Be Excellent To Each Other

This country is still shit when it gets over an inch of snow, for no reason that I can figure out.

So, when you get stranded in the snow not because you can't get up a tiny hill, but because the cretins in front of you can't, here is what you'd like to have:
(In all seriousness, it really is a good idea to have all of these things in your car in winter, as you never know when you or someone else on the road might need them)

Bear in mind that this isn't a list of stuff to do when you notice it's snowing in the morning, you should do it around mid-November.

• Check your antifreeze. Testers can be purchased from Halfords or similar, or you can get it done at the same time as you...
• Check your battery. Again, you can buy testers, or go to a garage. If your battery is going to fail, it's likely to fail in the winter
• Check all the other fluids in the car (brake fluid, oil, transmission fluid if you have an auto, water levels)
• Check the tread on your tyres. If they're getting close to the limit, get them replaced
• Go to Homebase and pick up a bag or two of rock salt, and put them in your garage. They're around £5, and you won't be able to buy them for love or money once the snow hits
• If you live in Scotland or Northern England and always get lots of snow, it might be worth getting a set of snow chains, and now is the time to buy them. You only need two for a two-wheel drive car, or four for a 4x4
• Make sure you have all of the following in your car:
  
  • A blanket for each person in the car
  • A can of de-icer
  • A car charger for your mobile
  • Some chocolate bars
  • Spare windscreen washer
  • Bottles of water
  • A fold-up spade (here's a cheap one)
  • A gallon of whatever fuel your car needs
  • A book for while you're waiting (and maybe some toys if you have kiddies)
• You really should have a fire extinguisher, first aid kit, set of jump leads and a florescent jacket/vest in your car all your round.

If you have a 4x4 you can add a tow rope to that list, for dragging lesser cars around and feeling butch The type you can get from petrol stations will do, but if you get a good kinetic strap you'll be able to recover lorries buses, too.
You might also want to consider joining your local 4x4 Response team. In bad weather they'll ask you to help out with all sorts of things, from delivering water to acting as an emergency ambulance.
However: VERY IMPORTANT: Your 4x4 can go forward in the snow more effectively than other cars, but that doesn't mean it's any better at stopping or going around corners, so be careful.

If you do get stranded in the snow, get all your stuff out of the boot and have a look around for other people who are also stranded. Share cars with each other, running the engine for five minutes with the heaters on full every half hour or so (or however long it takes the car to get cold).

Finally, be a member of the AA. It costs £28 for a whole year, which is a proper no-brainer. It's even worth considering if you don't have a car, but are regularly a passenger in one.

This bit is important.

Also, if you find that your car is having trouble getting up a hill of through a patch of snow, try the following:

1) Momentum is key. Reverse until you can easily get going forward again, and build up as much speed as you dare. Never stop pointing up a hill, if you can help it. Leave a good gap between you and the car in front.
2) Choose the highest gear you can - pull off in second and change when the revs are low.
3) Don't change anything fast - speed (accelerating or breaking) or direction.
4) If you have traction control, switch it off (remember to switch it on again).
5) If you're really in trouble, try letting some air out of your drive wheels, just enough so you see them start to squash up on the bottom*.
6) Finally, if you still can't get anywhere, some tyre patterns work better in the snow if you jam your foot to the floor and work your way up the gears, spinning the wheels madly. This is a) not good for the car, and b) not exactly safe, so last resort.

*pump them back up again as soon as you can.

An interesting alternative to snow chains are these 'snow gloves':
http://www.devon4x4.com/index.php?optio ... &Itemid=14
They are very good, apparently, although I haven't tried them.

Grim... prefers the hyphenated de-icer, but that's because he's rich.

Not by accident: viewtopic.php?style=19&p=356422#p356422

I had a set for my Transit. Made it go from completely-unusable to not-bad in snow. Certainly a lot easier to fit and remove.

How do you do it, put them over most of the wheel, drive forward, and put them over the rest?

Yep, exactly.

*remembers advisory notes on MOT*

Fucksticks.

No excuses, Z-funk! I don't want one of my 4x4 Response buddies to be dragging you out of a ditch!

Bah, I need new tyres too, according to Ramsea. Better get that organised soon then.

If you find that you have left your car in the cold and it won't start (like I did last year) it is most likely the battery, you can call out the AA, but they are likely busy and therefore slow to respond. Alternatively, you can do what they would do; heat it yourself. If you have an electric blanket, then that is what they will use (effectively). I park my car away from my flat, so have no power sockets to use, so I filled glass bottles with boiling water, and packed them around the battery, and also used those microwave bean bag things (in plastic bags to keep them clean) to fill in the gaps. After about 10-15 minutes of heating, the battery had enough power to start the car, and I was away.

Note, do not obstruct anything that might spin, move, turn!

This is quality advice. A more expensive solution is to get one of these.

And if it does happen, think about replacing your battery.

Another thing you can do is to get a can of WD-40, and wipe some around your door seals - this will prevent them from sticking. Also spray a load in the door locks (if you use your key to unlock the car) and lock / unlock it a few times to help keep the locks from sticking.

I know, I know.

I guess I should get the break pads and discs done too.

Which is clearly better than WD40

I know, I know.

I guess I should get the break pads and discs done too.

Hang on...

Why wouldn't they just jump start you?

How do you stop eating the bars of chocolate on good days?

Get supermarket-brand chocolate.

they use (so I have been told) little blankets that sit around the battery. I haven't seen it myself, but that is what I was told.

I think you were told wrong. You can however buy little heated blankets like that, which you install in your car. Valid in places where you also use block heaters (so, Canada and Sweden etc).

But for jump starting, they jump start it.

I got a Kit from the AA last year which include a folding spade/shovel...

I might look at teh snow gloves as my car is useless on the hill that MrsKov lives..

I live in Scotland, we eat snow* for breakfast up here.

Last year my car was properly snowed in, so I didn't use it. Did a lot of walking but also got sent home from work a lot (as my workplace is at the bottom of a hill, so buses would flounce at the slightly hint of heavy snow).

Also when marathon training started I went for a couple of very interesting runs on pavements covered with compacted snow. It was an interesting near-death experience.

* Scottish porridge oats

Excellent thread Grim... thank you. I'd started doing some of these already, but thanks for the heads up on the others that I don't always think about until the weather really turns.

Last year I had the M5, the speedbumps in my road defeated me when the snow was heavy.

This year we have the cheap Micra too, so I should be able to go anywhere

oh well, heating it worked anyway!

Lidl have some car stuff in their specials tomorrow. Is it just going to be cheap tat does anyone know? Or do it's job ok? They have snow chains and testers for antifreeze. Opinions?

The chains look similar to the ones I have. Not brilliant but ok unless you're doing anything extreme, and are relatively easy to fit. Antifreeze is antifreeze.. "Aluminium jump leads".. not so much. shop away!

First windscreen scraping day for me this morning!

I find they produce a much more workable exhaust note.

Oh, bravo.

I see Jasmine has resurrected Grim...s dick.

I should have known.

Well, if any woman could...

I have semi slick goodyears, rear wheel drive, pathetic heater, low ground clearance and the jump leads are in the shed.

However I DO have a tiny folding shovel, thank goodness for that, all will be well.

On a more serious note - turn into the slide! If you cant get your front wheel drive up a hill, consider reversing it up (the gearing is lower and more weight will be over the front axle).