12 Winter Driving Myths You Need To Stop Believing

Winter transforms many of North America's roads into a harrowing test of nerves for even the most experienced drivers. It's not just that deep drifts of snow make the road impossible to see and bog down even some all-wheel-drive SUVs. Winter brings black ice, freezing rain, and windshields that ice over even with the defog setting blasting hot air into your face. The most familiar commute can turn into a white-knuckle terror ride, sometimes without warning, as a blinding snow squall blows up from nowhere.

Conditions can challenge even experienced drivers in places with sub-Arctic winter weather, like New England, the Upper Midwest, and much of Canada. But it seems like more and more often, winter weather can incapacitate Washington DC, glaze roads in the South, or cause a deep freeze in Texas. Whether you're a grizzled New Englander or a Southerner who has seldom had reason to deal with winter's worst, you may have heard conflicting advice about how to deal with driving in snow, ice, and extreme cold.

Some of it may have been good advice about ways to avoid winter car troubles. But some bad ideas also crop up every winter and never seem to die, ideas that can make winter much, much worse by leading to accidents, broken windshields, blown-out tires, and other bad outcomes. Some bad pieces of advice persist for so long that they become myths that you need to stop believing in order to get the most out of your car in winter.

When deciding whether to drive on winter or all-season tires, there's an easy answer. Unless you live in an area that seldom sees snow or below-freezing temperatures, you'll want to install winter tires for the coldest months. They improve traction in the worst conditions and handle sub-freezing temperatures better. This is due in part to the tread, but it's largely due to the softer rubber compounds of which winter tires are made. This enables these snow tires to remain flexible in cold temperatures, allowing the rubber to maintain a better grip on both wet and dry road surfaces. Their superior grip translates to better stopping power and handling in all winter conditions — snow or no snow.

Why not leave winter tires on all year, then? Well, their softer rubber wears out more quickly, typically in 40,000 miles or so. Therefore, it's best to install them only when needed, generally from around the time your area starts to consistently see sub-freezing temperatures. We ranked 10 of the highest-rated snow tire brands for the oncoming winter driving session.

This myth has a basis in reality. Gas can freeze in your fuel tank, but few drivers outside of Antarctica will encounter temperatures cold enough to make that happen. However, keeping your tank at least half full is a good idea to prevent water condensation from freezing in the tank and fuel lines. Furthermore, since gas is a mixture of chemicals that have different freezing points, extremely low temperatures can cause the components of the fuel to separate. This can clog or slow down gas moving through the fuel lines, impairing the efficient running of the engine.

As a general rule, no matter the season, it's a good idea to keep your gas tank at least half full despite the hassle of going to the gas station twice as often. The first reason for this is the aforementioned condensation. If there's more gas in the tank, there's less room for water to condense inside it. Plus, your car's fuel pump is cooled partially by the gasoline in the tank, so if the tank runs low, the fuel pump can overheat. Plus, a nearly empty tank concentrates dirt and rust, which can get drawn into the fuel lines.

The myth that you should warm up your car before driving in the cold also has a basis in reality. In the days before the widespread adoption of fuel injection, carbureted cars did indeed need to be warmed up to get the fuel-air mixture right. Drivers of a certain age will remember their cars stalling on cold winter mornings. Today's computer-controlled, fuel-injected cars have sensors that can achieve the proper fuel mix even when they're cold.

Therefore, shivering in your driver's seat while your car warms up is no longer necessary unless your car dates to the early 1990s or earlier and has a carburetor instead of fuel injection. It's still a good idea not to drive too hard for up to 15 minutes after starting since thrashing a cold car can waste fuel, but if you're not planning to race someone, there's no need to wait for it to warm up. Plus, warming it for too long wastes fuel and generates pollution. So unless you need to warm the windshield to defrost it or loosen the ice that's covering it, go ahead and start driving within 20 to 30 seconds of starting the engine.

