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17

Podcast Transcription: Be Aware and Prepare! Winter Travel in Wisconsin

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Rob:

Welcome to our podcast. All About the Car, brought to you by Schierl Tire and Service. I'm your host, Rob Hoffman an auto service specialist with over 44 years of industry experience. And back with me today, our regular guest Brian Call. He's a veteran in the automotive industry with over 40 years of experience. Hey Brian.

Brian:

Hey Rob. Great to be back with you.

Rob:

Good to have you along. And Bill Schierl, a guy that's been driving a long time, always keeps us on track and straight and narrow and has a lot of great questions. Hello Bill.

Bill:

Hello, Rob. Great to be on the road today.

Rob:

Good to have you. Well, let's hop in, buckle up and hit the road, Today we're gonna discuss how Wisconsin winters affect you and your car. You know, it never seems like we're quite ready for all the snow when it comes and when it comes, it can come pretty heavy. But you know, I did a little bit of research on this and it always feels like we get more snow every year and at different times. So I kind of wondered, you know, what's going on.

Bill:

Right.

Rob:

So according to a 2020 report, so pretty recent called the case of the shifting snow, a group of researchers of a climate communication organization called climate central, states that increases and decreases in annual snowfall are being documented. Overall, the hundred cities in the report, 37 had more annual snowfall in the 2010s than the 1970s while 62 cities experienced more snowfall in the seventies. So I thought I'd bring it back closer to home and look at one of those reported cities that we may be familiar with. And that's Wausau Wisconsin.

Bill:

That is Pretty darn close to us.

Rob:

So right in the middle of the state for the most part and the report states the annual average snowfall between 1970 and 1979 was 54.41 inches. And the average annual snowfall between 2010 and 2019 is 66.64.

Bill:

Now, are they counting on granite peak where they actually make snow?

Rob:

Where the snow filters over the city?

Bill:

Exactly.

Rob:

Well, I don't know you would like to think they're smarter than that, but so it turns out to be an official annual average increase of 12.23 inches or 22.48%. So yes, in our world in central Wisconsin, we're actually seeing an increase in snowfall.

Bill:

That's awesome.

Rob:

You know, that might be a good thing for the local ski scene, but it sure can create challenges for the commuters.

Bill:

Correct and I always think back in the seventies, or as a child always thought there was more snow because it was just higher. And as you grow up, the banks get lower.

Rob:

Absolutely. I used to dig all kinds of tunnels in the snow and I could swear I used to stand up in those things, but no, maybe I could, I was a lot shorter back then.

Bill:

Yeah, mm-hmm.

Rob:

So obviously with an increase in snow and things have changed over the years, just like the snowfall has, but more and more cars are traveling and really moving around these days and back, you know, back in the early 1900's. And it wasn't until the 1950s that they really started using road salt and road salt really is, I guess that's not a technical term, but that's really what has made it successful for us to keep clear roads throughout the winter. As a matter of fact, became popular by 1956 and the D.O.T had implemented a bare pavement policy for state highways, trying to make the travel safe year round with the use of road salt.

Bill:

That's one of those things that you never think of because none of us are around or were driving in 1956 when it was not bare pavement.

Rob:

Exactly. We're just used to that. Then the, unfortunately the other thing that we've become used to as well is rusty cars, rusty metal, rusty infrastructure, so bridges and whatnot. So that's the adverse or the bad part of using road salt. And I in a little bit of research that I did, I know they're experimenting with other means of keeping the roads clear, cuz it does affect our environment as well. So the challenges we have before us when it comes to winter and it starts to set in, and we're not that far away from it, as we sit here and speak today, we really gotta be ready for it. And we do have some tools at our disposal to help us get ready for that. A lot of our cars today have safety features that we didn't have back in the day. What are some of those safety features that we have in our cars today that we maybe you and none of us had really grown up with?

Brian:

The first one that comes to mind is anti-lock brakes. It allows you to maneuver around a accident, something in the road, but it's not designed to prevent you from getting in that accident. Speed is a big factor as far as maneuvering around things in the road, going into the ditch accidents, things like that.

