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The mkiv Supra Owners Club

Winter treatment


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Hey all,

 

I've seen a few threads recently with people asking what steps they should do to prepare the car for storage for the winter..

 

Is there anything that should be done to prepare the car to be driven through the winter? The Supra is my only car, so I can't just store it away until the warmer months.

 

It won't hurt it to keep driving it, will it? I've never driven a turbo-based car before, so have no idea how it's going to handle the cold and/or what to do about it.

 

Thanks

 

-p

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Originally posted by GavinL

It's just like any other car really.

 

Decent tread on your tyres, screen wash etc etc

 

Cheers :)

 

I've not actually driven through winter here yet, my mk3 Supra was off the road this time last year anyway. My previous experience of treating a car for winter in Australia is.. well.. exactly the same as summer, but less dashboard protection from the sun :)

 

Thanks

 

-p

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Not trying to teach you to suck eggs or anything but be careful on those frosty mornings, scared myself a few times before, half asleep and all that.... Now I've got the RLTC I can't wait to try it out....:D

 

Car felt great at 6.30 this morning, nice low ambient temp:)

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I can thoroughly recommend doughnuts in the snow, endless hour of fun an a MKIV.

 

Remember RLTC only help reduce rotational slip it can not make up for diminished grip levels. If you stick it sideways due to low grip you are on your own until grip return of some other object applies a force to the car.

 

If you can keep rolling on snow you are OK if you have to stop, you probably won’t get moving again.

 

I have very fond memorise of spending about 45 minutes trying to get out of my car park and then two minutes trying to get out of a side junction up an incline in the last snow we had. The other drivers were fantastic they just waited giving me plenty of room (waiting for me to mess it up). In the end I had t, huge clouds of steam off the back of the car, then I crabbed sideways still spinning the rears into the tracks made by other cars and got in the 8 mph cue to home. I left a huge gap to the next car as there was no way I was going to stop and spend the night in the car.

 

In the winter I always carry a space blanket in the car and if the weather forecast is bad and I am going some distance, collapsible spade, walking boots, a weather proof coat and trousers and some water. I top up the tank more frequently too.

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All of this sounds hard and annoying :)

 

Keeping some helpful bits in the car is a good idea, I remember when I went skiing in Norway Christmas 2001 (we drove from the middle of Sweden through the snow to Norway) we all had to put big warm jackets on and blankets and things in case we had an accident and were unable to put warm things on afterwards. Good idea.

 

Hopefully it won't get that bad - from my memories of last year I think it all melted pretty quickly here?

 

Fortunately, work is only a half hour walk from home, so if worst comes to worst I'll just walk in. I did last year when the MK3 was dead, I can do it again.

 

How bad does the ice get on a roads in a decent sized (30k+ people) town? I'm used to the power comign from the rear, I've never owned a FWD car and I can handle wet no problems (at least so far) - but I've never driven on ice.

 

On the other hand, I remember even walking home being hard sometimes last year with the lack of grip between my shoes and the footpath.

 

I'm looking forward to this, it sounds like fun :) All of this assumes that I come back to the UK when I pop off for my 2 week holiday back to Australia 15/11 - 1/12..

 

-p

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It very rarely gets bad here , but it only needs a couple of inches of snow and the country just stops.

 

Where I used to live as a kid, some roads would stay blocked for weeks. Hence all the gear, I remember spending the night in the car because we go snowed in. It was never a problem because mum and dad always had all the stuff we needed in the back of the car.

 

Another good item is a washing line and a sharp knife. About 15 years ago I was the last car with out snow chains to get over the Gogs near Cambridge, I tied washing line round the treads, two loops on each wheel, knotted on the tread. I got up and down the other side and home while everyone else was sliding into each other. Then they closed the road.

 

 

Aus sound like the better option;)

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Originally posted by Nick

You won't be back, I had to be dragged to the plane....:D

 

Well.. I came back on New Years Day this year, so I've done it once...

 

Was was fun. Out at a rave all night, got home about 1pm the following afternoon, got 30 mins sleep, got up and went to the airport for my 26 hour journey. Whee!

 

I have too many loose ends here not to come back and tie them up (owning the car is probably the least of my problems, I'm quite sure I can get somebody to sell it for me).

 

I'm thinking I'll hang around til March. Besides, I got a nice box from ENVY yesterday with some new toys in it that I want to try out... :)

 

-p

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