Firstly, you can not put the car for the winter dirty. Moisture is retained in the dirt layer, which creates excellent conditions for the development of corrosion. You should also wash and clean the interior and trunk of the car. For washing, you need to choose a dry and warm day - after all, the car must be properly dried and a preservative composition applied to the body.
The battery must be removed from the vehicle and fully charged. It is best to store the battery in a cool, dry place. If the car's security system needs to be left connected, you will need to periodically charge the battery from an external power source.
When the car is parked, it is recommended to service the car once every two months: turn the steering wheel 1-1.5 turns in each direction; press the brake and clutch pedals 3-5 times «gas», raise and lower the parking brake lever so that the drives «did not turn sour».
On a car with air conditioning, it must be turned on once a week, for a few minutes, to maintain lubrication on the compressor parts and system seals.
Preparing your car for winter
Car owners who intend to drive in winter are advised to wash the bottom and body of the car before use. In the cabin and trunk, you need to raise the floor mats and make sure that there is no moisture.
Rubber mats in the cabin should be with high sides. They will protect the metal of the body from the salt solution flowing from the shoes.
It is also advisable to inspect the body and paint over the chips on the outer coating, otherwise rust spots will appear on the enamel around them in winter. It is advisable to treat a washed-out and dry body with painted over damages with one of the car cosmetics recommended for this purpose. It is useful to treat the car body with a polymer-based polish. A layer of such a polish will protect the treated surface for several months. Periodic treatment of the body with protective polishes extends the service life of the body paintwork by 1.5-2 times, preserves its appearance and maintains the presentation of the car. It is necessary to inspect the protective covers of the CV joints of the front wheel drives, steering mechanism, ball bearings. If damage is found on them, it is necessary to replace the covers with new ones, since the ingress of salt, moisture and dirt into the nodes through damage in the covers will lead to a quick failure of the nodes.
Particular attention must be paid to the condition of the battery. If problems with starting the engine occurred due to the fault of the battery even in the warm season, we recommend replacing the battery with a new one before winter operation. The battery must be fully charged, the wire terminals and battery terminals must be cleaned and lubricated with technical petroleum jelly after installation.
Pay attention to the condition of the wiper blades, it is better to install special winter blades.
Outwardly, the winter brush differs from the summer brush by the presence of a cover that covers the brush suspension system.
Sometimes on such a cover an image of a snowflake is applied. The cover protects the brush suspension from blocking with frozen moisture during temperature changes, for example, when frost sets in after a thaw. A brush with a blocked suspension does not adhere properly to the glass and cannot clean it properly.
Due to the widespread use of anti-icing preparations when driving in the city and outside the city, even in frost, car windows quickly become covered with dirt and lose transparency. To clean the windshield, the washer reservoir must be filled with anti-freeze fluid. As a rule, the packaging indicates the minimum ambient temperature at which the liquid can be used. At higher temperatures, antifreeze can be diluted with water in the proportions indicated. However, it is not uncommon for the liquid to freeze at a higher temperature than what is indicated on the canister label. In addition, antifreeze diluted with water can freeze during a sharp cold snap. Therefore, it is not recommended to dilute the antifreeze in winter.
If the liquid is still frozen in the washer reservoir, fill the formed ice with undiluted antifreeze liquid, preferably warmed up, start the engine and wait until the ice melts. You can put the car for a while in a warm room and, as a last resort, remove the tank (see «Removing the windshield washer pump and reservoir») and melt the ice under running hot water.
Those who did not have time to change the summer or all-season «rubber» for the winter, with the onset of the very first frosts, unpleasant surprises will await, such as side sliding or a complete lack of braking, it would seem, in completely harmless situations. The use of summer tires in winter conditions is absolutely unacceptable and it is better to change them before the puddles begin to ice over. You can drive on all-season models in winter, but carefully, especially in the very first period of frost.
Of course, when replacing summer tires with winter ones, fuel consumption will increase, and when driving on asphalt, winter tires are noisier than summer tires. But these shortcomings of winter «rubber» are secondary, since its efficiency during acceleration and braking on snow and ice is much higher than that of summer or all-season tires.
Winter tire models differ from summer and all-season tires not only in the tread pattern, which is more suitable for driving on snowy roads, but also in the rubber composition, which does not lose its elasticity in severe frosts. For regions with mild climates, all-season tires with an extended operating range can be a good alternative.
When operating the car on cleared city roads, non-studded tires are an advantage, and when driving frequently on packed snow and ice, only studded tires should be used. It should be remembered that on wet or dry pavement, the braking distance of a car with studded tires increases.
Let's talk about studded tires. Their positive qualities are undeniable, but, unfortunately, motorists are often exaggerated. They are really good, as long as there is clean, dense ice under the wheels and there is something to catch on, since their coefficient of adhesion in this case is much higher than that of non-studded ones.