Bill:

Describe to me, what does anti-lock brakes actually do? Is this the pumping of the brake? Cuz I remember, you know, growing up, the first thing you always learned is if you're gonna get on ice, pump the brakes, pump the brakes.

Brian:

That's exactly what it is, the computer and the hydraulic controls do it at thousands of times per minute. Whereas you're pumping it a few times per minute. So it definitely tries to slow you as quickly as possible, but still speed is the big thing.

Bill:

But the biggest thing Is you have to still put your foot on the brake and hold it there as it's like vibrating as well.

Brian:

Actually, one of the things you should do is find a safe parking lot and actually practice with the anti-lock brakes because what you're describing the brakes make a terrible noise when they're.

Rob:

It almost sounds like something's wrong.

Brian:

It does when it activates. And If you're into a breaking situation and your natural reaction might be to lift on the brakes instead of having a slow, even pressure on it, which is what you're supposed to do.

Bill:

Got it. But nonetheless, you gotta keep your foot on the brake no matter what the... The anti-lock is not engaged if your foot is not on the brake.

New Speaker:

Yep.

Rob:

I hate to put you on the spot, Brian, at about what year, make, or year of car make, did the, they start coming out with the anti-lock systems.

Brian:

Oh, airplanes have had 'em for decades. Go back into the sixties. The commercial airline business had them. I can remember 'em in the late seventies.

Rob:

Late seventies okay.

Brian:

They're commonplace in the nineties, early two thousands pickups had rear antilock break only instead of the four wheel antilock break, which is pretty much standard equipment now.

Rob:

So as they started to evolve, they went from the rear maybe to all wheel antilock, things like that. And so with the average car on the road today being about 12 years old, pretty safe to say most of our vehicles that we're driving and that are out there, have the antilock.

Brian:

Yeah. Almost everything does,

Rob:

Is there any way to know if your car has it or not? Is there any signs, anything on the dash don't they even talk about that anymore?

Brian:

No there's lights on the dashboard that indicate that you're typically in an anti-lock breaking situation, refer back to your owner's manual to figure out what all those different dash lights mean.

Bill:

And you touched on all wheel drive, you had made to mention it. So that's another tool that basically helps us maneuver in slippery, wet, snowy weather.

Brian:

It helps to get up to speed, helps to get the vehicle moving, but it does not help the vehicle from a breaking standpoint.

New Speaker:

Right, it maneuverability more so

Brian:

Yep. Increases. You might be able to steer around something a little bit easier cuz you have all four wheels applying power, but it definitely does not affect the breaking.

Bill:

Oh no, but it doesn't it help traction.

Brian:

Yep. The traction to get going.

Rob:

And I think the technology has really come a long way and all wheel drive also because it will put the effort to the wheel that needs it. If I'm not mistaken,

Brian:

It can put it all to the front, all to the rear, various amounts to the front or the rear

Rob:

Cars are pretty smart these days.

Brian:

Yes they are.

Rob:

And another feature that came to mind was lane deviation. And I'm trying to figure out how that plays in as a tool for winter driving.

Brian:

It doesn't. It's just really cool. You know that.

Brian:

In most cases it doesn't cuz when you're in the slippery situations, the roads are snow covered. Ice covered the lane deviation needs to see the center line and the sidelines at those.

Rob:

So what if those are gone,

Brian:

It doesn't work.

Rob:

Really? So it doesn't just detect the car close to you. It has, it needs...

Brian:

It can detect a car that you're coming up behind, or that's coming up behind you, but the lane deviation where you're slowly going into the left hand lane or going into the shoulder in most cases, winter driving, you can't detect that. So it's not gonna be a help at that point.

Bill:

Unless you're on One of those highways, that's clear pavement.

Brian:

Yeah.

Rob:

That uses a lot of salt.

Bill:

It's standard.

Brian:

And we usually don't have winter driving problems..

Bill:

Right exactly.

