- My favorite part about winter is fall
when it comes to Wisconsin.
September comes around, everyone starts
to pull out like the pumpkin spice lattes,
the sweaters, the scarves, the cute little signs
that say things like, "Live, laugh, love."
And their favorite oak stained piece of board
or whatever is that you buy at Menards or Etsy, whatever.
Whatever it is and all is well for about four days
until winter just comes in and absolutely just removes fall
from everyone's hearts because in Wisconsin
fall just doesn't exist.
It shouldn't even be a season.
There's just tears.
It's now 12 degrees here and the air hurts my face
and why do I live somewhere where the air hurts my face?
Don't gotta beard to protect it.
You wanna know what else
just kinda grinds my gears a little bit is
when people make mistakes when they're driving around
in the winter weather because you know what
you wanna skirt around,
a litte Tokoyo Drift around the corner.
Next thing you know you're in Channel Six News
because you decided to take her off road
and then you're wondering why your car entirely flipped,
and that happens a lot more than you can possibly imagine.
Well, guess what?
I'm here to talk to you about some rookie mistakes
that probably you could avoid if you just listen
to me be angry about the fact
that winter is cold and cold sucks.
I'm Alex, Alex.fi on Instagram,
and today we're gonna be just that though.
Rookie Mistakes people make when driving in the winter
because, guess what?
Winter sucks, winter's cold,
and if I can make it suck less I'm gonna do that.
(futuristic music)
And of course, if you're looking
for aftermarket wheels, tires, or suspension
be sure to check out fitmentindustries.com
where we have it have it all from your favorite winter tires
to pretty much every type of wheel coilover
air suspension kit you could possibly imagine.
Your little, little heart will be so, so happy
because (inhales) we got it all.
If you can spell it, we probably have it.
Don't forget to hit that little red button,
that's the, what's it called?
Subscribe, yeah, that's the one I was talking about.
So, we can keep making bangers like this.
And well, I guess, let's just get into it.
So, the first mistake people make when they end up driving
in winter is thinking that they aren't driving in winter.
You see, this happens every fall.
Because it's 32 degrees out and snow is flying,
and the temperature is all well and dandy,
perfect freezing temperature might you ask,
but hey the road is warm so it doesn't matter.
But then, it turns to 25 degrees 'cause the sun goes away
because the sun hates us
and as a result those little white pieces of (bleeps)
that land on the ground
end up doing this weird thing called freeze.
(ice cracking)
Even with the asphalt being a little bit warmer
it still just doesn't do much.
The snow ends up melting but not to the point
where the water runs off and then it freezes.
Ice is hard to drive on, obviously.
But people just don't seem to care,
especially around the first snowfall.
Yesterday, there wasn't snow and today there is.
So, I'm not gonna change my driving habits
said the person that ended up in the ditch
because they're going 75 in a 65
when it's 25 degrees out and there's a snowstorm.
That's when you crash.
You end up tailgating somebody by accident and hitting 'em.
Or, you're being a doofus and end up in the ditch
because you went to change lanes hard
because you wanted to show that person in front of you
that you have to go faster than them,
you have to get there sooner than them,
and it don't matter how it looks.
And then you go into the left lane
and you end up sliding off,
and then you look like how everyone,
anytime you've seen a bad driver do something dumb
and you wish it would have happened to them,
that's what happens to you and then what happens
is then your bumper sort of kinda kisses the ditch.
First snowfalls are always the worst.
If you've got yourself driving your summer car
in the winter like I did by accident,
don't freak out.
A lot of times you can just keep your eyes
on the asphalt to see if you see a reflection
of ice or unplowed snow
because that usually means that you're gonna be in trouble.
But the biggest thing that you're gonna wanna do
is give cars around you space
because they probably, also forgot how to drive in winter
and that's just not an enjoyable time.
Every single time you see somebody driving silly,
you have to remember they also exist in the winter time.
You're just gonna wanna space yourself out,
have yourself a nice big personal bubble,
at least for the first two snowfalls
so that you don't make the mistake of thinking
that the person in front of you or behind you
has any idea what they're doing.
Another rookie mistake people make
in the good old crumby season of snow
is thinking they absolutely cannot enjoy anything
about cars for six months.
And this happens a lot to a lot of people,
mostly if you see it on forums and Facebook pages.
The winter comes, everybody gets grumpy,
everybody gets angry, they spend all the time inside
and then they fight about silly stuff.
Pretty much everybody panics.
No more driving your summer car,
no more working on your car,
no more going to events, no more nothin'.
And guess what?
It sucks, you're gonna make everybody else
have it suck too, it's practically like being grounded
for something you didn't know you did.
But that's not entirely the case, right?
You can go tanning, get yourself some sun.
There are plenty of things you can do in the winter time
to enjoy your car without needing
to bring out the old shorts and tank top.
I mean winter time actually opens up
quite a few different activities
that you can go take part in if you want to.
