Winterizing a California vehicle for Minnesota climate
 

Anyone on here have any tips for what I should look into doing to my vehicle for extreme weatherization?

I'm going to be moving from California to Minnesota within the year and figured I mite want to get started now..

I asked people on my car club and they said "garage" LOL

That didn't help me much ;)

I'd say install a block heater, a set of snow tires and use a good 5W grade oil.

Add to that: winter wiper blades & don't forget to buy washer fluid that's rated for extreme cold.

And as much as it's going to hurt your mileage, you may also need to add weight in the bed to improve traction at the back on ice/snow.

This is exactly what you need to be doing. Also, depending on how extreme their weather gets you need a shovel. One can fit in your bed or they make small snow shovels and even folding snow shovels. I would go small, personally. You also want good gloves on you at all time or a spare set in the glove box. Finally, you need a snow brush with an ice scraper at it. Try to get one with the plastic scraper end opposite of the brush so you don't worry about the scraper getting in the way of brushing.

Don't forget to change your antifreeze concentration. In MN here, you want at least a 50/50 mix or for winter most people will run a 70/30 mix, 70% glycol, 30% water.

With you having a 2wd truck and not used to driving in snow & ice, I would heartily agree on getting the snow tires.

Just make sure that your truck is tuned up and ready. Living in MN isn't as bad as other people make it out to be. I have a friend that moved here from Cali and he has acclimated to life here in just over two years. His vehicles faired well through the transition too.

Is there some kind of Californian mass exodus going on?

The wife and I are heading to Minneapolis in 3 weeks to scope out living arrangements.

So that's why the traffic has gotten so bad. :mad:

You can say goodbye to your car earlier; the officials say all that salt they dump on the roads all winter won't eat your plastic car, but millions of rusted-out cars know better.

Keep your dirty motor oil and spray it on the bottom for some cheap protection from the salt, install a block heater that's at least 600-700W+, and maybe an inline one too, and lastly go to a j-yard and get two of the newest/largest side post batteries you can and run 'em in parallel for plenty cranking on the colder days. IMO all that should keep you running and minimize any rust problems for ~$100.

I'm looking into underside coatings..
My exhaust is already SS thats fully ceramic coated..

I'm orignally from Coon Rapids off of Hansen Blvd.

I'n my other 2wd pickups I had when there I usually kept about 300lbs in the bed for traction and all season radials and never had problems with that setup..

But that truck was prepped for winter by its previous owner..
front and rear winch, block heater, underside coating, autostart, ect..

My vehicle is virgin California sheet metal so i figure I better get a jump on things.. I've even considered having the underside bedlined lol

go grab a couple cans of rubberized asphalt undercoating and go nuts in the wheel wells, that ought to give you a good start. Then, when you get to MN, check out other (identical) trucks and see/ask where they start to get rusty. Then hit your truck with more undercoating in those locations.

In terms of coatings, maybe pulling apart the truck to apply something like por-15 would be a good idea, but I wonder how well the spray on coatings would seal. If they let anything past it'll just sit there and rust through....

Don't forget about the wheels and the paint. I suggest getting different wheels cause those alloys won't make it.If you can't get new wheels then find a good wheel sealant(specifically made for what a wheel encounters not just paint sealant) That salt will eat straight through the clear and erode them away. Not to mention any defect in the build quality will come out if its over stressed due to lack of traction or loss of control. The paints a different story, It needs full protection if you plan on keeping it, clay bar it to remove road/industrial contaminates, polish and use a synthetic wax for longer and stronger protection against the snow and salt. Oh, don't forget to run the ac at least once a month; it may be cold but keeping it dormant for too long will have adverse affects and cause it to not work properly. Grill Block :)

Cover your bed, otherwise you will just be hauling tons of snow all winter.

A garage really is the correct answer.


This may sound weird, but you might want to park under a tree.

I have a two-car detatched garage. My wife's car goes in the left side, my motorcycle, tools and workbench are on the right. Just outside the garage, on the right hand side is a very large pine tree.

I park on the right just so my wife can get in and out the left side of the garage. However, I discovered that the tree has some interesting thermal properties.

For example - I usually don't have to scrape frost off about 2/3 of my windshield - it just doesn't form on the side near the tree.

