1. Installed winter snow tires and new rims on the car. I went with a "-1 system" by going to a smaller rim and a higher profile tire. The tires were each $50 cheaper than using the OEM size which basically paid for the new rims. The tires are slightly skinnier which makes it easier to push through snow. I parked the OEM tires in the garage.

2. Replaced the "token" collapsible lug nut wrench that came with the vehicle with a solid 4-spoke wrench. Admittedly I had this on my list of things to do for a while. I have a passionate hate-on for manufacturers who use skinny spares and cut weight on items that are truly useful. Too bad the tire compartment won't support a full size spare or I would have changed that out too!

3. Purchased a lithium-ion battery jump start kit. I am still skeptical that these smallish battery jump start devices (500 amp) will actually work on a cold dead battery in the deep cold of a Canadian prairie winter! But if I was by myself without another vehicle handy it would be better than staying stranded. If nothing else it serves as a USB power source for electronics but after opening the package it doesn't have an appropriate connector for either my personal or work laptops.

4. Reviewed my vehicle kit (glove box, console, storage bins, duffle bag in trunk) to ensure it was up-to-date for winter.

5. Topped up the vehicle fluids.

6. Began writing up a presentation for my office based on, what else, "How to prepare for getting stranded in the winter." Now I have to trim it down and make the PP slides.

I added a two-foot length of 1 1/2" pipe to each car, stored with the spare tire, rather than replacing the OEM lug wrench. Leverage is your friend.

The pipe extenders are a definitely a good idea but if you saw the OEM lug wrench they gave me you would have laughed at it. It was made of sheet metal rolled into a tube c/w a hinged section to shorten it in half. Put a pipe extender on this thing and it would bend like spaghetti. Heck, I think I could do my best Arnold "Terminator" impression and bend it by hand!

Yikes. Our two cars came with forged L-shaped lug wrenches, reasonably decent if nobody uses an impact wrench to get the wheels on the car. Of course, every shop everywhere uses an impact wrench to get the wheels on the car. I'm surprised I didn't get hurt jumping up and down on the L-shaped wrench when I got a flat. That is why I put the length of pipe in each car.

Try a ~36"/1m long 1/2" drive cheap breaker bar w/ deep impact socket. The impact rating on the socket is important. I managed to split a normal deep socket at the corner with the bar using it on lug nuts put on with an impact wrench.

while at the local big box hardware store for paint I got another jug of kerosene.this is for the last ditch room we would retreat into if the power went off during a winter storm.
the heater is from a yard sale but looks like it might have been just fired up as a test once and put away.
I should do that myself and see just how much heat it puts out.
we have never had a major loss of power so I went with a cheap kero heater rather than a generator to run the gas furnace.
I have a newer car,2006 Ford focus station wagon that is in very good shape so unlike my older Kanoe Kars i'm not loading it down with survival gear.i'm not going outside the metro area during the winter so a cell phone,sleeping bag and snacks to munch on waiting for a tow is all I need.

Good idea about adding a "snipe" (cheater bar) to the car kit. I keep forgetting to do it. BTW, impact wrenches have a clutch to adjust the amount of torque, so a competent operator will match it to the vehicle, while a "lug nut" may leave it on the F-350 setting.

Preps:
- Getting new winter tires for the other car (once you use dedicated winter tires, you never go back to the laughably named "all seasons")

- Checking the car kits and adding warm clothing and some emergency food

- Shopping for a natural gas fireplace insert for our upstairs fireplace (this will be the type that can operate without electricity; more expensive, but highly reliable since our gas distribution is not directly dependent on the grid

- Planning an emergency wood heat system for my old-style basement fireplace (one that adds more heat than it sucks out) to protect pipes from freezing

- Setting up a tarp woodshed; I have a lot of standing dead spruce that will come down after the ground freezes

At the time, I was driving a GMC 1500 pickup. Even allowing for that, they set it on high. I know the tire shop used to use a torque setting extension between the wrench and socket. I'll have to watch next time to see if they still do.

+1 on the upstairs fireplace conversion. We've done it to both of ours. Get the non-vented kind otherwise half the heat goes up the vent. Non-vented non-electric with a thermostat works like a charm. Set it and forget it. Our downstairs set is in a wood stove type fireplace set out from the wall so to switch it back to wood is relatively simple. Uncap the chimney, set the logs out, and pull the gas line out of the ash dump.

I also carry a breaker bar in the truck along with impact sockets to fit the truck lug nuts and our 2 other trailer lug nut sizes. The breaker bar takes far less room under the seat then a 4 way wrench does.

For those who have frozen lug nuts, chances are the garage or tire shop tech torqued them on way too tight. Way back in the day when I worked in a garage, we used to take a Sharpie and write the proper lug nut torque limit on the inside of the vehicles hubcaps. That way, next time the customer brought in their vehicle, it would save us time from having to look up torque values in various vehicle manuals. Nowadays, lug nut torque information is available on the internet for just about any vehicle.

Hi,
I just step on the lug wrench,
is that not how you're supposed to do it?