What's in your Winter Car "Kit"?

I'm sure most of us carry a variety of typical tools, flashlight, etc with us in our cars at all times. I like to, at the beginning of every winter, put together a winter car kit in a footlocker box and throw it in the trunk since I take ski trip drives into the mountains and do a lot of winter driving (ok, well as much as I can do living in the DC area at least). Heading up to the WM Winter Rally next weekend, so was just checking over my kit tonight and thought I'd throw my list up and see what other things people like to take in their "regular car" for winter travel.

My list: 2 warm blankets, spare hat/gloves/socks, jumper cables, tow straps (with and without hooks), first aid kit, duct tape, D batteries (for the maglite mounted in the car), a couple lighters and matches, bottle of gatorade, box of snacks, flask of whiskey , hand-crank/battery-powered radio....and outside the box I also have a snow shovel, bag of kitty litter, an emergency kit (flares, etc), and a brush/scraper plus an extra pair of hiking boots.

None. Maybe a blanket.

Cell phone. Cell phone charger. Sometimes gloves. 10mm ratchet combo. Ice scraper. Sometimes a blanket. Snacks. Whatever beverage I leave the house or store with (sometimes beer). I should put a knife in this car. I'm pretty lazy though, I don't venture off the beaten path and I have excellent tow coverage and many cars. Oh and jumper cables. Every car I own gets a set, regardless of seasonal use.

mndsm wrote: Cell phone. Cell phone charger. Sometimes gloves. 10mm ratchet combo. Ice scraper. Sometimes a blanket. Snacks. Whatever beverage I leave the house or store with (sometimes beer). I should put a knife in this car. I'm pretty lazy though, I don't venture off the beaten path and I have excellent tow coverage and many cars. Oh and jumper cables. Every car I own gets a set, regardless of seasonal use.

I don't carry this around all the time in the winter - only when I'm going out of the 'burbs into more rural/mountain areas. Up in the W.Va. mountains, there's a lot of places with no cell coverage where my AAA won't do much good (plus, if my WRX on snow tires gets stuck, fat chance a tow truck driver's gonna be able to get to me anyhow).

What are the lighter and matches for? I see nothing to set on fire.

A candle or two can actually warm the interior of a car surprisingly well. I used to carry one in my winter kit. Note, remove it from the car in the desert summer or you will end up with wax all over the hat your mother knit for you.

I used to carry a space blanket instead of the fluffy kind, takes up a lot less space - ironically.

Keith Tanner wrote: What are the lighter and matches for? I see nothing to set on fire. A candle or two can actually warm the interior of a car surprisingly well. I used to carry one in my winter kit. Note, remove it from the car in the desert summer or you will end up with wax all over the hat your mother knit for you. I used to carry a space blanket instead of the fluffy kind, takes up a lot less space - ironically.

lol....well, mostly just so I can light a cig. But I always have a Zippo in my pocket anyhow.

Fire material? Well duh, I carry a cord of firewood on the roof rack of the WRX. Doesn't everyone? And in a pinch, there are usually a couple "SCCA Sportscar" magazines stuffed underneath the passenger seat where I throw them when I take them out of the mailbox. Probably make for better firestarters than reading material, lol.

I had a big fat candle in there a few years back, but I think my wife "repo'd" it at some point. Now I need to go search for it

If you going out in really bad storms you should add a fire starter, and maybe something to melt snow in. I usually have cloths and boots to walk a few miles in a storm with.

pjbgravely wrote: If you going out in really bad storms you should add a fire starter, and maybe something to melt snow in. I usually have cloths and boots to walk a few miles in a storm with.

All kidding aside, I usually do have several magazines stuffed in the back seat-pocket, which I could use for that. Figure I could use my steel battery box to melt snow, in a pinch. Never thought about that before though, so learned something today!

Since I work at a ski shop on the weekends, my backseat is generally littered with a few winter jackets, and I always keep a pair of mountaineering boots behind the passenger seat. If I'm going out in snow, I usually just bring my ski gear bag as well (insulated pants, goggles, gloves, thick socks, etc), since it's always packed sitting in a closet anyhow.