Studded winter tire
If the ice is loose, the effect of the spikes is weaker. The snow is even worse - the spikes do not play a big role here, the main thing here is the tread, height and shape of the lugs.
Recently, studs with a rectangular insert have been used, which improves the grip properties of tires in the longitudinal direction
It is useful to remember that a studded wheel works completely differently when accelerating a car (even with slip) and when braking «skidding». In the first case, the tire discards particles of cut ice, self-cleaning, and the studs work effectively. In the second, cut ice accumulates under the wheel, an ice cushion is formed, through which the spikes may not reach the solid roadbed. On a clean, dry road that is not covered with ice, the use of studded tires is not justified in any way - their grip on hard surfaces is even less than that of ordinary universal tires without studs.
Exploitation
First you need to get into the interior of the car, covered with a layer of snow. Therefore, in winter, there must be a brush for sweeping snow in the trunk, as well as a scraper with which you can remove frost from the windows. Cleaning should start from the driver's door.
After that, the door can be opened without the risk that there will be snow on the driver's seat, which will melt as the cabin warms up. To save time, after cleaning the driver's door, you can start the engine so that it warms up before leaving, at the same time the interior begins to warm up and the windows are cleared of ice.
It happens that the door or trunk lid cannot be opened with the key. The same thing can happen after washing the car and then driving out into the cold. You can try to remove the moisture frozen in the lock mechanisms with one of the so-called «lock defrosters». As a rule, such formulations are packaged in small volume vials or aerosol cans, which should be kept warm.
Sometimes on a cold night, a damp door or trunk seal will freeze tightly to the body. A frozen door should be opened carefully so as not to damage the seal, and to prevent the seal from freezing to the door, it is advisable to apply a layer of a special silicone-based composition to the rubber before freezing.
In winter, even a serviceable engine is harder to start. As you know, at low temperatures, the capacity of the battery decreases, and the oil in the engine becomes more viscous. As a result, it becomes more difficult for the starter to turn the crankshaft of the engine. Therefore, first of all, it is necessary to ensure that the battery is fully charged.
Silicone grease to protect door seals in winter
It must also be remembered that when starting the engine without disengaging the clutch, the starter has to rotate not only the engine crankshaft, but also the gears of the gearbox, and the oil in the gearbox also becomes more viscous in winter. Therefore, to reduce the load on the starter when starting the engine in severe frosts, it is imperative to disengage the clutch. After the engine has warmed up a little and starts to run steadily, you can gently release the clutch pedal without allowing the engine to stall. Remember that each engine start consumes battery power. A few unsuccessful attempts - and the engine can no longer be started without outside help.
Before starting the engine, the battery is better a little «warm up», turning on the high beam headlights for 10-20 s.
If the starter is confident «twists» engine, but it still does not start, you should immediately stop starting so as not to discharge the battery and deal with the health of the motor. Often the cause of the malfunction is the presence of water in the fuel. During parking, water freezes in the fuel lines, fuel filter, fuel module strainer and thereby blocks the access of fuel to the engine. To prevent such a situation, a special additive that binds water should be added to the fuel, and it is also not recommended to leave the car in the parking lot with a tank less than a quarter filled.
After the engine has started, move the air distribution regulator knob to the windshield and front door glass blowing position and set the heater electric fan operation mode switch to the position «1». As the engine warms up, the air leaving the heater will become warmer, and thus «soft» (no heat stroke) glass heating. When the glass is clear of ice, you can direct some of the warm air down and some of it onto the glass to prevent fogging.
When the engine warms up a little and the windows are clear, you can start driving. Do not forget that not only the oil in the engine and gearbox thickens in frost, but also the fluid in the shock absorbers and the grease in the wheel bearings. At the beginning of the movement, you should not overcome the unevenness of the road surface at high speed - this can lead to damage to the shock absorbers. For some time after the start of the movement, move at a low speed so that the fluid in the shock absorbers warms up. It is necessary to wipe the condenser installed in front of the standard car radiator at least several times during the winter. It is this element of the air conditioner design that is exposed to the aggressive environment of various anti-icing reagents, which are abundantly sprinkled and watered on our roads in winter. Reagents corrode the aluminum condenser, causing refrigerant leaks. It should be borne in mind that it is not permissible to cover the capacitor with any anticorrosive agent, as this will reduce the efficiency of its operation. In winter, when leaving the car in the parking lot, you should not use the parking brake: the pads can freeze to the drums and block the rear wheels. The best way to defrost the pads is to remove the wheel and pour hot water from a kettle on the brake drum or direct hot gases from the exhaust pipe of the car onto it. To do this, you need a flexible hose of a suitable diameter and length.