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[USA] Moving to a colder climate soon (Denver or Minneapolis-ish), how do I prepare my car? (self.nostupidquestions)

submitted 3 months ago* (last edited 1 month ago) by acetanilide to c/[email protected]

31 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Update 2024-10-27: Made it to my new home! Thanks to everyone for your input. Winter is closing in and I think we are well prepared!

Hello,

I have never lived in a snowy place. Where I am now we usually get enough ice to make it slick and it shuts the region down. We live in the center of the country so depending where exactly we end up we probably won't have an entire mountain to drive over...probably.

I am moving to be either in Denver area or Minneapolis area. What do I do with our cars?

I have a small 4WD SUV (I don't know how to drive in areas that actually require 4WD). Our other car is a slightly larger SUV. Both have pretty low clearance.

We currently have all season tires. Do we need to get special tires or chains? How do I learn to drive with the chains? Also, does everyone just have 2 sets of tires laying around?

What about vehicle fluids? IIRC viscosity is different in different climates, is that just oil I'd need to worry about?

And are you supposed to heat your car or whatever? I know they do that in super cold places but not sure about Minneapolis.

The areas we are looking at are in and around the major cities, although if we end up in Minnesota there's a chance we will be in a more rural area or in a place where we need to drive a long distance because housing is expensive.

If anyone knows how much longer we have to get there before the roads become treacherous this winter that would be helpful. I think we have til end of September to be safe, is that usually true?

Any other tips are much welcomed and appreciated. I don't really have anyone I can ask and the internet is pretty full of AI BS now.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 months ago (5 children)

+1 to making sure your washer fluid can handle the cold and to making sure your tires handle snow/ice well. (There are definitely all-seasons that'll do well or better than some winter tires. Unless you know that where you're moving doesn't plow down to pavement, I'd avoid studded tires.). Tirerack.com used to have a ton of data about tire performance on ice & snow, so you might look there, but they've been reducing the range of tires they carry and rate in the last few years so they may not have your tires.

Find a snow brush for your car that will let you reach & clear the snow off your car. I'll also say I often am most disappointed by the ice scraper on a brush -- meaning that's the part that makes me regret the purchase of an individual brush.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago (3 children)

I've always just refilled with low temp washer fluid if I'm running low and it's getting close to winter. otherwise the other one does better with bugs and such in the other seasons. never had a problem with anything freezing, but I may go through it faster than others or smth

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (2 children)

There are people in temporate states like CA that just put water in. That's why I explicitly mentioned it.

[–] acetanilide 1 points 3 months ago

Ah yeah I only use the special fluids lol. I probably need to top it off soon anyway so I will just make sure the new one is correct.

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