Preparations for COLD - minus 5c

mick the builder said:

cut the rubber out with a stanely knife and fit a good quality new one.

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Yeah I shelled out for a original part seal as apparently it is possible to do it yourself with a LR seal, but not an aftermarket one.

NiallRussell said:

Yeah I shelled out for a original part seal as apparently it is possible to do it yourself with a LR seal, but not an aftermarket one.

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I tried to fit a new seal (aftermarket), total nightmare. I ended up getting a guy who does lorry and train windows to do it and it took him over 2 hours and he said it wasn't easy!

NiallRussell said:

So will get ferry to calais and then drive up the coast to Denmark, up through sweden and then across to Norway at Storlien. Up the coast to NordKapp. I've done it in reverse but not in December.

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I pretty much did that journey a couple of weeks ago. Finishing in Sweden, though.

I got the ferry over to Dunkirk (as was slightly cheaper and put me slightly closer to Sweden), we got the 10am crossing getting us into Dunkirk at 1 (local time). We made it to Bremen the first day about 10pm, stayed overnight there and then to Linköping the second day getting there about 11pm.

http://www.gsellis.com/the-long-journey/

We were slowed a little due to having a fairly full landy - I've moved to Sweden, and also there was some pretty miserable weather on the second day through most of the remainder of Germany and all of Denmark. During the journey I did wonder what the impact of having fitted a disco transfer box would have been.....

gse1986 said:

I pretty much did that journey a couple of weeks ago. Finishing in Sweden, though.

I got the ferry over to Dunkirk (as was slightly cheaper and put me slightly closer to Sweden), we got the 10am crossing getting us into Dunkirk at 1 (local time). We made it to Bremen the first day about 10pm, stayed overnight there and then to Linköping the second day getting there about 11pm.

http://www.gsellis.com/the-long-journey/

We were slowed a little due to having a fairly full landy - I've moved to Sweden, and also there was some pretty miserable weather on the second day through most of the remainder of Germany and all of Denmark. During the journey I did wonder what the impact of having fitted a disco transfer box would have been.....

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Thats alot further in two days than I was planning, but thats good news. I'm keen to put the miles in for the first two days as the sun will still be in the sky and the weather not too snowy. After that I think it's sensible to plan a lower millage each day, and put safe driving first.

As for a disco box - I have one of those in. Mine is a 300tdi, but loaded up for travelling, with three full tanks of diesel it doesn't really push past 65mph too comfortably.

Yea.....if we'd needed to go further then the second day would have to have been cut short. That said, at least Sweden upto Linköping was really good for driving. Hardly anything on the road, wide roads, and also the weather was good too.

One thing to point out that once there's ice and snow on the road (probably a bit later this month, however definitely between December and March), you need to have winter tyres on in Sweden & Norway (quite possibly other countries too). Apparently Mud & Snow aren't necessarily acceptable, they have to be specifically made for use in winter. There's a logo with a mountain and an icicle in the middle.

I was going to buy snow chains which covers the legal bit rather than buying 'winter' tyres just for this one drive.

Double check with the chains you get, my understanding is most suggest not driving over 30mph....

I've just spent a year in Sweden - last winter there was maybe a week or so at -20, and a couple of months in the -10 to -15 bracket. My Td5 was standard (no special oil/anti-freeze), and kept outside (albeit sheltered by a few fir trees), and worked fine all winter. Heated screen and seats were useful, and, despite what some say, the heater was adequate. There is a lot of conflicting stuff on the internet about the tyres, but we were told by the police that the tyres with the little mountain/snow flake picture on were fine as far as they were concerned. We never needed anything more agressive, even on our slightly isolated penninsula.

Driving through Sweden is fine, but very, very boring - there are only so many trees you can look at. Take a lot of music/book tapes. We did Amsterdam to Stockholm with two overnight stops (short final leg), taking it pretty easily. Netherlands, Germany, ferry to Denmark (Rodby I think), Oresund and then the boring E4.

Make sure the heater works. Standard landy heaters are reasonably effective, but not when they're clogged up with leaves and the pipes leak. On mine I had issues with clearing the windscreen on the driver's side until I took the dash to bits and reseated the flexible hose that brings air up from the lower dashboard.

Check the alternator and battery are in good condition. Cold starts are harder on the electrical system, and in the northern winter you'll be using more electrical loads such as your headlights.

Proper winter tyres are of a different compound to all-season on summer tyres. They are designed to remain pliable in cold temperatures, independently of any tread pattern differences. Look for the snowflake/mountain symbol rather than just the M+S marking. The crossover point at which winter tyres are more effective is around 7 degrees C, so they're good for the UK too!

I'm going to buy some BFG all terrain Ko2 which are M+S stamped so that's the legal side done. I'll grab some snow chains as well as lets be honest I dont want to get stuck in the cold. Wont bother bringing the solar panel as half way up the Norway we won't see any more sunrises, but i've got a high rated alt and double ew batteries going in this week.

this is all giving me a lot of confidence that it's not crazy.

As said previously an M+S tyre is not to be confused with a winter tyre which will have M+S and a pictogramme of a mountain with a snowflake on the sidewall. Shop about and I would'nt be suprised if they were the same price.