2014 SRT Viper TA

SRT CEO Ralph Gilles could have been detailing his brand's top-secret plans for the next five years, or taking potshots at the Corvette for all I knew. I was only about 10 feet away from Gilles as he was telling a small group of assembled media something or other about the history of the Viper – just now enriched with this "Time Attack" TA model – though I was barely aware of the fact that he was addressing me at all. Despite my laptop being dutifully erected for the purpose of taking notes, my concentration had been splintered by the sensationally orange coupe that was hurtling into my peripheral vision, trailing a wake of baritone exhaust that seemed only mildly filtered by the brick and glass building in which I was sitting. The test drivers were getting some last runs in the TA and it was... distracting.

The 8.4-liter V10 that sits like a loaded gun under the 2014 SRT Viper TA's six-vent hood makes all of its 640 horsepower at 6,200 revolutions per minute. On the last third of the long straight at Willow Springs, just before shifting up from fourth into fifth gear and with the speedometer tickling 140 miles per hour, it also makes a noise like The Devil Himself has cracked open Hell in southern California. The wail is unmistakable, even at a distance, to the initiated, and might be the highest-decibel production-car exhaust note I've ever encountered. It certainly doesn't make a presentation easy to sit through, either.


    The magic of the Viper TA isn't in the massive V10 engine.

But the magic of the Viper TA, which uses the very same powerplant as the standard SRT and the deeply contented GTS, isn't in the massive V10 engine. Rather, it lies in a host of synergistic components that allowed the best drivers at our test day to come out of Willow's treacherous Turn 9 with enough speed to require the shift up into fifth. Because, while it's perfectly natural to drop your jaw and gawk at the heroic power and torque figures this car offers, being able to use them to their fullest on a fast track requires some rather tricky work on the part of the SRT team. Thankfully these guys seem to live for shaving off seconds and adding exit speed; the daubs of extra handling performance that make the TA such a monster on a super-fast track like Big Willow.

Many of you might have first heard about the Viper TA by way of an article and video Motor Trend put together this past spring. The car the MT crew drove for that outing was a very early sample of the TA formula, accelerated by the SRT team as a way of demonstrating that the Viper could indeed out-gun the 2013 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 around Laguna Seca. That trial resulted in racing driver Randy Pobst setting a new production car lap record at Laguna, but the specifications of the record-breaking car are slightly different than they are for this 2014 model year production version.


    SRT will build some 165 examples of the TA, with 99 of them slated to be painted in signature TA Orange.

SRT will build some 165 examples of the TA, with 99 of them slated to be painted in signature TA Orange, 33 painted black and 33 white. Continuing along the exterior, one can easily pick out the aero kit that sets the TA apart, with a deep front splitter and rear lip spoiler being crafted from carbon fiber. In addition to really setting off the flaming paintwork, the aero additions create 278 pounds of downforce at 150 miles per hour, or 460 pounds if you make it up to the car's 196-mph top speed. The added aero also reduces said top speed by about 10 mph versus the standard Viper – a tradeoff we'll take any day. Dark-finish, lightweight "Sidewinder" wheels are also part of the TA suite, and make the car look menacing even when sitting still.

TA underpinnings have been judiciously applied to add at-limit handling performance, while also trying to keep weight down. Front and rear spring rates have been increased (and the springs themselves painted TA Orange), while solid front and rear sway bars add significant stiffness. A prominent carbon-fiber X brace also takes the place of a similarly shaped aluminum unit in the engine bay, shaving nearly three pounds in the process.


    The net-net of the new spec list is a Viper that is sharper and more durable in a track situation.

The Viper TA also gets a set of model-specific brakes front and rear. The 14-inch Brembo rotors are the same diameter as the standard issue items (and as the optional, lighter-weight StopTech units), but offer more swept area and greater thermal capacity. The TA braking system offers the same performance as the available StopTech gear, but should provide less fade in demanding race conditions. Speaking of durability, SRT has even dialed in more negative camber to the front and rear wheel alignment (1.1 degrees front, 0.35 degrees rear) as a means of reducing tire wear over the course of a race.

The net-net of the new spec list is a Viper that is sharper and more durable in a track situation while gaining just 12 pounds of curb weight versus the most basic version of the coupe.

Before I hit the full track at Willow Springs – a 2.5-mile monster of a thing whose layout has remained unchanged since it was first laid down over the mountainous desert in 1953 – the Viper guys put together an autocross course for all of the sweaty-palmed journalists to use as an icebreaker with the TA. You probably don't tend to think of the Viper in terms like "nimble" or "tossable," but the truth of the cone course proved those descriptors to be pretty accurate. Once I got a run under my belt, I found that it was almost easy to flick the snake through the tightly wound course, including being able to actually gain speed by the fourth gate of a slalom section.


