Winter preps -- Time for the switch over

What are you doing to prepare for the change of seasons?

we still have a tropical storm in the Gulf...

I moved my military surplus ECWS sleeping bag set out of my car in early Spring, I'll put it back in the car around mid- or late-Fall. I'm also due for a periodic unpacking and repacking of the entire emergency kit.

SOCAL — With the exception of taking an extra layer of clothing and foregoing shorts, the change in seasons is a minor issue.

Vs what we do in Canada... tire changeover, vehicle winter prep, review the winter car kit for completeness that could fill some people's trunks! But I guess it doesn't differ that much in concept from a hurricane prone area.

We just had our Thanksgiving holiday so everybody is in prep mood for the winter.

I've got my tire changeover booked along with my oil change and other fluid top ups. Check pressure in the spare tire.
Temps are hovering around the 0°C mark and will only go lower so I need to store extra clothing in the vehicle. Bottled water doesn't freeze until temps are consistently at -10°C but even then I keep water bottles in the vehicle most of the winter.
My vehicle kit needs to be rechecked; shovel, kitty litter to be added and traction aide needs to be purchased. Battery to be checked and top-up charge as required. Jump starter pack is charged up. My BOB is to be updated for seasonal requirements.

The sprinklers lines were turned off and blown out in September. House thermostat adjusted for the heating season. Building vents cleared. I haven't decided if I want to seal the windows this year with thermal plastic or not - it should help with the air infiltration.

Are these Canadian snow tires?

No, those are what we refer to as spring and fall rated tires.

I was thinking more along this Canadian invention... they install and remove in a few minutes.



And the video of them in action:
https://youtu.be/wtB0-6hqi78

re: the TrackN'Go:
It reminds me of the real advantage of 4-wheel drive in general, but the TrackN'God is raised to the second power:
It let's you get really stuck even further away from help.

8^)

On the subject of winter tires; what do the Canadians recommend for the maximum age of winter tires?

Some here say to replace them after 4 years, but that is never actually stated by the manufactures. Mine are reaching 5 years from manufacture. Plenty to thread left and stored about 8-9 months a year in a temperature stable storage, on a tire rack that hangs them from the rims, with covers over each tire.

The cold is still a atleast a month away, so not switching over yet. Have stopped topping of the windshield washer fluid, so i can add the winter stuff without too much diluting it.

I don't worry about age, only tread wear. After a certain amount of wear, the fine ice-gripping surfaces wear off. With more wear, the harder rubber substrate of the tire comes to the surface. At that point, I really notice the difference on ice. They are still better than all-season tires, but nothing like new ice/snow tires.

Some say to replace the tires because the rubber compound starts to harden en you lose some of the grip provided by that soft rubber. This is just not something the manufactures actually states. Something everybody here does agree on is to replace winter tires with less than 4mm tread (for winter performance).

Some people want to squeeze the remaining life out of the winter tires by driving from 4mm to 1.6mm (legal limit) in summer. A quick calculation of increased cost in fuel tells me it's cheaper to just toss them and put wear on the summer tires. It also performs poorly in summer...

In the UK there is an upsurge in 'cross climate' tyres. Good in fair wether and foul.

I have not tried them at all but many people report they work well.

I suspect they are neither fish nor foul or jack of all trades and master of none but the UK does not get the extremes seen elsewhere in the world but conditions can quickly change, good to bad and bad to good so it avoids constant tyre changes.

Thoughts?

Michelin

Review

Dear me.... it has been SO long.... I forgot we use to have to change over to ‘snow tires’. We’ve been in FL TOO long!

I suppose the question is: how deep does that hardening go? I have no hard evidence on that, though my tire guys say it is only skin deep -- as soon as you run on clear asphalt or concrete, the hard skin is worn off.


I have done that on occasion. As you say, there is a cost in fuel efficiency. Handling is affected also, though not so much that a capable driver cannot compensate. It helps to increase the tire pressure to the maximum listed on the tire itself. Still, it is a compromise, and from a survival point of view, tires are a terrible place to compromise.

I agree, the changeover is an unavoidable nuisance.

Watching the news, though, it does seem that nature regularly tries to wash FL back into the sea, which I imagine has its own attendant nuisance factor...?

EDIT: Though I'm responding to a little friendly chaff with a little chaff of my own, I am also mindful of the impact of Hurricane Michael. Hope everyone is staying safe out there.

1) Changed to Snow Tires
2) Reloaded and Double Checked my Duffel Bag in my Vehicle
3) Removed a Lighter Jacket and Added a warmer Down parka in the Duffel
4) Ensured my Vehicle Maintenance was up to date and checked the Block Heater, Battery Blanket and Trickle Changer on the Battery
5) Cutting down on evening and night driving as it now gets darker faster and we have less light

Snow In NYC today; will send report tomorrow

I haven’t had a chance to unpack and repack the emergency kits yet, but I did put my ECWSS back in the car. This act brought to my attention that I may have too much prep stuff in the car; I’m going to go through everything and see if there are places that I can reduce redundancy.

ABC News report on the storm

A good reason for watching the weather, having a warm EDC kit and a reminder that Winter is here

I’d love to try these on my Subaru 😂

I don't drive, so none of the vehicle related preps are relevant to me.

Last winter was cold by local standards and preps found a little wanting.
I ran out of fire wood and had to resort to the emergency stash of smokeless fuel.
I have increased stocks of fire wood, about 3 cubic meters of logs and about 1 cubic meter of artificial logs. And replenished smokeless fuel supplies.

Power outages are to be expected, I feel well prepared for such.

Being snowed in is not that likely, but could happen and I therefore keep ample non perishable food.