Rob:

So the other tool that we have at our disposal is of course, tires. Tires have come a long way when it comes to winter traction or all season type traction, we've said it over and over again, but tires really are the only thing between us as a driver and the road. It is that one important piece,

Brian:

The winter tires are unbelievable. The amount of difference in traction between that and a standard all season radial. Though rubber compound and those tires are designed to be pliable. When you get down below, freezing down below 32 degrees, whereas a traditional all season tire, as it gets colder, they get stiffer. So the tire doesn't have the ability to clean out and get you the traction that you need in those situations. A lot of people call 'em snow tires, but they're truly winter tires anymore. It's not necessarily just the snow that it's helping you with. But the condensation that ends up on the road surface the frost, slight icing the frost that comes with it because they stay so pliable and they have so many Sipes in 'em and those Sipes are the individual cuts. And those are the biting edges that, that really help enhance the traction.

Rob:

I know forever the big challenge has been traction on ice. And we always used to say back in the day that there's really nothing you can do about ice. There's nothing you can no way you can make it any better. But I think that's really changing these days with, as you stated, the winter tires.

Brian:

It makes a difference. Back in the day we had studs, little metal.

Rob:

Oh, they're great.

Bill:

Not so good for the roads.

Rob:

Not so good.

Brian:

Really hard on the roads and I, your emergency vehicles still can use 'em your carriers. Yep. Otherwise chains.

Bill:

Right.

Brian:

Back in the day when I run a tow truck, we'd have to put the chains on.

Rob:

Sure, sure. Just like going over the, the mountain passes, right. They still use those out west.

Brian:

They still yeah.

Rob:

And speaking of weather in snow and chains and forecasting and all that weather forecasting has come a long way as well. Not just the tires, but also the information and how quickly it can get to us in regards to what's coming, which helps us to better prepare.

Bill:

Well, just the radar that you can see on your cell phone really is helpful. I mean, we always think that the questionability of whether prediction, shall we say that, but you know, you have the capability at least to see what is around you and what the radar is showing, which is a huge benefit. I always think sometimes things get hyped up a lot more now than in the past. But I think maybe because we know more, people are more aware and can really say, yeah, we're gonna get three to four, five inches of snow. And when it actually hits,

Rob:

Yeah. We've never had this foresight 15, 20 years ago, really, even, and prior to that. So we're really, there's a lot of tools at our disposal that helps us to better prepare for our Wisconsin winter. So what else can we do to prepare? Most of it is really a mindset. I guess, one of the best things you could do. If, if you could ever work this into your schedules, find a, an empty parking lot, somewhere with no poles in the middle and maybe do a little driving on some ice, or some snow.

Brian:

Yeah and understand how your car's gonna react in various situations. So you're not surprised if you end up in that situation.

Rob:

Absolutely. That way you can feel what it feels like and know how to react and recover from it. So a lot of it is just changes in your driving habits. It, it is a different type of driving when you get into the winter season, for sure.

Brian:

Slow down plan a little extra time, give the plows the opportunity to get out there and do their job. I mean, a couple hours can make a huge difference in a snowstorm.

Rob:

Now you speak of plows and those folks really have quite the job to do. And oftentimes they'll go two, three days straight plowing the roads to keep 'em clear for us. I'd also like you to go back and listen to a podcast that we had done a while back called driving smart and safe in Wisconsin winters. So check out it out on all about the car podcast.com. And we got into a little bit of conversation about the plows and what is incorrect or unsafe and what is the right way to pass a plow, or to act around a plow when you're going down a snowy road, What are some of the other things that we can do to change our habits when we get into the winter, the winter months,

Brian:

Keep your gas tank full.

Rob:

Okay.

Brian:

Try to keep it above half a tank that helps with condensation. And if we get too much condensation that can creates some ice in the gas lines, which gives us a different set of problems.

Bill:

That's the isopropal will solve that.

Brian:

It definitely helps, isopropal alcohol versus a methanol. The iropropal actually evaporates the water out of the gas. So good habit to get into, especially if it gets really cold.

Rob:

So as my dad used to say back in the day, put a can of heat in the tank.

Brian:

Yes, sir.

Rob:

Is that the same stuff?

Brian:

There's a couple different. There's the methanol and the isopropal so just make sure you use the correct one.

Rob:

And it's still around.

Brian:

Oh yeah.

Rob:

All right. So put a can of heat in the tank.

Brian:

Yes, sir.