Judging from how a lot of people drive on today's SUV-dominated roads, this is a pretty widespread and persistent myth. Having all-wheel drive (AWD) or four-wheel drive (4WD) can help you accelerate and (maybe) pull you through deep snow, but it does absolutely nothing to help your vehicle stop faster and precious little to help with handling. In fact, an article in Popular Mechanics concludes that snow tires are much more important for winter driving, stating outright, "But good tires beat AWD."

Their testers concluded that today's AWD systems can help marginally with handling in snow, but once the tires' grip limit is exceeded, even the best AWD system can do nothing to improve traction. Plus, they observe that the false confidence created by driving with AWD can lead drivers to go too fast, making it even harder to stop on slippery surfaces. Note that there is a difference between AWD and 4WD. AWD distributes power to all four wheels as needed on a full-time basis, whereas 4WD lets the driver choose when to engage all four wheels. Both have their strengths and weaknesses in snow. We compared some cars and SUVs with the best and worst AWD systems.

It can be frustrating to spend $15, $20, or even more at a car wash only to have your vehicle covered with salt again within a couple of days. Yet there are good reasons to wash your car at least once a month during the winter. The salt itself is the biggest reason since it can corrode your car's mechanical components, obscure its exterior lights and turn signals, and block the sensors that modern cars use for everything from backup cameras to emergency braking systems. Even though your vehicle is likely to get dirty over and over again until the spring rains wash the salt from the roads, it's still worthwhile to keep the salt and other grime from building up.

An undercarriage wash may make your trip through the car wash tunnel even more expensive, but it can help clear salt from the brakes, steering components, and other mechanical bits. Don't feel that you need to hand-wash your car. If you don't fancy the idea of spinning brushes rubbing salt against your car's sheet metal, a touchless wash is a perfectly acceptable alternative and may offer the option of an undercarriage wash.

Some drivers recommend using your parking brake if you start to slide on ice or snow to boost your braking. However, this is an ill-advised maneuver since it can cause your rear wheels to lock up and leave you with even less control. Some rally car drivers will indeed use the hand brake to distribute braking force between the front and rear wheels on loose surfaces, including snow. However, unless your car has a racing roll cage and a number on the side, it's unlikely that you'll be in situations where using the hand brake will improve matters.

In fact, it's generally a good idea to avoid engaging the parking brake in very cold temperatures at all if you can avoid it. If it's engaged for a long time, the brake cable can become frozen and fail to release when you're ready to drive again. If there's a strong safety-related reason to use it, such as parking on a steep hill, go ahead and do so. Otherwise, it's best to leave the parking brake disengaged during the winter.

Anti-lock brakes (ABS) are designed to increase steering control when braking on slippery surfaces, but they won't necessarily shorten your stopping distance. Nearly every car built in the past couple of decades has ABS, which works by sensing whether the wheels are turning while the brakes are engaged. If the wheels are locked up, ABS reduces brake pressure until the wheels are turning again, and then it reapplies the brakes up to several times per second. It produces a characteristic stuttering sensation, which the driver can feel through the brake pedal. Its primary purpose is to allow you to steer while stopping rather than to stop sooner.

Therefore, simply stomping on the brake pedal in a panic stop won't necessarily stop the car any faster than if it didn't have ABS. Instead, the best way to brake in the snow is to modulate your braking to a point just short of engaging the ABS. Obviously, this will require leaving long enough following distances at low enough speeds to leave room for a longer stop — both of which are excellent practices for driving in the snow anyway.

Some drivers believe lower tire pressure leads to softer tires and, therefore, to a larger contact patch with the road, improving traction. In truth, tire experts generally recommend the opposite and advise higher tire pressure to offset the reduction in pressure caused by cold temperatures. So, if you're trying to decide how to adjust tire pressure for weather, keep in mind that tire pressure, as measured in pounds per square inch (psi), can drop by about one psi for every ten-degree drop in temperature and possibly even more in ice and snow.

