Re: cooling systems

[Valdis.Kletnieks () vt edu]

On Wed, 05 Nov 2003 12:42:16 PST, Eric Kuhnke <eric () fnordsystems com>  said:

> For those who have never visited Fairbanks, there is a phenomena observed 
> at -15C and lower known as "square tire".  The rubber in tires of parked 
> vehicles will become stiff and freeze into position, making the vehicle 
> impossible to move without destroying the tires.

I can't speak for Alaska, but I've had to drive at -40(C/F) in northern NY.

Yes, the tires get 'square', and will go a bit wump wump wump until they warm
up (usually after a half mile or so).  However, a tire should be able to deal
with this without much trouble (or at least in almost a decade of trying
I never actually managed to damage a tire noticably that way).

What *is* embarassing and potentially a big issue is if you've been driving,
the tires are warmed up, and you park on a layer of several inches of snow/ice,
and return a few hours later to find the tires have melted down into the ice
and then refrozen.....

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