Rob:

All right. And then you know, a lot of other things you can do that again, it's a mindset change allow more time to get your car up to temperature, probably deice the windshield, the windows you don't wanna make. You wanna make sure more than just your windshield is clear. You gotta make sure everything is clear. You don't wanna lose any sight that you normally would have in the summertime.

Bill:

Brush your car off when it snows.

Brian:

Definitely brush it off. If the snow comes off, your car and causes an accident, you can get some tickets for that.

Rob:

That would not be a good thing. I, I can't tell you how many times that I've driven down the road after a snowfall and I'm coming up on a car where all the windows are clear, but there's about two or three feet of snow on top of that car. And it's kind of flaking off. And that might not be a good thing. The semis had the same problem years ago. And I think there's actually a law that they have...

Brian:

There is a law.

Rob:

Have to clear the snow off the top of the trailers.

Brian:

Yep.

New Speaker:

And of course, Brian, as you said earlier, allow extra time. So make sure that if you, you know, that it always, during the summer takes 30 minutes to get to work probably should add five or 10 minutes to that in the winter time, especially during adverse weather.

Bill:

Right and especially in the winter because of the, in this area of the country, it's dark when you go to work and eventually when you go home from work. So just driving conditions at after hours, I won't say night because sometimes it's five 30 in the evening, you know, like it feel like night, but it's dark.

Rob:

Absolutely, and we've all, speaking of dark, we've all heard of black ice.

Bill:

Mm-Hmm

Rob:

What is black ice? Is it just a clear ice on a black pavement? Is that how, why?

Bill:

That's as simple as it is in my book, like ice that forms and it's got that sheen, but it looks, you can't tell it's there

Brian:

Looks like a regular, plain old road in front of you.

Bill:

But I always think of it as perfect. You see a at convenience stores where the down spout comes and the water runs off and freezes.

Rob:

Oh, that's the worst.

Bill:

That's black ice.

Rob:

Okay.

Bill:

And that, and that just happens in other places on roadways.

Rob:

That's the same as like a skating rink that is just clear, smooth ice and how the heck you combat that, but be aware of it. We've gotta drive differently when that possibility is there. How do you react to ice? That's that slippery,

Brian:

Slow down or don't drive on it at all.

Rob:

There you go. We'll come back to what you said earlier, for sure.

Brian:

We have a common theme going here. Slow down.

Rob:

Yeah. Take your time. And don't take any chances you'll get there. Absolutely. You're better off getting there late than you are unsafe and cruise control. That's interesting. Don't use cruise control on slippery conditions.

Brian:

The car's gonna think it's slowing down. So it's gonna apply some gas and fortunately with traction control anymore, it's gonna slow it down and not allow it to apply the gas, to try and get back up to speed. But there may be a delay there to disengage the cruise control or kick the traction control. And if you don't use the cruise control, just lifting your foot is almost instantaneous. Whereas if it's the cruise is trying to apply it, you could lose control of the car pretty quickly.

Rob:

So it sounds like an opportunity to do some donuts in the middle of the freeway, which might not be a good thing.

Brian:

Probably not a good situation.

Rob:

So that brings up another good point. You have to make a determination and know when it's not okay to continue in adverse conditions, such as a snowstorm. It's, you've gotta back off in our mind and say, you know what? It's not worth it. I'm just not gonna go today.

Bill:

Correct. Hard thing to do sometimes .

Speaker 1:

As with every all about the car podcast, we always take a side trip or a road trip, Wisconsin, to a cool destination or a fun destination in Wisconsin. And today we're gonna hop in the car and we're gonna go to the Merrimac ferry. The Merrimac ferry is interesting. It's a cable driven pole type system ferry that takes you across the Wisconsin river, between Sauk County and Columbia County.

Bill:

And it's free.

Rob:

Free?

Bill:

And it's operated by the D.O.T It's like a Wisconsin transportation system.

Rob:

Well, let's talk a little bit more about it. How long does it take to get across that river at that point?

Bill:

About seven minutes.

Rob:

Seven minutes is free. That's awesome.

Bill:

And if you're going, I mean, obviously we're talking about the car, but if you happen to be on a bike ride, you can also go across on bike as well as if you're out hiking. I don't know where the roads are, but where you'd be hiking around there necessarily, but pedestrians are also welcome on the ferry.