I like the OP's kit, but I keep a hand-crank flashlight in all my cars these days. Too many times when I've needed a flashlight the batteries are dead, including the replacements. With a cranker, you're good to go. Basically, you should have de-ditching gear, starter gear, tools to change a tire, light, warmth (clothes/blankets, fire starter), food, communications.

I also like to carry a cheap, clean 6 x 8 tarp so I don't have to lay directly in the snow or mud if I have to fix something or change a tire. And a couple of large garbage bags. And a 1 ft x 1 ft piece of 1/2-inch plywood for a jack base, so you don't end up pushing your jack down into the mud or snow, rather than lifting the car.

If I take the longest route to work it's still only 13 miles so I don't need to carry much but I'm so used to driving pieces of E36 M3 that I carry quite a bit of stuff. No food, though. If I had a longer, more isolated drive I'd carry some food and water. There are so many gas stations along my route that I'm never more than a short walk from any one of them during my whole commute.

• a decent sized box of frequently used tools (heavy)

• full size spare

• shovel

• long handle windshield scraper

• short windshield scraper (in case the long one breaks, it's happened more than once)

space saver spare

4-way lug wrench

scissor jack

a small tool box with screw drivers, a small crescent wrench and a 1/4" drive socket set

wheel chocks

various hoses, tubes, nuts and bolts

jumper cables

coolant container

gas can

small rug sections (beats laying on slush, ice and snow)

flashlight

bungee cords

spare socks (I hate having wet feet)

a variety pack of fuses

butt connectors, wire, snips, crimpers

• = gets taken out when the snowy season ends.

I just add the short handle square head shovel and brush/scraper, anything else I carry with me on an as necessary basis(survival gear in extreme conditions), or I keep in more or less year round(tarp, bodging tools, spare tire, tire repair kit).

F350 with 4 wheel drive. Tow rope and jumper cables to help other motorists. Diesel additive for the truck.

tr8todd wrote: F350 with 4 wheel drive. Tow rope and jumper cables to help other motorists. Diesel additive for the truck.

along the same lines, 4x4 avalanche with a tow strap, and usually coveralls. it's helped a couple stuck ditched dodges already this year. most of the time i'm pulling a rolling workshop so i've got everything i could need in there. cords, torches, scraps of wood to set other crap on fire with, full set of cordless tools, hand tools, etc.

the most handy is the little $10 cigarette lighter tire inflator though. i have a slow leak in a tire around a plug that slime won't seal when it gets below 20, so i fill it up whenever i need with that, without having to find or pay for gas station air. it's too cold out to do anything about the leak right now other than keep air in it.

A couple of Christmas's ago the wife and kids gave me one of those hose reel kits for the air in my garage. Don't know how I ever got away without it all these years. So convenient to just open the door, grab the end of the hose and pull it out to the driveway.

Where do you guys live that you'd need anything more than a cell phone? Do you all really live outside of suburbia that far? I'm in Michigan, we get a ton of snow, and it's stupid cold. Still, I'd have to venture way way up into the UP back roads to feel like I could ever get stuck long enough to have a need to make a fire and melt snow for fear of being stuck more than a few hours. Couple games of angry birds and the tow truck or a friend is on scene. I do carry a tow strap and a large chain, and jumper cables, but I carry those year round, and the tow equipment is mostly for pulling other people out, or dragging something rather than for my own recovery.

After seeing a couple inches of snow pretty much shut down Atlanta last year, and people having to sleep in their cars or offices, I decided to go beyond the typical tools (jumper cables, tire inflator, etc.). This isn't a winter kit so much as a get home bag I keep in the car year-round, with a few seasonal alterations:

water, Clif bars, 1 dehydrated camping meal, pocket stove w/fuel cubes, lighter, matches, steel/magnesium striker, flashlight, spare batteries, first aid kit, trauma shears, toilet paper, duct tape, aluminum foil, notebook, Sharpie, multi-tool, 45-gal garbage bag, large handkerchief, poncho, space blanket, 2 pairs wool socks, autoX-appropriate boonie hat, sunscreen, chemical hand warmers, chemical cold pack, bug spray, paracord, chem lights, stainless steel cup, zip ties, carabiner.

