try to wash my car to prevent anything building up (aluminum alloy wheels + salt = corrosion ).  Obviously, you have to be careful about those low-temp washes or you could end up freezing yourself out of your car. 

[Jesse James]

Yeah, what Jeff said about freezing yourself out of your car...  I wash mine routinely when salt's on the roadways and there's any moisture.  I keep cars for well over 100k miles too, so the body's important to me, so you should wash it routinely.  It's important even if you trade them in routinely because you just don't want them rusting since that affects trade-in of course.  All cars rust, it's just a fact of life.  You can't always even tell where it's coming from.  My doors are rusting from the inside out on my LeBaron because of a design flaw.  My Thunderbird did the same thing...  I had a hole rust behind my right front mudflap as well that I discovered this Summer when I took my flap off.  This is with two paste waxes a year and routine cleaning with spray-hot wax in the winters...  It just happens.  I have the luxury of a brother who can weld well and knowing how to weld myself some, so we're putting patches on it and I'll primer it myself.  It's all in areas nobody can see anyway.

If I didn't have that luxury i'd probably wash my car once a week if it's been steady snow/salt, snow/salt, snow/salt type weather.

That's just me though Rob, but I think frequently washing is good advice.  Make sure you're getting low too, and using the high pressure wash on the undercarraige of your car so you're really getting that cleaned out.  When it looks like you'll have a good spell then I think it's a good idea to wash it and do the hot wax at least. 

Some people run theirs through automatics and that's good, but not as good as getting out and using the washer yourself and being thorough.  That's my advice personally.

The snow coming off cars doesn't bother me a ton.  My car tends to clear itself upon movement because of the ragtop.  The snow doesn't stick to that, so I just basically clear the hood, lights, and trunklid...  It's illegal in PA to drive with snow piled on your car though now so maybe I'm just not seeing it as much perhaps.  I don't know the laws out there.  Here you have to have yoru car cleared off pretty completely, and you have to have your lights on in snow, and so on.  The bad stuff is when it's frozen **** and coming off vehicles...  That can be much worse obviously.

[DSJ™]

Whoa! The temps going to drop here in the next few days, today we are going to hit -12°C with some flurries then looking forward Saturday high -19°C low -29°C. Sundays high -29°C, low -38°C. Mondays high -30°C, low -39°C & Tuesdays high is -23°C with a low of -40°C with wind at 10 km/h making it feel like -46,0000°C... lol! That otta make the ol ball sack say seeya! Thursdays long range is a high of -1°C... wft over!

[Rob]

Thanks Jesse... I've got this road trip thing to Ann Arbor and back on Saturday, so I'll wash it on Sunday.

One more question... my windshield wiper fluid froze up last night, which wasn't helpful when the salt started clouding up my glass and I couldn't clean it.  

Is that just a fact of life up here or is the fluid in my car maybe not suited for this weather since it was added before I moved?  Basically, do they sell windshield wiper fluid with anti-freeze in it or something like that?

Oh, and it was 3 degrees here when I woke up... I'm cool with it, but my dog has no idea what to do - one of them is fine, the other one just stands there in the snow shaking and refusing to take a ****.  I guess I'm going to stop off at lunch and pick up shoes for them...

[Keonobi]

Yes, they sell washer fluid with antifreeze in it.  The RainX brand comes in a orange color.  Walmart and Target both stock it here in NY.  An auto parts store might sell a concentrate that you can pour directly into the resevoir that already has 'normal' washer fluid in it, though the guy at the counter will probably snicker a little.

Looks like this...

[Rob]

Perfect, thanks - I'm assuming there won't be any harm in just topping off what I have with the anti-freeze one?    If it unfreezes today in the parking garage, I'll just empty it out I guess.