Speaker 1:

Ah, open to pedestrians and cyclists and 15 cars capacity. So there's three lanes.

Bill:

Yep.

Rob:

Five cars per lane. That's a pretty good size ferry, I would say. And I would assume that it's not really even motorized. If it's cable driven,

Brian:

It's gotta be a motor of some kind.

Rob:

It's gotta be a motor somewhere.

Bill:

Somewhere.

Speaker 1:

It might be on land, but

Bill:

Wait, and we're just saying the ferry, cuz it has a name. It's the ColSauk 3.

Rob:

Oh, okay.

New Speaker:

So for Columbia and Sauk.

Rob:

Oh, tricky.

Bill:

Combined together. Colsauk 3.

Rob:

Very creative.

Bill:

If I'm pronouncing that correctly. Colsauk3.

Brian:

So it's the third ferry?

Bill:

I guess. That's true. Complexity in name names.

Rob:

So I'm curious as to exactly where this is. So I can get on my bike and go and try this.

Speaker 2:

It's on highway 113.

Rob:

Oh, between Okie and Merrimac is

Bill:

Correct. Yep. That's where it is.

Rob:

Now. Is that down? Is that gonna be down north of Madison area?

New Speaker:

Uh Northwest of Madison.

Bill:

North of Lodi.

Brian:

Yeah. So you'd be 20, 30 miles west of Madison. And

Rob:

Sounds like a good time. I mean, there's a lot of little tricks and secrets that we pass along here on our road trip, Wisconsin. And this is just one of those things that I had never heard about. And I'm sure many of our listeners haven't either. So it's been a good ride.

Bill:

Yeah.

Rob:

It was kind of fun. Seeing the cables pull us across the river, but let's get back to driving in Wisconsin winters and how it affects you and your car. So now, now that we're back from the Merrimac ferry, what about your car? How can we prepare the car for our Wisconsin winter? What's the best thing to do with the best approach? What time of the year? Should we start to think about this, Brian?

Brian:

Oh, definitely. The fall before winter, the cold, the snow all comes upon us. Take a peek at the tires, have your car inspected, make sure the brakes are okay. Make sure nothing's sticky that they're all operating evenly in the way they're supposed to make sure your heaters coming up to temperature.

Rob:

Oh, good point.

New Speaker:

And that it is that defroster is operating correctly. We wanna make sure that we don't start fogging up or ice and up the inside of the windshield during those snow storms, cuz it's usually pretty damp and the body heat as well as the car heat going up against that cold windshield that can really cause it to ice up and definitely don't want that situation to happen.

Rob:

What about the battery? Definitely pretty important.

Rob:

Yep. Definitely have that tested. We have so many electronics on our car anymore that the battery and the charging system are definitely put to work every day. I would suggest replacing the battery before it does go bad. Typically five, six years. If you replace it in that interval, you shouldn't have too many problems. I've seen batteries 7, 8, 9, 10 years old. That's just living on borrowed time.

Rob:

Oh my gosh yes, absolutely.

Brian:

And Do you really want to use that and take the chance in the middle of winter having something fail on you?

Rob:

I think that kind of falls into the maintenance part of the owning your car. Is that right?

Brian:

Yeah.

New Speaker:

Just kinda keeping up with it. Staying ahead of the game. Speaking of being able to see out your windows clearly and defrost, of course the wiper blades plays a big part as well.

Bill:

It's great snow removal too.

Brian:

It's not supposed to....

Rob:

I'm picturing rip rubber blades.

Bill:

I know. I always say that that's snow removal.

Brian:

We're okay with that. If you

Bill:

Exactly sell more blades, right.

Brian:

And additional repair cost, but now you should get out there and make sure you windsheild wiper blades are not frozen to the window instead of letting the motor try to rip 'em off

Rob:

Though I admit I do that all the time, bad me, but I know better too

Bill:

Well. And there one node on a website that talked about fog proofing, your mirrors and the inside of your windshield wiper with shaving cream, spray it and wipe it off with a paper towel. Has anybody ever heard of this technique?

Rob:

Not until right now. That is a new one to me.