It doesn't travel with me, but I keep a spare battery on a tender in the garage all winter. It seems that every year, somebody (usually someone with "in-law" at the end of their official title) gets stranded and I'm the one who gets the call for help. With a good battery that's ready to go, it minimizes the time and inconvenience (for me). It's a lot nicer to swap one in on the side of the road and drive the car to where we can get a replacement than it is to go back and forth a bunch of times. My unofficial rule is that it never leaves my possession for more than 24 hours.

What is this winter car kit thing you speak of? Being in Georgia I never felt the need for it, until that particularly bad storm last year. But for the other 360 or so days pretty much not needed.

TGMF wrote: Where do you guys live that you'd need anything more than a cell phone? Do you all really live outside of suburbia that far?

In NY State there are still huge holes in cell phone coverage depending on your provider. If you get trapped in a blizzard then no one can get to you without a snow cat. Granted in NY we haven't had a blizzard in many years.

Also in a huge storm power can go out and so does the cell towers. On a rural interstate like in NY you can have 10 or more miles between exits and finding a house where you are stuck could be a very long walk and fences to get over.

Fly over NY State with Google earth and you will see what I mean.

"Line deleted because of in ability to read."

Upstate NY forever. Snow brush, blanket, small folding shovel, a couple flares.

Out side of the snow brush, I have never had use for any of the other stuff.

TGMF wrote: Where do you guys live that you'd need anything more than a cell phone? Do you all really live outside of suburbia that far? I'm in Michigan, we get a ton of snow, and it's stupid cold. Still, I'd have to venture way way up into the UP back roads to feel like I could ever get stuck long enough to have a need to make a fire and melt snow for fear of being stuck more than a few hours. Couple games of angry birds and the tow truck or a friend is on scene. I do carry a tow strap and a large chain, and jumper cables, but I carry those year round, and the tow equipment is mostly for pulling other people out, or dragging something rather than for my own recovery.

Colorado is full of mountains. Utah is full of nothing. And there are much more interesting places to travel than just to and from work

A long-haul truck driver won a $50 Tim Hortons gift card from a Canadian trucking magazine for this list, which obviously doesn't cover repair/recovery but is pretty comprehensive otherwise:

For warmth:

Arctic-rated winter clothing and boots, Multiple toques, Fur-lined hat, Multiple pairs of winter gloves, 2 extra pairs of winter boots, Rigmaster APU, A minimum of 140 gal (363 L) of diesel in the tanks at all times, Electric blanket, 2 quilts, Electric heater,

For sustenance:

10-15 days’ worth of food, 2-3 gal of water, Milk, Popcorn, Snacks, Pop, Gatorade,

For entertainment:

10-15 movies, Books

For safety:

2 flashlights, 2 extra sets of batteries, 4 battery-operated beacons, Studded Trigg tire chains, Phone, Qualcomm satellite unit

Does anyone have any thoughts on the weird hook thingies that tow truck drivers use to grab onto frame holes to yank cars out of ditches? I know where to hook onto all of my cars, but I'm always just a little nervous when improvising other peoples cars.
Also, light coveralls, water resistant if possible. I HATE laying in road side goo.

A couple of pads of steel wool are also a great item to stuff in the emergency tool kit. When used to bridge a car battery terminals they will start a fire in all but the worst conditions. As a bonus they burn hot enough to help with less than optimal materials...

mazdeuce wrote: Does anyone have any thoughts on the weird hook thingies that tow truck drivers use to grab onto frame holes to yank cars out of ditches? I know where to hook onto all of my cars, but I'm always just a little nervous when improvising other peoples cars. Also, light coveralls, water resistant if possible. I HATE laying in road side goo.

Let them hook up to their own vehicles, that's the easy button. Just make sure the strap won't go through your rear window if they screw up. Chains are good for this, they don't whip, they just drop.