    I didn't expect the Viper to be world-class in terms of road-feel and feedback, but that's exactly what I found.

The genius here, at least for a non-racer like me, is that the Viper controls are all incredibly straightforward and tactile. The steering wheel presents with heavy turn-to-turn effort, to be sure, but the weight is more reassuring and stabilizing than it is cumbersome. The steering ratio isn't overly quick at 16.7:1, but the very small steering wheel made it a simple thing to change direction rapidly. More impressive is the incredible touch on offer from the wheel; I felt as though every fissure in the asphalt surface was evident through the tiller. Honestly, I didn't expect the Viper to be world-class in terms of road-feel and feedback, but that's exactly what I found during both track drives and public road excursions.

Like its steering experience, the Viper TA also offered me incredible response via the pedals. The clutch and gear lever are really well matched, both mechanical and not overly heavy in terms of feel, making at-speed shifts quick and accurate to execute. Bite from the brake pedal was instant and progressive as I dug in deeper, while booting the accelerator offered an equally linear response for the opposite effect.


    I felt right at home behind the wheel after about 30 seconds.

Newcomers to the model might very well expect the SRT supercar to be difficult to drive without practice, but the fact is that I felt right at home behind the wheel after about 30 seconds. There are, I've no doubt, uncountable and exotic ways in which to make this ludicrously fast car go wrong. But the ultra-communicative nature of the Viper with its well-sorted controls means that cockups should mostly be matters of bad driving, rather than the results of a truculent machine.

The talkative nature of the car also meant that I was more or less at ease when I set out to do my first lap of the big track at Willow. At a moderate pace around the nine-turn road course I was inundated with tactile information about road surface and grip levels, making it an easy sport to increase my pace, along with my confidence, lap after lap. Willow's Turn 2, a double-apex, sweeping bowl of a thing called "The Rabbit's Ear" is the place where I made best use of the rock-steady suspension, pushing the car hard and never feeling the slightest note of waver or lean from the underpinnings.


    My stomach never let me get as deep into Turn 1 as my brain told me I'd be able to pull off.

My favorite moment of the day came while making the fast right-hander at Turn 4 that lies at the top of a hill; a dab of brakes and flick of the wrist was all it took to rotate the car smartly, and a tiny mid-turn correction all that was needed to reel in a slightly upset rear end before plowing down the hill towards Turn 5 and 6. Here, the lovely balance and prodigious grip of the Viper were the stars of the moment, and the fluidity into brutal acceleration a microcosm of what makes the TA so killer. (No joke, pinning the throttle while pointed straight out of Turn 6 is close-to-sex good).

I never came close to rounding the track in anything like the pace of the SRT hot-shoes and professional racers that were on-hand, of course. I took a right-seat ride with one of the pros after dozens of laps of my own just to see how much speed I was leaving on the table. No surprise: I was leaving a lot. The Viper TA's brakes are impeccable, but my stomach never let me get as deep into Turn 1 off the main straight as my brain told me I'd be able to pull off. And the massive tires – Pirelli PZeros in a 295-section out front and 355-section in the back, making the largest contact patch of any production car in the world, says SRT – offered so much grip that even corners I thought I'd attacked with maximum effort were slow when compared with the pros' pace.


    I came away with notions of balance and poise rather than tales of lurid spins and high-speed turbulence.

But the impressive part wasn't the speed with which I drove, but the confidence with which I learned. In the track-ready version of what is, even in this mildly gentrified new generation, a car with one of the meanest reputations on the planet, I came away with notions of balance and poise rather than tales of lurid spins and high-speed turbulence.

Which isn't to say that the Viper TA, or any Viper, is subtle. It most certainly is not. The same world-class levels of driver feedback that make the snake such a superb driving tool also create an on-road experience that is never placid, despite the lovely new interior treatment and straightforward controls. The Motörhead exhaust note is thrilling when pouring on revs at Willow Springs, but might become more draining when used in the heat of close-quarter city driving. The Viper isn't a car that every 911 owner or Corvette enthusiast will want, or should consider. It is intense and evocative, an acquired taste for discerning drivers. Not, emphatically not, a car that everyone should be expected to love.


    The Viper TA is a beacon for heart-over-head passion in today's dispassionate car business.

And, to say it plainly, the Viper TA is absolutely the most idiosyncratic of the now three-deep Viper range. The extra performance it offers can really only be found in race conditions, and it's simply not as easy to live with as the already compromised, yet luxurious, Viper GTS. The Time Attack represents a micro-niche so small that I wonder if a target of 165 examples is slightly aggressive, despite my being personally head-over-heels in love with the thing. The likely $120,000-price tag deepens my concern for the business plan, while leaving my ardor for the model untouched.