Bill:

Very curious to give that one a try.

Rob:

You're gonna come back and report with us on that. Aren't you Bill?

Bill:

I think I might have to because that I've never heard that one before. So, and then also on the outside you can take a small dampened bag of, iodized salt and wipe it on the windshields and that's supposed to not have things stick. Again, a home remedy possibly I would use like the windshield wash that has the built in rain guard.

Rob:

So stay tuned for a future podcast when Bill Schierl comes back and lets us know how all that works.

Bill:

Oh, home remedies is to keep your car safe in the winter.

Rob:

Absolutely. I can't wait to hear about that.

Bill:

Yeah.

Rob:

You know, if there's one time in a year, just one time that you take your car to a professional, it might be in the fall.

Brian:

Yeah. I would definitely encourage that.

Rob:

Definitely have your breaks checked out and everything like that too. That's kind of tough to do at home, but you wanna make sure you've got everything working like it should to go into our Wisconsin winter.

Bill:

And talking about brakes that you should not be applying how parking break in the winter.

Rob:

Good point. Good point. Coming back to the salt conversation, oftentimes those cables do get a little bit rusty and once you apply it, they won't return. And it also happens where they freeze actually in the super cold winters.

Bill:

Thank God we live in a flat area for the most part. But...

Brian:

Yeah, if you're gonna use your parking break, you should use it every time you stop the car. You don't want to try to use it once a year, once every couple years, cuz they can stick Wisconsin, winters, the salt, the ice, all of that good stuff. It's hard.

Bill:

So, you know, even if you're on an inclined parking, is it truly that much added protection to apply the parking break?

Brian:

It would definitely give you another layer of safety. Having that break applied. It's pretty rare that a automatic transmission will jump outta gear. We don't see too many manual transmissions anymore, but it was ultra important with those turning your wheels correctly into the curb, away from the curb, depending on if you're going uphill or downhill

Bill:

Mm-Hmm.

Rob:

Oh, I remember driver driver's education now it's all coming back.

Rob:

So that may be more important than using the actual parking brake itself.

Bill:

Got it.

Brian:

Just because of where we live.

Bill:

Right.

Rob:

Is it easier on the transmission then if you had the parking brake on and you're parked on an incline, take it outta gear?

Brian:

It might come outta gear easier, but it's not hurting anything.

Rob:

Okay.

Brian:

That's a, a mechanical, the park in a car is mechanical. So it's two metal components coming together. So it's not really putting any stress on anything.

Rob:

Okay. So there's no doubt. We really need to have our car looked over and kind of do some of that work or pre-work ourselves before we get into the winter and typically the sooner the better. So you're kind of beating the rush of all the appointments being made in the, in the auto service centers. So what else can you do to help prepare for winter? Well, let's ask the big question. What's in your trunk? What kind of junk you got in your trunk? Maybe time to kind of clean that trunk out and put a emergency road kit in there. And there's a lot of different types of items you can have in your road kit. We actually have a link out there on our podcast at allaboutthecar.com. So make sure you check that out and there's a good list there. There's kind of a basic list. And then there list that takes it a little bit further, more of a progressive list. And then there's some some serious items that you can have if you're really maybe live in a mountainous state.

Bill:

I always like to add a little few snacks to that list, whatever it is that you know, you just never know when you get stranded, want some food,

Rob:

So you can have a frozen granola bar, right?

New Speaker:

Exactly. You know, better than nothing.

Rob:

Absolutely.

Brian:

Well, it wasn't that long ago that there was a major accident down on I, 90, 94 by Madison. And those folks were trapped out there for many hours, like five, six hours.

New Speaker:

I do joke about it, but there is that real situation of to have some extra food and make sure you have some nutrition

Brian:

And your car is filled up with gas. We don't see it very often, but it does happen.

Rob:

And we used to hear about that. Back in the older days, you'd hear about people that were stranded for even days on the highway in the snow banks. But today I think you know, technology and cell phones really have helped that where you almost always can get a hold of somebody, but like you said, Brian, it can always happen. Make sure you got a good emergency kit in the trunk.

Bill:

Might include a good book.

