Minnesota winter · the hardest test your car takes all year
A Minnesota winter is the hardest test your car takes all year. Here's what −15°, road salt, and pothole season actually do — and what we do about it before you're stranded.
Minnesota winter · the hardest test your car takes all year
At 0°F a battery loses up to a third of its punch. Weak batteries die on the coldest morning of the year — never a convenient one.
Tires lose about 1 psi for every 10° drop. Low, cold, hard rubber means longer stops on ice and that dashboard light glowing at you.
MnDOT salt is brutal on brake lines, calipers, and rotors. Corrosion is the number-one thing we catch on metro cars every spring.
Thermostats, heater cores, and coolant that hasn't been changed in years pick January to quit. We pressure-test before the cold does.
One appointment, before the first hard freeze, covers the five things that strand Minnesota drivers every January. Book it in the fall and skip the tow.
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