Preparing My Jaguar for Winter

There is an unfortunate irony in the fact that I went out of my way this spring to prepare my car for a summer of road trips only to be greeted by one maintenance issue after another - leaking coolant, a faulty TPS sensor, and even a windshield replacement.  Here we are in the thick of autumn now and with my car handling better than ever I have to start preparing for the hassle that is winter driving.  

I don't actually have a big routine, but there are basic things that I do.  The first is to give my car a thorough cleaning inside and out.  The fact that I don't have a garage really limits the amount of work that I want to be doing on my car (not to mention that natural light is in short supply) so basic things like cleaning electrical connections and making sure everything looks tidy under the hood is something I did as soon as the temperature started to shift.  

Winter tires are a big deal with a rear wheel drive vehicle like mine and I just bought a brand new set at the beginning of the year.  That's all taken care of, but I'm in no rush for the snow.

From there I went to the spray and wash to clean the exterior and apply a thorough coat of wax. Cleaning my car in the winter becomes a necessity to remove salt from the roads and protect my paint job.  Admittedly, it's a challenge to wash your car when you have to leave it outside afterwards.  Even after drying my car and leaving it sit in a garage for a few hours, I still nearly froze myself out once last winter.

Inside my XJ8 I did a thorough dusting and buffed the seats with leather protector.  I replaced the original carpeted mats last year with heavy duty rubber ones that will stand up to all the rocks and snow.  Due to one of the seals on my door wearing out last winter, I then went over all of the seals again (including the one on the sunroof) to make sure that they weren't cracked.  I did notice that cold air was coming in from underneath the steering wheel when I was traveling on the highway so I put a cloth in there to seal it up.  

I bought myself a brand new premium wiper to replace the one I put on last year (I've got to use that Canadian Tire money sometime) and also purchased a heavy duty snow brush.  Then I removed the car washing supplies and other random things that I had in my trunk that can't really hold up to the cold.  

The only thing I've really got left to do is figure out if I can get my heated seat to work properly. When I purchased the car in 2010 it never really worked properly, but I never made much of an effort to do anything.  It could be something as simple as a loose wire or bad fuse, which would be an easy fix.  I'll have to do a bit more research.

Winter, I'm ready when you are. 

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