Snow Driving Essentials
Winter roads don't forgive mistakes. One patch of black ice, one frosted windshield you didn't fully clear, and suddenly you're sliding sideways into traffic. Most drivers think they're prepared until that first snowstorm hits and their all-season tires prove worthless. Your car needs specific prep work before temperatures drop. These 20 tips cover everything your vehicle requires to handle snow, ice, and freezing conditions safely.
1. Install Dedicated Winter Tires
When temperatures consistently drop below freezing, all-season tires harden and lose their grip on icy roads. Winter tires solve this with rubber compounds engineered to stay flexible in cold conditions, maintaining traction when you need it most.
2. Replace Worn Windshield Wiper Blades
Cracks, splits, or streaking across your windshield signal it's time for new blades before winter arrives. During snowstorms, slush constantly splatters your windshield, and worn blades simply smear it around instead of clearing your view.
3. Use Winter-Grade Windshield Washer Fluid
Road spray mixed with salt creates a blinding grime that can coat your windshield in seconds during a snowstorm. Summer fluid freezes solid in your reservoir when temperatures drop. Fill your system with winter-grade fluid rated for subzero temperatures.
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4. Test And Replace Weak Car Battery
Your battery loses 60% of its power in extreme cold, while your engine simultaneously demands twice the energy to start. This brutal combination leaves weak batteries—especially those over three years old—prone to complete failure on frozen mornings.
5. Inspect Brakes Before Winter Driving Season
Ice can triple or quadruple your stopping distance on dry pavement, turning every intersection into a potential crash zone. Antilock brake systems help by preventing wheel lockup on slippery surfaces, but they only work when the entire system functions correctly.
6. Maintain Correct Tire Pressure In Cold
Temperature drops steal air from your tires at a predictable rate: roughly 1–2 PSI for every 10-degree decline. What seemed properly inflated in October becomes dangerously underinflated by January, reducing the tire's contact with the road surface.
7. Clear All Windows Completely Before Driving
Pedestrians stepping off curbs, cars approaching from side streets, and cyclists in your blind spot. That small peephole you scraped through the frost might let you see straight ahead, but it eliminates your ability to check blind spots or monitor cross-traffic.
8. Remove Snow From Roof And Lights
Picture a massive sheet of ice launching off the roof of the car ahead, tumbling through the air toward your windshield like a frozen missile. This happens constantly on winter highways, causing accidents that are preventable with two minutes of brushing.
9. Turn On Low Beams In Snowfall
Counterintuitively, high beams make visibility worse during snowfall by reflecting off millions of falling flakes and creating a blinding white wall. Low beams are positioned lower and angled toward the pavement, illuminating the road surface instead of the airborne snow.
10. Keep Fuel Tank At Least Half Full
Condensation forms inside partially empty fuel tanks, and that moisture can freeze in your fuel lines when temperatures plummet, immobilizing your vehicle completely. Beyond preventing fuel line freeze, maintaining at least half a tank gives you options if you're stranded.
11. Disable Cruise Control On Slippery Roads
Cruise control interferes with your ability to react quickly when tires lose traction on snow or ice. If your wheels start spinning while cruise is engaged, the system automatically accelerates to maintain speed, which can send you into a dangerous skid.
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12. Increase Following Distance On Ice Significantly
The typical three-second following distance that works on dry roads becomes dangerously inadequate on ice. You need at least five to six seconds, or about three times as much space, to stop safely when traction disappears beneath your tires.
13. Accelerate And Brake Gently And Smoothly
Sudden movements break traction on slippery surfaces, turning your vehicle into a sliding hazard with no directional control. Gentle pressure on the gas pedal lets your tires find grip gradually instead of spinning uselessly against ice.
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14. Steer Smoothly To Maintain Vehicle Control
Quick steering movements overwhelm your tires' limited grip on snow and ice. This, in turn, causes them to break loose and slide sideways. Gentle steering also prevents overcorrection if you start to skid, while panicked wheel-yanking makes skids worse.
15. Learn Understeer And Oversteer Recovery Techniques
Understeer happens when your front tires lose grip and your car plows forward despite turning the wheel—like pushing a shopping cart that won't turn. Oversteer is the opposite: your rear end swings out, and the car rotates more than you intended.
16. Keep The Exhaust Pipe Clear Of Snow
Carbon monoxide is odorless and invisible, and it floods your vehicle's interior when snow blocks your exhaust pipe while the engine runs. Snow accumulation, ice buildup, or even mud can plug the pipe, trapping exhaust gases that have nowhere to go.
17. Switch To Winter-Grade Engine Oil
Look for oils labeled with a "W" (for winter) in their viscosity rating, as these maintain proper flow characteristics when temperatures drop. The right oil choice can make the difference between your automobile starting reliably or struggling every frozen morning.
18. Check Antifreeze Strength And Coolant Levels
Your engine coolant can freeze solid without proper antifreeze protection, expanding as it freezes and cracking your engine block. Antifreeze, typically a mix of water and ethylene glycol, lowers the freezing point of your coolant to protect against even extreme cold.
19. Test Heater And Defroster Functionality Early
Discovering your defroster doesn't work when you're already scraping ice in subzero temperatures leaves you stuck until the problem's fixed. Working defrosters use your car's heating system to clear fog and frost from windows, and without them, you're blind.
Santeri Viinamaki on Wikimedia Commons
20. Fit Tire Chains When Conditions Require
Some mountain roads legally require chains during winter storms, and rangers will turn you back at checkpoints if you're not equipped. Tire chains wrap around your tires to create aggressive metal traction that bites through deep snow and ice.
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