In the end, I think my introduction to the car – interrupting a serious meeting by way of flaring orange paint and blasting V10 voice through side-pipe throat – was perfect. The Viper TA is a beacon for heart-over-head passion in today's dispassionate car business. Flawed, original and completely charming, its capabilities as a civilian racer should not be in doubt, nor its claim to the title of the best sports car in the world dismissed. Cool car, Ralph.

As read on: http://www.autoblog.com/2013/11/18/2014-srt-viper-ta-review-first-drive/?ncid=edlinkusauto00000016&ts=1392652809

Choosing the right vehicle to tow your RV

There may be plenty of snow still on the ground but now is the perfect time to think "Summer Road Trip!" But before you go buy that new RV you have been dreaming of you need to make sure that you have the right vehicle to tow it with. Maybe you already know your towing capacity, or maybe your lease is almost up and it's time to start shopping for a new vehicle. If you know you are looking for a specific type of RV this article will help you match your vehicle with the right RV or the right RV with your vehicle!

Usually the first question from a good RV Salesperson will be "what vehicle will you be towing with?" But what if you decide to buy used? If you are a seasoned RV pro you probably will already know many of these tips. But if you are just starting out below are some very helpful tips to make sure you have a perfect pair for you RV enjoyment!

CLICK ON THE BRAND NAME to Check out the TOWING CAPACITY
on a CHRYSLER, DODGE, JEEP or RAM Vehicle!

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Selecting the right tow vehicle to tow your RV, especially one that is that is agreeable as a daily driver, can be a very difficult decision. And even if you begged, most dealers would not allow you to actually hook up your RV and test the combination out. Much of what you have to go by has to depend on the vehicle's specifications, its towing capacity, and your driving impressions. Whether you have your heart set on a particular vehicle or not, there are still many choices to be made about the engine, transmission, suspension, brakes, comfort and luxury features, and whether you want two or four-wheel drive.

Here are some important steps you should take when considering buying a vehicle to tow your RV:

 1) Trailer weight: Know the Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR) and the actual weight of your RV. You can find the GCWR of the RV on the weight placard. Never use the "dry" weight rating typically found in a brochure, as this is the weight of the RV with no options or any of your stuff loaded in to it. To find the weight of your RV, visit a public scale and have it weighed. See the Related Article section below for instructions on how to do this.

  2) Vehicle loading: Consider the weight to be carried in your vehicle. Every vehicle has a Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR). This is the maximum permissible weight of everything on board your vehicle, including the vehicle itself plus passengers, cargo, and fuel. Estimate the weight of all your camping gear, passengers, and luggage that is going to be in the vehicle, then add up the weights. You must also include the tongue or pin weight of your RV. This can add substantially to the vehicle's total weight and put many vehicles over the permissible GVWR. If you'll be carrying close to the maximum GVWR while towing near the maximum towing weight, you should forget about that particular vehicle and go to something with more load and towing capacity.

 3) Vehicle type: For comfortable, no-nonsense hauling, heavy duty trucks with towing packages and big diesel engines cannot be beat for towing the big 5th wheel. But for towing a smaller travel trailer or a pop-up camping trailer on the weekends, you don't necessarily need a truck. You might be able to get by with a passenger vehicle, like an SUV or large sedan. Check the vehicle's manual for tow ratings. Be aware though, that seemingly similar vehicles (in power, size, and weight) can have quite different towing capacities, and some vehicles don't allow towing at all.

 4) Frame type: There are two type of frames in today's vehicles: full-frame and unit-body. Full-frame vehicles and traditional trucks are the better choice for hauling very heavy loads because the tow hitch can be attached directly to the frame with trucks and full-frame SUVs, minimizing the strain placed on the body of the vehicle. With a unit-body vehicle, there is not a traditional rail frame. The body and the chassis share the load together. The tow hitch is attached to the body or bumper in a unit-body vehicle. If you tow heavy loads regularly in a unit-body vehicle, you're likely to find more creaks, rattles, and body integrity issues. If you just tow occasionally on weekends, it's nothing to worry about.

 5) Drive train: The undisputed choice for serious towing is rear-wheel drive. It offers better traction and stability compared to front-wheel drive. Truck-style four-wheel drive is not advised, as it should never be used while towing, unless you are in an emergency situation. All-wheel-drive systems are a mixed bag: some aid in towing, while others have a reduced towing capacity and are vulnerable to added wear or damage from towing. If you're thinking about the all-wheel-drive model, check that the towing capacity for the all-wheel-drive model is similar to the two-wheel-drive version. Some of the more sophisticated all-wheel-drive systems will change the proportion of torque going to the front and rear to compensate for any change in stability due to the RV. These systems are typically available on the car-like SUVs that are otherwise front-wheel drive.

6) Transmission: An automatic transmission is usually the best choice for towing. A manual is OK only for experienced, careful shifters. With an automatic, just remember a few precautions: make sure your vehicle has a transmission cooler, and remember to always disable overdrive to prevent excessive wear.

