Rep Power: 237

WINTER TIRES:



Now with winter approaching and snow about to hit the ground if it already hasnt... youll find yourself in a big mess if you are still running summer tires and in some cases even all seasons wont do the trick. Look for tires that are soft in compound (this will ensure a better grip when the rubber is sticky) rather then a tire that is hard. Also keep an eye on the tread pattern, make sure it has many "ice" grooves to keep your ride on the road in these conditions. Tires marked with "M+S" are an all-season rated radial which are generally good for some conditions but in weather where snow is real heavy or ice, sleet, etc are present these tires wont hold up, so keep this in mind when shopping around because all-season tires tend to stiffen and lose gripping power around zero Celsius.


a few other ideas when looking for good winters:


- look for the peaked mountain with snowflake symbol.


- Make sure that winters you do have on the car have enough tread depth.


- Keep the tires inflated properly throughout winter, this also helps out with fuel mileage.


- Mount all 4 winter tires, dont mix and match!!


CHECK YOUR ENGINE OIL:

Good time to check your oil & change if you havent recently.... it is important to have the correct grade of oil for winter as this will effect how the car runs and starts! Heavy grade oils will make it hard on the battery & starter so keep it to the proper oil grade!


CHECK FLUIDS:

- Windshield fluid (Winter) for alteast a -30 rating.
- Clutch fluid
- Brake fluid
- Power steering fluid
- Rad fluid


Drive safe!!

 
Rep Power: 321

thank god for florida

 
Rep Power: 237

...sure, rub it in already!

lawlz

 
Rep Power: 811

lol i dont believe in this winterizing. everything stays how it is.

 
Rep Power: 237

how is that?

Getting the car prepped for winter....
if you change all 4 tires and possibly even an oil change?
maybe even getting new rad fluid in some cases, etc...

so how is this not changing anything?

 
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you do that stuff anyway. theres no reason to wait until winter comes. i follow my own maint schedule, and if it happens to fall during winter, so be it. why would i go out and buy new tires for winter if the ones i already have are still fine. i dont get it. i didnt think getting an oil change was a winter thing, i get mine done whenever the current oil gets old, every 5k miles. all the other fluids are still at normal levels, so it doesnt make sense to fill those up either just because it gets cold.

 
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i see where you were coming from, so i edited it k.

 
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I prefer to keep my summer tires on in the snow...nothing beats the look of oncoming motorists seeing a civic sliding 6 inches away from them lol kiddin I have some goodyear integritys to use for the bad weather...sucks that they have to go on so soon

 
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^^^^^ I'm with him


nice copy/paste fg.
just proving my point further

 
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i'm glad i live in cali. We just have to prepare for heavy rains..lol.

 
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you guys are damn lucky.... i hate winter because they throw salt all over the streets which is really bad for the paint!

 
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i believe the point of this post was just a friendly reminder of a few things you might want to check ... as far as winter tires if ur summer ones are fine you dont have to change them he was simply letting you know how you can get a little more traction and possibly make the diffrence between your car sliding or possibly crashing. yes oil weight makes a diffrence no you dont have to change it until ur next sheduled oil change but im sure your car would appreciate not having to work its *** to start when it could be avoided.

 
Rep Power: 237

first of all, the only "Copy & paste" i did was images...
next, i did the text myself,

last...yea...its was a friendly reminder so i dont know what the issue here is?

sorry for once again trying to help out!

 
Rep Power: 285

Woot, snow is coming and I'm running on almost bald all-season 215/45/17. I'm just about the the wear indicator(like 1 mm lol), and I can barely get traction in the rain. This first half of winter should be interesting until Christmas, should be getting some new Toyo's then. Ventus HRII FTL!!!!

 
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about the oil, if you use the recommended 5w20, there is no problem in winter. they chose this weight based on the engine internals and also temperature range. it is fine even if you live in canada.

 
Rep Power: 247

I do all the regular maintanence my self. (I keep it up to date.)

I use Mobile 1 trisynthetic, the 15,000 mile one, I change it every 5-8k.

I keep my tires inflated correctly. I do change my wheels but only because I don't want the salt and other crap to mess up the polished lip.

I would also suggest spraying your car off at the car wash every so often just to help get rid of the salt and other grime that builds up. If you have a carbon fiber hood or other body part this is even more true.