You have things like winter autocross or ice autocross,
where you can bring your car out to a good old frozen lake
and run times on pure ice
because that is what every inner 10 year old
and any automotive enthusiast actually wants to do.
Another thing to remember
is you may not need to store your car.
I said it.
I know it's a taboo thing to say.
But the amount of people that store their cars
that don't actually need to be stored
is pretty damn high, okay?
You have Audis, STIs, WRXs, Evos, VWs
and even Acuras seem to sit dormant
due to the fear of salt.
And although salt is like blowing holes in your ship,
if you manage to keep it properly clean and dry,
and not sit behind a salt truck for 50 miles,
you won't just wake up
to your entire fender just rusted out.
And at the same time,
if it's a car that you don't plan on keeping
for a very long time,
you know I hate to say it but enjoy it man
because if you're only having it
for a year, and six months it's snowing
and you only keep the car for a year,
six months, six months that's only 50% of the time.
Don't be afraid to take the car out once in awhile
and just enjoy it.
Yeah it's gonna be a little sketch
but it'll be fun!
The issue comes into play because then somebody's like,
Alex, I have aftermarket wheels and tires
that I got from fitmentindusries.com
'cause that's what you're supposed to do
and I love you and your face,
doesn't matter that you don't have facial hair
or some hair line issues
because your lack-luster humor
is what keeps me up at night.
Anyway, I don't want to ruin my wheels
with salt and snow,
so what do you do you?
Do you put the stockers back on?
Oh no, because somebody offered you $200 for them
and you obviously took it
because why would you need your stockers anymore
and now you're stuck with aftermarket wheels
and you have to wanna drive it in the winter
and you don't know what to do.
Here's the easy solution,
just ceramic coat your wheels.
Seriously, we offer when people pick up wheels from us
on the website and helps a ton.
Ceramic coat helps give your wheels an extra layer
of protection when it comes to things
like water, sun, sand, rain, snow
and even the good old sodium, salt.
It's essentially a no-brainer when you're gonna be running
aftermarket wheels in winter
and if you even have stockers and you know how to,
you can pretty much ceramic coat anything by the way
you can throw it on seats, interior bits, wheels,
pretty sure you can probably put it on tires too
if you really wanted to.
A lot of individuals that have a less than superb experience
with aftermarket wheels in winter,
is because of paint deterioration,
the salt eating away at polished lips
and all of that stuff.
And what that has to do is the fact that it's raw,
right on top of something that's supposed
to essentially melt stuff away, salt.
Ceramic coat protects against that so you can ball out
in peace, even in the cold.
And still, if you're driving it on a summer set,
it keeps your wheels looking really good.
And finally, another rookie mistake people make
when driving in the winter time
is not appropriately preparing to be Ken Block
on the streets, you've done it.
Alright, I get it.
I've done it, we've all done it.
It doesn't even have to be snow,
it could be any inclement weather at all.
And if you haven't done it
either you don't have a car or you're a liar
because there's nothing in between.
Drifting onto another road, a parking lot, an entrance,
an exit, burning out, all of it.
Snow pretty much turns all the fun stuff
you can do in your car into tutorial mode
because the car doesn't have much traction
and everybody turns into a professional race car driver.
I am a professional race car driver in the snow
because I have deemed it so.
Problem with this is that you can get awfully confident
that you're gonna star in the next Gymkhana
when you've nailed a snow slide
into a parking lot one time, one time.
So you start doing it every time you possibly can
and then you end up kissing a curb
with your wheels, I'm looking at you Jacob.
Remember, you're not like Ken Block
and if you don't do it in the summer time,
you're not gonna be very good
at doing it in the winter time.
And it's just something that you're gonna
wanna keep in mind,
especially if you're around others.
Snow hides curbs.
Ice prevents you locking your brakes
in case you go into a ditch.
And because we live in a state
where the air hurts my face,
there's gonna be a lot of times where things
are gonna surprise you.
You'd be surprised at what's underneath snow
'cause it's not just a road all of the time,
sometimes there's some things that are on the road
that you wish you didn't see as you're driving past,
you know the stuff on the side of the roads?
Guess what?
That's under the snow now,
and when you go into the ditch, you'll hit that stuff too.
But hey, if you can survive not being Ken Block
and you can keep your wheels on your car
and you can drive it every once in awhile
and you can actually drive safe in the snow,
it's actually not that bad.
It's just cold and cold sucks.
Maybe I'm angtsy about this weather.
But anyway, if you guys have any great stories
about doing something fun in the winter time,
let us know.
And if you're looking for aftermarket wheels,
tires or suspension,
be sure to check out fitmentindustries.com.
And of course don't forget to subscribe
because we like that
and it's self-affirmation
and a cool number is a cool number,
I mean, let's be honest, okay?
I'm gonna go do a little burnout, donut things
in my car because that makes me feel like
I know what I'm doing.
I'm Alex from Fitment Industries
and we will see you later, peace!