Winter time, the cool cars are going away

It's only a matter of time until the salt trucks spray crap all over the road and ruin the road surface for another 4 months. The clocks are about to shift forward causing the daylight to be completely relegated to exist on Saturday and Sunday, for those of us that are stuck inside the office 8-5.

The days of coming home from work, going to the gym, and still having time to wash the car are gone. The days of rushing home from work so you can get that exhaust hooked up while there's still some light will need to wait until March 10th when this "savings time" is over.

The leaves have fallen. The first frost has frozen. The kids have their candy. Now is the time to finish preparing to hide away your prized treasure so it can remain pristine, sheltered from the elements.

Here are some tips for the fellow OCD car nuts that will be stowing away their vehicles for the winter...

Some people will say that you should change the oil and filter before parking the car for the winter months. I disagree with this, under certain circumstances. Don't even get me started.

Just before the salt trucks set status en route you will want to go the nearest Chevron or Shell station and fill up with premium. Octane decreases with time so you'd be maximizing due diligence by starting at the highest level possible.

Throw in some Sta-Bil and make sure to run the engine enough so that it gets into the fuel lines all the way to the injectors, about 15 minutes. I've yet to hear or read anything bad about it. Make sure to comment if you have heard otherwise.

If the vehicle was neglected, do a coolant flush and replace it. If there was a coolant leak back in the day someone may have filled the car with water. If that freezes it could expand and crack the block. You also don't want ice crystals floating around in the cooling system if you get drunk some night and decided to rev up your 454 Chevelle. That's a bad idea.

Tires have a max pressure specified on the sidewall. If you can, inflate them to within a few pounds of that max pressure. As it gets colder the pressure in the tires will decrease so you don't have to worry about over-inflation. It will reduce flat spots. Trust me, in the Spring you will notice if you don't do this. Winter is a great time to replace old tires too. Check for cracks and look at the date of manufacture. Tire manufacture date.

Water is bad. Stuff shop rags in any pathways to the combustion chamber such as the exhaust and intake.

The battery will be fine. What??!! Yeah if it's in good condition you can leave a car battery covered in snow for 12 months and it will provide enough 12V power to start your car with no problem. You know what? To be safe lets just take that bitch out and trickle charge it in indoors. It will last a lot longer and you will know that it has plenty of cranking amps when you rush home some freakishly warm day in February to fire up your beast for the first time in 2013.

Hopefully we don't all turn to dust on December 21st and we get to roll again next year. Feel free to post any of your experiences with this nasty winter of our Lord, two thousand and twelve / thirteen.