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[USA] Moving to a colder climate soon (Denver or Minneapolis-ish), how do I prepare my car? (lemmy.world)

submitted 2 months ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) by acetanilide@lemmy.world to c/nostupidquestions@lemmy.ca

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Update 2024-10-27: Made it to my new home! Thanks to everyone for your input. Winter is closing in and I think we are well prepared!

Hello,

I have never lived in a snowy place. Where I am now we usually get enough ice to make it slick and it shuts the region down. We live in the center of the country so depending where exactly we end up we probably won't have an entire mountain to drive over...probably.

I am moving to be either in Denver area or Minneapolis area. What do I do with our cars?

I have a small 4WD SUV (I don't know how to drive in areas that actually require 4WD). Our other car is a slightly larger SUV. Both have pretty low clearance.

We currently have all season tires. Do we need to get special tires or chains? How do I learn to drive with the chains? Also, does everyone just have 2 sets of tires laying around?

What about vehicle fluids? IIRC viscosity is different in different climates, is that just oil I'd need to worry about?

And are you supposed to heat your car or whatever? I know they do that in super cold places but not sure about Minneapolis.

The areas we are looking at are in and around the major cities, although if we end up in Minnesota there's a chance we will be in a more rural area or in a place where we need to drive a long distance because housing is expensive.

If anyone knows how much longer we have to get there before the roads become treacherous this winter that would be helpful. I think we have til end of September to be safe, is that usually true?

Any other tips are much welcomed and appreciated. I don't really have anyone I can ask and the internet is pretty full of AI BS now.

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[–] Death_Equity@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago

Snow tires are great, but I had to replace mine every two years. My area only has bad snow a few times year, they were fantastic for that, but the road were clear enough most of the time that I wore them down entirely too fast to justify the investment when high quality all-season tires did well enough in the poorly plowed times, combined with my driving ability, to make snow tires not worthwhile.

Absolutely a YMMV purchase and everybody in the snow belt should give them a try to know if they are right for them. Buying them with cheap dedicated wheels is absolutely a pro move; you only pay for a tire rotation instead of mount and balance and you save the risk to tire pressure sensors if your car has them.