This is why experts often recommend that winter tires be inflated to three to five psi higher than you would inflate comparable tires in summer. With their softer rubber and deeper treads, winter tires will still provide plenty of grip at higher pressures. Plus, one of the reasons to avoid overinflating tires, in general, is to avoid generating too much damaging heat from driving at higher pressures, but snow tires shed heat very effectively in the frosty temperatures of winter.

Black ice on the road happens, and it can be terrifying when you feel the near-total loss of control that results when you drive over it. By definition, it's hard to distinguish black ice from a wet road, and that leads some drivers to a fatalistic notion that it just happens and there's nothing they can do about it. But being aware of when and where it's likely to occur and knowing what to do if you encounter it can make your drive much safer.

For instance, if it's raining or snowmelt is running into the road, keep an eye on the outside temperature on your instrument panel. If it's right around freezing or even a bit above, black ice may form. It's most likely to form in shaded areas and on bridge surfaces. Watch for shiny patches on a wet road. Don't rely on four-wheel drive or ABS to save you. Avoid using cruise control under any of the conditions just listed. These and other winter travel tips can help you stay safe in icy conditions.

This one is probably less of a myth than an excuse muttered by drivers in a rush on winter mornings: I don't need to clean snow and ice off my whole car — just my windows. It can be tempting to believe this, especially if the roof is hard to reach and snow and ice are jammed under the edge of the hood or in the roof rack. However, not only can this be hazardous to other drivers, but in many states, it's illegal.

For instance, Car and Driver reports that in New Hampshire, ice flew off the roof of a box truck, crashed through the windshield of the car behind it, and seriously injured the car's driver, leading to charges for the driver of the truck. New Hampshire is one of several states with laws mandating that drivers must clear snow and ice from the roofs of their vehicles, including trucks. Aside from being the law, it's the considerate and decent thing to do. Even powdered snow blowing off your roof can temporarily blind the driver behind you.

This myth has been debunked the hard way. The fact is, you should carry a winter emergency kit (or a kit that includes emergency gear for every season, including winter), no matter where you live. Consider the infamous Blizzard of '78, the storm by which New Englanders measure all other storms. It dropped over 27 inches of snow with little warning in and around Boston, trapping thousands of drivers on highways like Route 128, Boston's inner beltway road. Even more snow fell in other areas of New England.

More than a dozen people died of carbon monoxide poisoning from running their engines in a desperate attempt to stay warm in their stranded cars. Imagine being trapped just a few hundred yards from safety, unable to venture into the deep snow through 86 mph sustained winds and hurricane-force gusts. People in those parts experienced that and will never forget it. They know that's why it's good to have a winter emergency kit in the car with a hat, gloves, a blanket, an LED flashlight, a phone charger, and jumper cables in case your car's battery runs down. Non-perishable food and bottled water would also be good to have on hand to keep your strength up in the cold.

We've saved one of the most urgent myth-bustings for last. Do not pour hot water on an iced-over windshield. This may be tempting on mornings when an ice scraper slides uselessly over a quarter of an inch or more of ice, but it's a very quick route to a ruined windshield. The sudden temperature change can crack or even shatter the glass. This is called thermal shock and results when one area of the glass rapidly warms more quickly than another, causing cracks to form. Once your windshield is cracked, you may have no choice but to replace it. While small chips and cracks may be repairable if they aren't in the driver's line of vision or on the edge of the windshield, it is quite likely you'll need to replace the whole thing at a cost of $350 or more.

Other popular windshield lifehacks don't work, such as using metal scrapers or hair dryers. Instead, use the defrost setting on your car's ventilation system at maximum heat and set it to recirculate so that as the air inside the car warms, this warmed-up air will blow on the windshield. Once the ice starts to melt, use a scraper or brush to remove the ice. If you get caught without a scraper, there are other tricks to get snow off your car without a scraper, such as spray-on de-icer solutions.