Winterized

I figured I may as well get all the car stuff out of the way so I can focus on other things.  Like my life!  Damit.  Man there is just not enough days in the weekend to do everything.

So I decided to put on the new set of Gislaved Nord Frost 5 tires that I just got in late September.  My old snows were deafening.  Even my old Khumos were loud, replaced those with the Hankooks last year. And since I've now done a coolant flush courtesy of a failed hose clamp and a new power steering pump and new front brake pads, I figure I should complete the job before the temps fall below 0 deg C (that's freezing point of water for the US folks who get a brain cramp when trying to convert metric to imperial).

So on they went.  They are brand spanking new.  I have separate steel rims for my winter tires.  That's because every time you take a tire off a rim and put it back on it wears down the bead of the tire.  If the bead is worn then it has to be repaired otherwise the tire will leak.  And changing a flat in snow, sucks.  I've never done it, but when it's cold outside you want to be inside your car.  And not on the side of the highway changing a tire, like my friend Howard.

Checked the rear brake pads while I was at it and they look fine.  I'll re-grease them in the spring.  The rear brakes don't do a lot braking.  90% of a cars braking is performed by the front.

I also replaced the weather stripping that I got off of another Subaru that the guy was selling parts off of.  You'll need some nylon pry bars to do this work.  Using a screwdriver will scratch your car.

You're supposed to put on snows when the temps start falling below 7 deg C on a consistent basis.  It'll be a high of 11 deg C today, but the trend is steadily downward and I just didn't want to do any more work out side when it's cold and dark.  Plus I'm getting old. 

Washed the car and engine and now we're prepared for Old man winter.
I even adjusted the pully for the power steering pump.  The belt was squeaking a bit.  Hardly noticeable, but I noticed it.

Not quite sure how much longer we'll keep the Subaru, but we got new snows, and it's running well.  No rust, since I have rust proofed this car from the beginning.
If it's still going, we'll keep driving it.  Unless we win Lotto 6/49 or LottoMax.  Then we'll be getting my porsche.  And I'm going to be taking some porsche maintenance training as well.

Until then...well, I'm happy with the Sube.
It's like a lot of things, when you take care and maintain it, it'll take care of you. When you neglect it, sooner or later, something will fail. We live in a disposable society, with everything relationships included instead of fixing it, we go and get something new.  We tend to throw the baby out with the bath water.   Sometimes something new is the way to go.  But I've learned the lesson of taking care of my things and the things around me. When I invest time in it, it becomes more valuable. Basically I work harder to make the grass greener on MY side.
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