In 6 years, my car has never NOT started from the cold until last week, when I was parked out in the open for work all day in the bitter cold.
Two days later, in the same weather, it started right up under the tree.

Do not park under a pine tree in the summer - sap does not come off no matter what. I don't care too much, because it covers nicely with Rustoleum Hammer-Finish paint...

I haven't found a commercial "rust prevention" that works. You might as well take that money and start a bonfire with it. My "rustproofed" vehicles are rotted out piles of crap now, even though they were washed religously.

I've heard that POR-15 is crap..

I was thinking of roll on bed liner in all the right spots..

Is your avatar your picture? I can't quite place it, were you in a movie?

if you like your truck that much, get something else to drive in the salty months.
Nothing will protect every spot from rust. And salt will find every little spot thats not protected and there is more of those spots than you can find.

get a 4wd
people that say 2wd are fine in the snow never drove a 4wd in the snow
wait till you try to drive thru a foot of snow in a 2wd, you'll know what i mean

Does where you are moving have public transit?
Rust happens fastest between 30F and 40F when salt is involve so the best thing you can do is keep your car cold all winter, garage kept cars rust out really fast unless you wash them every week then dry them.
I use self healing undercoating and so far it seems to be working, I've also talked to people who spray linseed oil on the under side of their car once a year and claim that they never develop rust.
Snow tires work so well I don't understand why you wouldn't use them.
Synthetic oil and a good battery should keep it starting all winter without a block heater or extra batteries.

If you like your truck, don't drive it in those climates. Get a winter beater like a 90's Impreza or Audi Quattro.

I only have room for 1 vehicle..
I'll make something work out just fine for rust proofing..

just wash you car after every snowstorm and youll be fine

test run..

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y10...g/P1060085.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y10...g/P1060084.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y10...g/P1060089.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y10...g/P1060088.jpg

This stuffs thick.. :)

cab and bed come off later this week weather permitting..

For all the nay sayers, you've never met an obsessive compulsive with fabrication and body skills ;)

Wuddup Frank! :D:thumbup:

LOL more than likely.. I say bring it..

Im from MN, rust will get past you sad excuse for rust proofing ... rust gets every thing eventually.. no way around it..

Im actually gettting the hell out of MN.. the winters suck.. with fuel costs its getting prohibitive to heat the house.. I have a very efficient new home and its was $500 a month to heat the house..thats propane and 2000sq foot.. next year I bet prices will be 50-75% higher..

As for cars.. get a new good battery and we use lighter weight oil in the winters.. and also plug in the cars when its gets 30 below out. other wise the oil is jello and it wont crank over.

If you dont know Minnesota winters.. i wish you luck.. they suck, and this is coming froma life long Minnesota resident..

My advise is get out while you can :)

I'm orignally from Coon Rapids MN..
Winters I can handle.. :thumbup: I wore shorts all year around..
Try northern Canada.. ouch.. :D

I've already got plans for a block heater and an aux battery to power it when parked and unable to plug in..

I plan on coating the frame with rust converter primer then hitting it with the bedliner.. Thats about as good as its going to get for preventing rust..

Once or twice a year I'll just go through it. :thumbup:

Do you live in Northern MN?

Those pics look great, and the coating looks great.
The problem will be all those drain holes in all the frame members.
The salt will get inside and just sit there forever. I would suggest oiling the inside of all the enclosed frame members. Up in Vermont I understand they use chainsaw bar oil. There is a kit you can get that has long probes with nozzles and lets you spray inside enclosed areas.. I saw it on a Citroen DX forum, somewhere.

oil based expansion foam and aluminum ducting tape to cover the holes, then the rust converter, bedliner :)

Do you mean you will fill up the rails with foam completly and thus displace all the free air?

What is oil based foam?

never seen expansion foam? oil was a typo, I ment silicon..

Do you mean this stuff?

http://greatstuff.dow.com/greatstuff/diy/uses.htm

Do you plan to fully fill the interior space?

yeah, same basic setup..
then let it sit for 24 hours shave off any axcess with a razor blade, then cover with aluminum tape, prime, bedline..

Frank may be right, all this work and i'll get taken out by some moron in an SUV ;)