Winter Warriors: The Most Essential Cold-Weather Car Accessories
As winter comes, your car becomes your trusty ride through snowstorms, icy roads, and negative temperatures. In order to ensure that you are properly equipped for the cold season, consider investing in the most essential cold-weather car accessories. You can prepare for everything that the winter has to throw at you with these accessories to protect your vehicle’s exterior and keep yourself warm. Become a winter warrior with these must-have car accessories!
Snow Brush and Ice Scraper Combo Why You Need It: Snow and ice on your windshield and windows can affect your visibility and make driving dangerous.
The Solution: Purchase a snow brush and ice scraper 2-in-1. For maximum comfort and control, find one on a budget with a long handle and a soft foam grip.
How It Helps: Scrap off the levels of snow and ice with no effort, so that your car is ready to hit the road with a clean and safe windshield.
Windshield De-Icer Spray Why You Need It: Sometimes, scraping is not enough and the ice is so stuck that it doesn’t come off.
The Solution: Keep windshield deicer spray in your car – simply spray it off to melt the ice.
How It Helps: The ice on your windows will instantly disappear as you watch – spray it on and go!
Windshield, Mirror, and Wiper Covers
Why You Need Them: You might be running late and don’t have time to defrost – and then you have to deal with frost, snow, and ice on your windshield, mirrors, and wipers.
The Solution: Use covers specifically designed for your windshield, mirrors, and wipers.
How They Help: Just cover them the night before and uncover them in the morning – no need to waste time defrosting and scraping.
Portable Snow Shovel
Why You Need It: Occasionally the snow has to be shoveled – for instance, if it piles or ices up.
The Solution: Get a portable snow shovel that breaks down.
How It Helps: Dig your tires out of snow banks or carve a way to freedom when you are stuck. As there is snow, slush, and ice underneath your wheels, it is crucial for you to ensure the security and efficiency of your winter driving.
Cat Litter for Traction
Why You Need It: Sometimes your tires need extra grip on slippery surfaces.
The Solution: Keep a bag of cat litter in your trunk.
How It Helps: Sprinkle it around your tires to improve traction and get unstuck
Air Compressor for Tire Fill-Ups
Why You Need It: Cold weather causes tire pressure to drop. The Solution: Carry an air compressor for emergency fill ups.
How It Helps: Makes sure your tires are in tiptop shape to handle the cold weather.
Electric Heated Blanket
Why You Need It: Winter drives are much more pleasant when you’re warm.
The Solution: Get an electric heated blanket that plugs into your car’s 12-volt outlet.
How It Helps: Allows you to drive for hours feeling warm as a bug in a rug.
Heavy-Duty Car Mats
Why You Need Them: Snow, slush, and salt are terrible for your car’s carpeting.
The Solution: Get heavy-duty car mats to serve as barriers between your shoes and the floor.
How They Help: Your car will always be clean, no matter what you track in from the winter wonderland.
Trunk Organizer
Why You Need It: Winter accessories in a chaotic pile in your trunk.
The Solution: Create a layer of organization with a trunk organizer.
How It Helps: Easily access whatever you need without having to sort through the clutter.
Your car will be a veritable fortress against the elements with these winter accessories. Stay warm, stay safe, and conquer the cold season. Driving in snow and ice requires extra caution and specific techniques to ensure safety.
Here are some essential tips for driving in snow and ice:
- To understand your comfort level: It is important to understand your comfort level of winter driving, if you are new to it or feel a bit unsettled do not test it. If you do not feel comfortable driving in snow and ice, I would even recommend to take other mode of transportation during those periods.
- Ensure your whole car is cleaned from snow and ice: It is important to clean all the snow and ice from your car. The reasons being the following will occur with the snow on your roof; it could slide on your windscreen and block your view and even worse it could slide down and hit the cars following you. Let the car warm up, use it to melt the ice. Before you drive it through harsh conditions just warm some water and throw it on the windshield, as the ice will melt off.
- You might need to invest in some snow gear: It might be a good idea to invest in some snow ties and chain they are sold with tire alternate treading and can help you immensely and tires with small metal studs alongside are sold alongside snow gear. They can help you a lot with your winter driving
- Brake Slowly and Drive More Slowly: In case of braking do so slowly, and driving slower both, basically, gently maneuvers are the answer, do not drive fast or accelerate and brake all of a sudden. The major problem with driving at high speeds is that it is easy to lose control of your vehicle and skidding. Drive at a slow speed of around 45mph
- Beware of the notorious and evil black ice: Spaces like bridges are very dangerous and should be driven carefully. Also look out for shady areas of the day as the black ice will stick to it. It’s invisible, and it usually comes on the rural where they are frost yet mantle.
- Make sure you have plenty of place between you and the vehicle in front of you, to stop the car if something happens.
- If your car skids, steer into the skid. Steer into the skid means that if your car is skidding in a particular direction, you should steer the front tires in the direction that the rear tires are moving in. Avoid sudden movements like hitting the brakes, since they can worsen the skid.
Winter driving requires patience, alertness, and flexibility. Use these tips to cope with nature safely.
Defrosting windows quickly is crucial for safe winter driving. Here is how to clear frost and ice from your windows effectively:
Start the vehicle early: Turn the key of the car and let your car run for a few minutes before driving it. The heat from your engine gradually defrosts the windows.
Use the defrost setting: Set your car’s defrost setting on the climate control. It is typically indicated by an icon of your windshield. The climate control system in this mode automatically sends warm air to the windshield and to the side passenger windows defrosting ice and frost.
Scrape the windows properly: Use a quality ice scraper to clean ice off the windows. Start from the top of your window and work down to provide a clear view.
Use cold water in moderation to clear ice off winter windows quicker: Only pour a small amount of cold water off your windshield. Refrain from using warm water because it will cause a very rapid temperature change that shatters your car glass. Turn the rear defroster on:
Use rear window defroster to defrost the windows on the back, and also the rear view. This will allow better visibility at all angles.
Park facing east in the morning: park your car facing east in the morning, so as to have better visibility and let the sun defrost your windows for you. Use deicer spray:
Cover the Windshield at Night by all means: get a tarp or a windshield cover to keep frost off your car overnight. Just take it off in the morning, and there you go—the windshield is lacking frost.
Keep Your Vehicle in Tune: Mechanics and car specialists remember about all the canons. They say, remember about such minor points as your vehicle’s coolant levels—allowing too low coolant in your car can lead to reduced effectiveness of your car heater. Plus, the windshield washer fluid, you have in your reservoir must be rated to freeze winter temperatures.
And remember to be patient; make sure that you truly see all the traffic; check all of your mirrors; get rid of the snow on the roof of your car before you start driving. Also make sure that the tires of your car are the correct type for the conditions (if not, you may want to check some snow tires from Vico). Use all types of car accessories including chains, all-weather mats, seat covers, and so on. Some of them are truly useful—from the warming seat to snow chains or felt necessity boots. A smart choice can really get things much better vice-versa than you expected. A bit of money and that’s it.