Rob:

If you're gonna be there a while. Absolutely. Now some questions that have come in from a lot of our listeners and I wanna kind of run through those and Brian, we're gonna pick your brain here. An idea that I do use during some of the colder winter days is I like to warm up my vehicle before I leave. Is that a good thing? And how long should you be warming that up for,

Brian:

With today's cars? You really don't have to warm up very long minute or two is plenty for the engine itself, but it still takes a little bit longer to get the heater up to operating temperature, to help clean those windows, making sure we're not fogging up. So I think that really is what should play the most into your decision. As far as how long you should be doing it. If the windshield and the side windows aren't clear, we shouldn't be taken off. We should let that car warm up longer to make sure we can see all around us.

Bill:

Remote starts have made that a lot easier haven't they for a lot of people.

Rob:

I think most vehicles are equipped with remote starts these days that

Brian:

I don't know about most but many.

Rob:

Okay.

Speaker 2:

You can have 'em installed or added on too.

Brian:

Yep. You can do that.

Bill:

Yeah. That's awesome.

Rob:

So that way you can be inside in the warmth of your house and look out the window and hit a button and let it get warmed up.

Brian:

What would grandpa say about that?

Rob:

Wasting gas?

Rob:

Get out there and start your car.

Rob:

Yah wimp! I used to walk both ways to school uphill in the snow storm.

Brian:

That's right.

Rob:

Yeah.

Bill:

So what also about plugging your car in, I mean the heating up the engine block, right?

Brian:

With diesels it's ultra important.

Bill:

Okay.

Brian:

With today's fuel injection and how well the engines are built anymore. Most people don't plug 'em in, like we used to you back 30, 40 years when we had carburetors and those didn't start the car quite as nice. Dump a lot of fuel and now it's flooded and things aren't gonna go. So remember that? Yeah. Worked on a lot of cars.

Rob:

Oh yeah.

New Speaker:

I will not ask all the technology, even though I have a lot of questions about the technology of all that I will not do it in this podcast. Cause that's is fascinating. Like how that has all changed. But yeah, we'll just say we don't need to do it so much

Brian:

If you got it. It's definitely better for the engine, but most cars aren't equipped with it anymore anyways.

Rob:

So that's really kind of gone away with fuel injection. Today's latest technology. Another question that had come in as well is what's the minimum tire tread depth. And we might wanna explain that a little bit further. I should have before winter driving. So tread depth, that must be the,

Brian:

The amount of rubber that's worn off or left on the tire. The legal tread limit is two 30 seconds. So there's not much there. We start recommending replacement of the tires at four 30 seconds. So if you think about it, you take a quarter and you look from the edge to the top of Washington's head that little gap there that's four 30 seconds. That's not much between you and the road. And trying to clear out this slush and snow. My answer is it should be a brand new tire, but that's not realistic. Heading into winter. I would definitely say more than half of the tread left. Cause you got 3, 4, 5 months of winter.

Rob:

Absolutely.

Bill:

Right.

Rob:

And I suppose that and really depend on the type of tread too. Cause different tread designs are better. And

Brian:

Absolutely that comes back to the winter tire. I'm an advocate on winter tires, it's on every car I own. It does make that much of a difference. There is additional expense involved. So,

Rob:

But you're saying it's definitely worth that expense

Brian:

Definitely makes the difference.

Rob:

Checking those tires before you head out into the winter months, I'm gonna come back again with that professional inspection, make sure that somebody gives a good look over and, and measures your tread depth and determines whether these tires are gonna take you through that season.

Brian:

Mm-hmm definitely.

Speaker 1:

So we've covered a lot today in regards to how we winters affect you and your car. We went through kinda where our Wisconsin roadways have come since the 1950s, we also talked about all the tools you have to keep yourself safe and what you can do to prepare mentally for driving in our Wisconsin, winters and talked about the different things and items that you can check and have checked in your car prior to the winter months. And what's in your trunk. We looked at what you should have in your trunk to get ready for any potential breakdown you might have. And we answered some very important questions that help you get ready for winter driving. So we hope to have you ride along next time on all about the car to listen to previous episodes, find additional resources or to simply send us a message head to all about the car podcast.com. We'll see you next time.

 

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