 
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good info. yea i always try and get the salt off, preferably waiting until it gets above freezing, otherwise you will have nice ice sheets all over your car lol.

 
Rep Power: 277

Just put my steelies on!

snow tires do 50x better in the snow than my summer perfomance ones, and I don't want to damage my rims in the winter w/ the salt/sand.

 
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yeah, took off my rims and put snow tires on before october, and it hasn't snowed a decent amount yet, also don't worry about removing the ice from your car it protects it from the salt.

 
Rep Power: 265

A few personal tips

1. have good tires on the car with deep tread...no summer tires, they just wont work I have tried
2. check fluids one more time and make sure they are all topped off
3. make sure nothing is hanging from the bottom of the car..if you bottom out on something, chances are it may get ripped off..ive lost plastic piece of my air dam on my old car like this before
4. if you have a cold air intake, short ram it, just in case
5. if you have an adjustable suspension, raise the car....youll look like a bigger idiot bottoming out than having a fistable wheelgap
6. make sure tires have correct pressure
7. check wiper blades for cracks/tears
8. Unless you are using the proper low temp windshield washer fluid, dont try to spray it. my friend did and it was frozen in his lines and just broke the motor at the bottom of the tank

spring tips

1. get the car on jackstands (youll do this when you swap wheels back on anyway)
2. wash under the car...try to avoid high pressure
3. check all fluids again
4. Check wiper blades for tears and cracks
5. check for all plastics under the car

I also usually run a thinner oil in the winter time for easier starts

summer for me is 10w-30 (i drive kinda hard)
winter for me is 5w-30

 
Rep Power: 229

SALT + Rims = bad?
do i really need to put my stock rims back on? i have black axis rims with polished lip wrapped in nitto neo gens. the only reason im asking is because if i put my stock SE rims back on i cant make it in my driveway kuz my cars too low then, and switching the rims is a hassle kuz i have to jack it up from inside my wheel well to reach the reinforced point kuz the side skirts are too low. SO
Will the salt really ruin my rims? (i've only heard of salt deteriorating chrome after a LONG period of time.)

 
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This is a good question. I switched back to the Stockers because I was afraid of the same thing. If all will be fine, I would love to put my Konigs back on.

 
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i believe it ruins the finish on rims

 
Rep Power: 249

my winter preparation = park car in the garage, put fuel stabilizer in the tank, put the e-brake down, unhook battery cables and hook the battery up to a low current charger, sit back and relax knowing my absolutely spotless car is sitting in a nice garage.

 
Rep Power: 811

come on guys, common sense here. brake dust is worse for your rims than salt. clean rims weekly no matter what the weather. theres no reason to take off rims for the winter. if it gets dirty, goto the car wash.

heres what im doing to winterize while i leave the car in the parking lot for a month: disconnect battery. that is all.

 
Rep Power: 242

I thought the W rating was the cleaners or whatever additives they put in oil and that the last number was the thickness.

I ran 10w-30 out of habit. Then I looked at the oil cap last week and said hell, lemme put the right synthetic in. To me the car responds better with the 5w-20. Maybe it is just me? Don't know. I deff feel a difference when I turn the car on and the acceleration is improved.

 
Rep Power: 811

the engine is designed to use thinner oil, its just the tolerences are smaller and thicker oil cannot make its way through the spaces as easily. theres a reason why honda puts 5W20 right on the oil cap even.

 
Rep Power: 352

hahha...you guys dont even HAVE snow in FL...

lucky for us in CALIFORNIA, we have even better whether.....

AND have mountains for snow.....

but then again, the cost of living in CA is so damn high...

...hahha and get get bout 4" of rain a year...HAHAHA

 
Rep Power: 320

yeah i would go with the 5w-20. You'll notice your gas mileage go up slightly with the thinner oil.

 
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I have a '05 Civic LX and it just started getting colder here in TX. Complete noob when it comes do doing things myself on cars, but I figured now that I have my Civic I should start - something bugs me about taking it in.

What's a good oil to use? I've got a change that's due and I figured I should get on this winterizing before it really gets cold. I've heard different weights affect performance and others affect mileage. Most times I could use better mileage but there's also a few times when I push acceleration to 5000 RPM on the first 3 gears. Any recommendations on what kind of oil to use? I just wonder if running the car like that in the winter is gonna damage something, so I've taken it easy at least till I get the oil change done.

Thanks!