Ok, we had the first snow here in CT. I cleaned off the car while it was still pretty warm, leaving bits of snow here and there. Tonight, I go to move the car out of the driveway, and wanted to roll down the front windows. Nope, not happening. The wipers didn't work either. No effort on the part of the car to work. We had to dig out every little bit of ice to make them work. The front ones still didnt' work after having the car running for 5-10 minutes. Back windows were fine. Should I be concerned?

 

Great. . . something to look forward to. I had similar problems with my Grand Prix last year. Other years weren't so bad. To think, the Jetta we were going to buy had a nice winter package on it

Is it something to worry about? Well, you can damage the wiper or window motor if you keep trying to force it. What I do it try it once, if it doesn't work. . . . Clear the wipers by hand. With the windows, I just wait until they thaw from the heat of the cabin.

To prevent it, clear the snow off while it's still cold. Otherwise, some of it thaws then refreezes in creavices and seals the rubber to the glass. Winter wiper blades may help. I haven't tried them personally, but I've heard good things.

When is it going to snow in Iowa? I got my snow tires in last Wednesday, Artic Alpin on Borbet Type-S. They look pretty nice. I can't wait to see how they perform.

 

GNO - What size rims and tires did you get? Would you be able to post some pics? I was interested in those rims also for a winter package, so it would be nice to see them on an actual car.

Dale.

 

If you read in your MANUAL, you will see that there is a safety mechanism on the wiper motor. When you try to run the wipers when they are frozen to the window, it trips a switch in the motor to prevent burnout. It also states that you have to wait about 10-15 minutes before it resets itself ( around the time it would take to warm the windshield up...) I think it is a good idea, and you don't have to worry about burnout...

 

ya i had a problem with the rear winsheald washer nosile the other morning when it went down to -5 C over night, just didn't work, although the rear defroster worked liked a charm and cleared the window in 5 minutes

 

I read the manual, but just didn't understand why they would freeze up so easily. It only got down to about 20-ish degrees. That's not cold by any means. I will just have to be careful and warm it up more. Oh well. A car this beautiful can't be perfect, right?