Winter Car Care 101

[mk7_bk]

I also put a strip clear hockey sock tape on the edge of the door sill and over the brushed aluminium light strip. So your boots don’t scuff them up.
I’m not a fan of mud-flaps but going to put them on for the winter.

Good idea for this, for me, its too late for this, as my aluminum piece is already kinda scuffed up while totally clean.

 

[chillax]

TO me no. When you hover right around freeing or are below freezing for most of the winter it's better to let the salt/dirt do it's thing for the winter unless you get a good week or two. Like you mentioned when it's right around that temperature you wash it and it start to get into nooks and crannies and freezes there, it would need a truly good wash to get everything off of it. Another reason i don't really like to do it much during winter is because there's salt on the ground, so with you driving around now with a wet car and salt already on the ground it's gonna spray and have a better chance of sticking now.

At the end of the day no matter what you do during winter you're gonna have salt on the car, it's gonna come down to what you feel most comfortable with

Thanks that is basically what I had been thinking myself especially after checking out the roads today on the way home from work, 4 days since the snowfall they are still a complete mess and we only had about 2-3 inches. I still can't really find a definitive answer as to how damaging dried salt is to the paint.

 

[Corprin]

Very cold climates, consider a sleeping bag over blanket. I keep a surplus Army three piece sleep system in each of our cars in winter. Blanket can go only so far, a proper -50F fart sack can save lives.

Salt on cars is fine in very cold temps when all is frozen and low humidity. Salt itself doesn’t cause the corrosion, it’s ability to attract and hold moisture does. When things start to thaw out get it off. Even if only for 10min, the act will strip the layer making the next one easier to remove. Salt brine on a surface will precipitate and crystallize to form layers of rock (halite if pure NaCl for example). This is hard to get out after build up persists.

My method is to work from home 4x week, and stay home on that 5th day if big storms are predicted. I then drive the wife’s Tiguan the office day because her commute is <6mi per day. Less exposure that way.

I’ve been kicking around the idea of grabbing an alltrack strut/spring set to lift the gti for winters.

 

[Hotsky]

2. Tyre/rubber trim stuff over ALL rubber door seals, hatch & bonnet seals

what does this mean?? What do you guys use to prevent rubber door trim from freezing?

 

[Ridebjj]

Trade in boost weather for year round heatsoak weather? Tough sell......

Year round? Wot? It's yesterday's hi was 65. Yes, 4 months of the year it is suboptimal hot. But your car will never rust and will last longer, the roads don't get huge freeze thaw potholes and are generally near perfect and you never need slow down due to inclement weather.
Check and mate?

 

[mopar22]

Year round? Wot? It's yesterday's hi was 65. Yes, 4 months of the year it is suboptimal hot. But your car will never rust and will last longer, the roads don't get huge freeze thaw potholes and are generally near perfect and you never need slow down due to inclement weather.
Check and mate?

That is only true for some areas. You can be in place liek you're talking about but if you're near the ocean you're in rust territory

 

[Ridebjj]

That is only true for some areas. You can be in place liek you're talking about but if you're near the ocean you're in rust territory

The overwhelming majority of deserts, and as far as I know, all the ones in North America are not near any oceans. This was about living in the desert, and heavily implied the desert us.

 

[The Fat and the Furriness]

Always try and check your tires in the shade or at least with very minimal direct sunlight hitting your tires for too long.

This is a great calculator.

https://tirepressure.com/tire-pressure-temperature-calculator

 

[Corprin]

Year round? Wot? It's yesterday's hi was 65. Yes, 4 months of the year it is suboptimal hot. But your car will never rust and will last longer, the roads don't get huge freeze thaw potholes and are generally near perfect and you never need slow down due to inclement weather.
Check and mate?

Though I’d often say, in my homely way, I’d sooner live in hell.

 

[Ridebjj]

Though I’d often say, in my homely way, I’d sooner live in hell.

Oh yea, there's plenty not to like about the desert, but it's effect on your car and driving thereof really isn't one of them. I've lived in places where it snowed 300" a year. I prefer this now.

 

[mk7_bk]

I just activated my rear LED fog, so bright ?

Are these not on normally? Im a little confused, did you upgrade or is this something todo via obd11 or VCDS. FWIW I have the upgraded plate lights and they work pretty good for backing up, nice and bright

 

[hans611]

Regarding altering the tyre pressure...DON'T!!

The tyre pressures for the cars are quoted nominally at 20C......when the temp drops to 0C the same tyre should be 0.1bar less..DO NOT inflate the tyre to the normal setting as when the tyre warms up through use it will be over inflated!!

so if 2bar at 20C...then set to 1.9bar at 0C....& 1.8bar at -10C....& 1.7 bar at -20C...that is the correct inflation !!

This is the first time i hear this... if im reading correctly, you are saying to run lower tire pressure in the winter?

 

[golfdave]

This is the first time i hear this... if im reading correctly, you are saying to run lower tire pressure in the winter?

yep.....cold air contracts.....& the standard PSI is set for 20C temps..which are ok down to about +10C....

BUT this is the surrounding air temp when you test your tyres with the tyres at the same temp as the air...so if you are testing your tyres inside the garage its that temp..not the temp outside the garage...

 

[Lager_Ace]

Are these not on normally? Im a little confused, did you upgrade or is this something todo via obd11 or VCDS. FWIW I have the upgraded plate lights and they work pretty good for backing up, nice and bright

Not normal in North American MK7 R Models
This is the rear fog light on my new LED 7.5 Taillights. I had to change the light switch and code via OBDELEVEN to activate.
Backup light is just to the left

 

[mk7_bk]

View attachment 160009
Not normal in North American MK7 R Models
This is the rear fog light on my new LED 7.5 Taillights. I had to change the light switch and code via OBDELEVEN to activate.
Backup light is just to the left

very very cool, i figured this wasn't a normal thing but looks great