It’s Winter Time! Are you Ready?

Ah winter time. For some, a time of peace and tranquility, a sight of beauty and wonder – perfect. To others, it’s just darn cold. Regardless your take on the season you need to be prepared for winters wrath. Here’s three winter driving tips that will help you be prepared for this potentially rugged season.

1. Check your tires before the winter time sets in.
“I’m good, I put some air in those babies last week!” Check ’em again, Einstein. Cold temperatures makes the air in tires contract. You lose a pound of pressure per square inch for every 10-degree drop. Beyond that, the cold air can also make the rubber on your tires stiff, which could result in cracking or separating where the tire meets the rim.  Check them often and make sure you put in the proper amount of PSI to ensure you’ll be prepared when the rubber meets the road.

2. Carry the stuff that will help you in-case of a bind during the winter time.
You are a perfect driver and react to every situation — me too 🙂

However, when it comes to the point where proper skill and logic just won’t help you, you need to be prepared. Do you have…

• A Shovel?
• A Bag of sand, cardboard, kitty litter or anything that might help you gain traction when stuck?
• A Flashlight with extra batteries?
• A Compass?
• A First Aid Kit?
• Jumper Cables?
• A Tool Kit?
• A Working Jack in your Trunk?
• A Properly Inflated Spare Tire?
• A Couple Reflective triangles?
• A Ice Scraper?
• A Spare Container of Anti-Freeze?
• Blankets?
• A hat and gloves?
• Winter walking shoes?
• A cell phone car charger?

If you don’t have all or at least most of the aforementioned items then you are failing. It’s important to be properly prepared for any situation, you don’t want to find yourself in a dire situation with no tools to help you out of the bind.

3. Know what your doing when you start a swerving.
Don’t panic when your vehicle starts taking you on a trip you weren’t quite expecting. Most stuff slips on ice (with a few exceptions of-course) your vehicle, unfortunately, falls into the “Most Stuff” category when it comes to ice.

If your rear wheels start to skid take your foot off the accelerator and steer your front wheels in the direction your rear wheels are skidding. Be calm and don’t jerk the steering wheel around, you might have to steer back and forth into the skids, but do so in a controlled and subtle manner.

Front wheels sliding? Take your foot off the gas and shift into neutral. When your vehicle starts to gain traction from the wheels skidding to the side, put your vehicle into drive again and accelerate gently into the direction you want to go.

If you’re sliding right toward something and you know without a doubt that you’re going to hit it … well then you’re just plain out of luck.  About all you can do is yell some sort of extremity (“Oh $&*#!!!”) and wait for the worst.  That’s why you’re mom always told you to wear clean underwear before leaving the house, because first you yell it and then you do it.

Great! Now I’m stuck!
Whoa, sorry to hear! but don’t fret, and definitely don’t start frantically trying to accelerate out of there! If you do find yourself stuck, you first want to clear any snow obstructing your tires. If you have that bag of sand handy or a length of cardboard, throw some down in front of your tires to help gain traction. When the path is a bit clearer, SLOWLY try to accelerate out (if you spin your tires you are digging yourself in deeper). If all else fails (and you’re sure you won’t damage your vehicle doing so), slowly try to rock your vehicle back and forth creating a path for your vehicle to follow.

Hopefully this information helps, I know the Tri-States get pretty bad in the winter and sooner or later most people find themselves in a situation they would have rather avoided.  (Case in point:  After I published the first draft of this blog post, I went out in the snow to start my car.  I turned the key and gave it a couple revs and then got out to brush the fresh snow off of my car.  The doors somehow mysteriously locked while I was brushing the car off and it was still running! So our Parts guy, Anthony (bless his Irish soul), had to come down and break into my car so I wouldn’t have to spend the night at Runde’s).  So please never head out thinking nothing bad will happen, because the fact is – you never know.   You really never know.  Be prepared and you will find yourself having that great winter you imagined… or that darn cold winter you never wanted and certainly never asked for.

Oh … and perhaps add “carry a spare car key with you” to the list of do’s above.   I know I will from now on … and that’s actually a year round tip … not just one for the winter time.