Winter roads with rapid changes of weather conditions make special demands on the safety of driving. And first of all, on the eve of cold weather, it is necessary to change the tyres of the car into winter ones.

Winter tyres

If the roads in your area are cleared from snow and ice quickly and effectively, it is worth paying attention to friction tyres for cars. Good friction tyres retain proper elasticity in a wide range of outdoor temperatures and are equally effective on various types of roadway. Thefit for city streets and country roads cleared of snow.

If the snow on the roads is cleared poorly, studded tyres are the best option for the winter. Tyres with signature "claws" tenaciously bite into the icy roadway, providing sensitive vehicle responses to steering commands. "Steel teeth" in modern models of such tyres are extremely rarely lost - earlier versions of "studs" had this flaw.

On snowy and icy roads, studded tyres help a lot.

For storing seasonal tyres, it is advisable to get special bags. Tyres are much more convenient to carry by hand without soiling clothes, besides, when stored in bags, tyres emit less signature odors. The issue is especially acute when tyres are stored on the balcony of an apartment house. It would also be useful to buy a separate fabric bag for the spare wheel, in case it just lies in the trunk.

Non-studded winter tyres

Snow cleaners

In addition to the spare tyre in the trunk, you need to carry a jack and snow cleaning products. By the way, a scraper brush and a car shovel will come in handy. The brush is useful for cleaning the body of the car from snow, the scraper at the tip of its handle will help get rid of the ice crust on the windows. Note that scrapers are often sold as a separate device for dealing with frost.

Snow brushes and scrapers come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes.

As for shovels, scoop-type models are suitable for clearing the roadway. Snow removal tools have a rectangular blade with signature curved edges. Bayonet shovels are somewhat worse for dealing with snow, but with their help it is easier to dig out wheels buried in snow slush.

Electrical accessories

The car's electrics behave in a completely different way in winter compared to the warm season. On cold, frosty days old batteries often fail. Their capacity sags due to low temperatures or the light accidentally left on. Chargers come to the rescue in maintaining the battery. A universal option for charging and "cold start" of a car battery - start chargers.

Recently, there has been a peak in the popularity of portable boosters that help starting a car with a dead battery. They can come in handy in situations where the engine needs to be started urgently and battery charging is not an option. For the period of inactivity, boosters act as power banks to charge the batteries of mobile gadgets.

Portable boosters for starting a car take up a minimum of space and work as a power bank too.

Just in case, put the jump start cables in the boot. "Crocodiles" take up a minimum of space and will fit to assist neighboring cars with a dead battery. Well, or vice versa - to start your own car from the battery of another vehicle.

Car Starters

Lubricants and fluids

Frost often causes damage to door seals. In order to avoid trouble, rubber in doorways and boot should be treated with special sprays, for example, silicone grease. Door hinges and locks are also treated with special compounds.

For the winter, do not forget to change the washer fluid. Regular glass cleaner quickly freezes in the pipes and can cause the washer reservoir to crack. On the shelves of car dealerships, both ready-made washer fluids and all kinds of concentrates are presented, allowing you to choose the degree of dilution with distilled water at your discretion.

Winter windscreen washer fluids are available as ready-made “anti-freeze” and concentrates, which must be diluted in appropriate proportions with distilled water.

For owners of diesel cars, our advice is to get a jar of anti-gel. This is a kind of "antifreeze" for diesel fuel, which prevents the diesel fuel from thickening at low outdoor temperatures. Anti-gel additives reduce the crystallization temperature of paraffin (it is contained in any diesel fuel), allowing the fuel to remain liquid even in severe frosts - from -20° C and below.

Accessories

If you need to travel frequently on unpaved winter roads, free some space in the boot for a tow rope. It comes to the rescue when getting out of the snow trap on your own is impossible.

Useful advice. A creative and effective way to get a car stuck in the snow is to use cat litter. On a strewn track of granules in front of the wheels, the car moves more confidently with minimal slippage.

Inhabitants of mountainous terrain can use snow chains. After all, even the presence of studded tyres is not a guarantee that the car will pass through ice or deep snow. A car with chains on wheels is more maneuverable and overcomes steep hills with slippery road surfaces better. It should be noted that in some European countries snow chains are an obligatory element of vehicle equipment in winter.

Comfort

Sitting in an unheated interior in winter is not a pleasant experience. In the absence of a car seat heating function in the standard configuration, you should pay attention to the corresponding covers and cushions. These are the simplest heating systems that are quickly installed and do not require special service and maintenance. Built-in models are also available, to be installed directly into the car seat.

An important attribute of equipping a car is rubber mats. For the winter, they are usually used instead of textile carpets for a number of reasons. Firstly, rubber mats do not absorb moisture, and secondly, thanks to the high sides, melted slush and snow do not spread throughout the cabin, and thirdly, such products can be easily cleaned from dirt. You can wash them with a strong pressure of water at any car wash or from the hose of a high pressure washing unit.

Rubber mats do not allow water and melted snow to spread throughout the car.

Adepts of road trips cannot do without a travel pillow for rest on a long journey. Special travel pillows relieve tension from the cervical vertebrae and at the same time support the head in a comfortable position. And in the cold, it will be useful to grab a thermos with hot drinks. It is better to give preference to thermo mugs with a drinking cup lid, which are convenient to put in a cup holder.

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All of the above car accessories may seem quite insignificant, but big things add up to small ones. Together, they provide comfort and safety for driving in the winter season.