The "calm" before the rust belt storm...

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Enjoying this good driving weather before we enter the dark, frozen, salt infested land of horror here in New England. Up here in the rust belt we spend half our year wondering where the sun went.

So in a couple months I'll be driving in darkness, spending my mornings scraping ice off my windshield and white knuckling my way to work wondering...geez who was the guy who forgot to put salt on this stretch of highway? As I spin around in circles like a ballerina with my life flashing before my eyes, as people look on in horror.

Six months of salt baked on to every square inch of my vehicle...on the condenser, all over the paint, windshield, undercarriage...just slowly eating away at my $35,000 dollar investment. Fun. Cheers. Why do we do this?

In November I'll do my 3rd treatment of Fluid Film...cross my fingers and hope for the best. Stuff has done pretty well so far in the first year and a half, not perfect but pretty good. Tough to win in this game, as the brime trucks blast their funky little spray into that pavement...or when you're stuck behind that salt truck for ten miles - as they bounce off your windshield like hail.

Anyone else trying to hold on to that last bit of sunlight and preparing their vehicles for 6 months of torture? Would love to hear some winterizing techniques and winter commuting horror stories.
 
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Out of curiosity, why don't people use their garages? I'm not in the NE at this time.....ignorance on my part...but, I certainly understand the lack of sun. Pacific NW living is interesting.....
 
Originally Posted by Onetor
Out of curiosity, why don't people use their garages? I'm not in the NE at this time.....ignorance on my part...but, I certainly understand the lack of sun. Pacific NW living is interesting.....

I have a one car garage...guess who gets it? Lol.

But the garage is nice, gives you the advantage of not having to scrape the ice off the windshield, however when you leave work, that's what you're dealing with as soon as you get out.
 
Save up some money, retire, live in Florida during the winter like the rest of the blue hairs do. Ill admist we have world class weather down here all winter long. Sucks in the summer though.
 
Save up some money, retire, live in Florida during the winter like the rest of the blue hairs do. I'll admit we have world class weather down here all winter long. Sucks in the summer though.
 
Oh boy I hear you. Throw in -30--40 where I am. You never win only delay the enevatble. I start thinking about winter in June. Now the leaves are starting to turn. Town loading up the salt bins. We see snow in October. Getting the 02 Jeep ready. Not rotted YET. The 2010 Mountaineer will go inside garage for a long winter sleep. No rust at all on her. Gee wiz thanks for the post. Now that's all I will think about.
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Please take me away
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Originally Posted by bubbatime
Save up some money, retire, live in Florida during the winter like the rest of the blue hairs do. I'll admit we have world class weather down here all winter long. Sucks in the summer though.


I definitely am thinking of warmer options for retirement...long way to go before that. I'm thinking Florida November - April (with a trip back north for Thanksgiving and Christmas).
 
Originally Posted by littleant
Oh boy I hear you. Throw in -30--40 where I am. You never win only delay the enevatble. I start thinking about winter in June. Now the leaves are starting to turn. Town loading up the salt bins. We see snow in October. Getting the 02 Jeep ready. Not rotted YET. The 2010 Mountaineer will go inside garage for a long winter sleep. No rust at all on her. Gee wiz thanks for the post. Now that's all I will think about.
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Please take me away
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Snow in October? Only seen that once where I am...town lost power for a week (leaves were still on the trees), had to cancel Halloween around here. Tough way to start the winter.
 
It's awfully fun to rant about things in a light-hearted fashion, but if you embrace the negativity for real, all you will accomplish is being really miserable. On the opposite spectrum, I can't imagine how people tolerate the brutal heat and humidity of the southern states. I love the change of seasons. All the green. All the water.

Que sera, sera. To each, their own. Wait a few years - climate change is going to turn our northern states into Shangri-La.

Waiting......waiting.....

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Soon, a guy is going to comment that everyone has choices.
 
Come to think of it, I was running in snow from early December to late May last winter. I took the December snow in stride. But the May snow as a personal insult.

But I'd rather run in cold weather than hot. I'm just silly that way.
 
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I hated living in the Midwest, (Chicago). The smartest thing I ever did was move to Arizona. The dumbest thing I ever did was wait until I was 38 years old to do it.
 
Anything decent is off the road and in the garage come Nov till Mid May and the rats (we both have one and there is an extra) comes on duty. If they get totaled or rot away I couldn't care less, strip it of good parts in the spring and scrap the shell.
 
I remember about 15 years ago started some veggies seeds in pots first week in May. put
then outside to get some sun and by 2pm they were covered in 2-3 inches of you guessed it SNOW. Been here 30 years I was a young man then. Now at 65 I get cold at +50. Working on getting out. Maybe west coast of Oregon Bud Texas sounds good but Texas is to darn big. I probably get lost.
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I'll be giving the 300 a nice final wash and wax before winter. During winter it gets blasted off at a touch less car wash every other week or so, weather permitting.

I can't wait for all the AWD/4x4 "I'm invincible!!!" jerks riding your bumper who cannot fathom why you're going 40 on a snow/ice covered road at 4am. Watched one of them pass me, only to find them in the ditch about a mile up the road. I honked as I drove pass.
 
All of the above is why I left the midwest and retired to southern Nevada. Sure, we have some crazy heat in July and August, but that beats crazy cold in January and February. The other 10 months of the year have predictably nice weather. Just wish I had done this sooner!
 
Originally Posted by Onetor
Out of curiosity, why don't people use their garages? I'm not in the NE at this time.....ignorance on my part...but, I certainly understand the lack of sun. Pacific NW living is interesting.....


Wife uses the garage, and every time she goes in she brings 1/2 gallon of "car water" that was slush stuck in the fenders and rocker area.

Only luxury is not having to scrape frost or snow off. Doesn't help the car any, and may hurt it by keeping it warmer (closer to freezing) and more humid.
 
Originally Posted by Railrust
Anyone else trying to hold on to that last bit of sunlight and preparing their vehicles for 6 months of torture? Would love to hear some winterizing techniques and winter commuting horror stories.


I once drove 14 hrs on a trip that normally took 8 through multiple blizzards and never left Michigan.
 
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