Chilly for the time of year...

[Type17]

It's been a lot colder for the time of year around northern Europe for the last week or so, and Dublin is no exception - because we're by the sea, and in a city, it's rarely necessary to scrape the ice off the car windows before Jan or Feb, and even then, minus 3 C (26.5 F) is considered pretty cold, but last night it was minus 8 C (17.5 F) - see shots of my 116 below. Needless to say, I haven't had it out on the road - the wife's Golf TDI is doing sterling service on the 4-6 inches of compacted snow/polished ice that covers all of the minor roads of the city.

Wherever you are, enjoy the weather, it's better than nothing 

[goldacre]

Watching BBC news i was amazed at the chill  But on another note, have you started your car in those freezing conditions?? Would be curious to know how good (or not) they start in those sort of cold conditions...

[Type17]

Yes, I did start it, but first I had to spray de-icer into the lock, so I could open the driver's door.
I turned the key from outside the car, because I had snow on my clothes, so I didn't use any throttle (gas). It started on the first turn of the crank, but ran rough and faded to a stall after a few seconds. I tried again with some throttle, and it started and ran perfectly. The Bosch K-Jetronic system works great in cold weather - I never had any cold-start troubles with my Mk1 Golf GTI (Rabbit in the US) either.
I didn't attempt to move the 116 though, the mixture of compacted snow and re-frozen slush has lead to six-inch deep ruts and lumps which RWD cars are getting stuck on.

[Big_Richard]

that cant be good for the paint 

[Type17]

It doesn't seem to cause any trouble for the paint. The only time I've seen paint issues from cold weather was when paint was applied too thickly, and without keying the surface below - the shrinkage/expansion of the steel caused the paint to flake off on the corners. (Not on any of my cars, by the way!)

[Big_Richard]

on a side note, that reminded me of something

as a child i traveled quite a bit, and in a particularly cold region i noticed that most of the ceramic tiles installed out the front of peoples houses had basically exploded off the concrete/steps - I'm not sure if that was from poor installation or from the extreme cold, looked very strange regardless

[Type17]

They were probably unglazed tiles, therefore not sealed from water ingress, which meant that, when the cold spell came, the moisture in the tiles froze, and they exploded from within.
When I was tiling an area outside my house, the guy in the shop warned me to only choose from the frostproof (glazed) range, rather than the regular ones, which he said were only suitable for indoor use.
I presume that it isn't such an issue around your area (until suddenly it is  )

[Big_Richard]

This calls for an experiment 

[Type17]

An essential part of the experiment will be taking pics and posting them 

[s class]

video please. 

[Big_Richard]

im not sure how to do time lapse photography in my freezer 

[TJ 450]

The same thing can happen to masonry if you have rising damp issues.

The experiment sounds like fun. All you need to do is soak a piece of partially glazed terracotta in water for a few days, then chuck it in the freezer haha.

Tim

[nathan]

i like the boot pic. earlier in the year i lived on the other side of the country, where it snows. only seen it snow once before in munich so was quite novel to me. this is what happened to teh 123 in about 8 hrs. the doors had to be snapped open! still started pronto, then drove me back across the nullabor one week later!
excuse the poor images, the camera fogged up for a few hours.
nathan

[Type17]

Wow, proper arctic weather - not something that Australia is renowned for!

Fair play to you for being prepared and having snow-chains - no one here has them, and many of those that do have them, or snow-socks, don't know how to use them - the other day, I saw a FWD car with them fitted to the rear wheels 

[Big_Richard]

what the hell,

i guess living in dry and hot as hell WA I have forgotten what snow looks like.