 7) Engine type: Think torque rather than horsepower for towing. If the terrain permits, see how confident the vehicle can accelerate from a stop up a steep hill. Torque is what gets the load moving so in general, the more you have the better. Modern turbo-diesels really excel in towing, and they're a great choice when available due to their better mileage and long-term durability. They also maintain their power at higher altitudes where gas engines tend to lose power, as much as 3% power per 1000 feet of altitude. This assumes the gas engine is not turbo or supercharged. Be aware that if you choose a smaller engine for economy, it might be so strained that it actually uses more fuel than the larger engine, not to mention all the extra engine wear.

 8) Brakes: Most modern vehicles have assisted braking, known as ABS. Ensure that the vehicle you choose has ABS. It can really help in a panic situation, especially towing a large RV. Some vehicles have an electronic trailer brake option which is incorporated into the vehicles braking system. This feature controls the brakes on the RV in relation to how much you are braking the vehicle. If the vehicle you are looking at has this option, get it!

9) Towing packages: Make sure you get a vehicle with the special towing package if it's available. If it's not, look at another vehicle. The towing package should include an oil cooler, transmission fluid cooler, heavy-duty alternator and battery, higher-capacity rear springs, and possibly a stabilizer bar (or larger one than standard). Trucks might also get a lower final drive ratio (a higher number means lower gearing which is desirable for towing), and heavy-duty differential. Don't get a stripped-down version of the vehicle you want thinking to add all of these things as needed. It will be cost-prohibitive and likely void your warranty.

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Tips & Warnings

Along with the vehicles GVWR is another important specification: the GCWR, or Gross Combined Weight Rating. This is the maximum combined weight the tow vehicle and the RV can weigh legally. Exceeding this can not only damage the tow vehicle, but may have insurance implications in the event of an accident.

When selecting your tow vehicle, make absolutely certain that you consider the tongue or pin weight of your RV when determining the payload you need. For example, if you have a vehicle that can carry 1500 lbs., 750 lbs. may be tongue weight from the RV, leaving 750 lbs. for cargo, including people, fuel, bikes, coolers, chairs, wood, generator, etc. This might not be enough reserve payload capacity for your needs.

CLICK ON THE BRAND NAME to Check out the TOWING CAPACITY on a CHRYSLER, DODGE, JEEP or RAM Vehicle!

 As read on: http://www.ehow.com/how_2094697_choose-right-vehicle-towing-rv.html#ixzz1yobcFwCi

Talking on a cellphone while driving is risky. But simpler distractions can also cause harm.

Perhaps you’ve heard the claim that talking on the phone while driving is as risky as driving drunk. Indeed, a driving simulator study found “profound” impairments in both cellphone chatters and in people with a blood alcohol level of 0.08.

But here’s the surprising thing: It doesn’t seem to make a difference whether drivers are using hand-held phones or hands-free systems. What matters is simply that they are talking with someone outside the car.

Everyone understands the risk of taking your eyes off the road or your hands off the steering wheel, says David Teater, senior director of transportation strategic initiatives for the National Safety Council. But most people don’t appreciate the demands of driving on the parts of your brain involved in attention, planning and language, Teater says. Talking on the phone uses some of the same brain space that driving does. So if you’re trying to do both, at least one of them is going to suffer.

It’s a problem of dual tasks, says David Strayer, a cognitive scientist at the University of Utah. Some dual tasks are no problem, such as walking and chewing gum at the same time. Others are trickier, such as patting your head and rubbing your belly.

A recent study demonstrates that driving while conversing falls squarely in that tricky category. Researchers measured reaction times in young adult drivers exposed to a variety of traffic situations in a driving simulator. Talking on a hand-held cellphone slowed drivers’ reactions to seeing a pedestrian enter a crosswalk by 40 percent compared with no conversation. The effect was identical for drivers who talked on a hands-free phone.

How do other distractions compare? Here’s the research on some common car activities (besides driving):

Is talking on the phone more distracting than listening to an audiobook?

A small 2008 study showed that when people listened to an audiobook (in this case, “Dracula”), their performance was the same as when they drove without distraction. But when they carried on a phone conversation with one of the researchers (about hobbies and weekend activities), their performance worsened.

How distracting is radio?

Strayer partnered with the American Automobile Association to try to measure the relative strength of various cognitive distractions on driving. Study subjects were tested in a driving simulator or a real car while listening to the radio or a book on tape. On a scale of 1 (no distraction) to 5, radio measured 1.2 and the audiobook measured 1.75. The distraction that rated a 5 was to have drivers try to solve math problems and remember a series of words.

Is talking on the phone more distracting than talking to a passenger?

The cognitive workload for the driver is the same, according to Strayer. In his test, conversing with a passenger rated a 2.3 on the 1-to-5 scale; talking on a hand-held phone, a 2.4; and a hands-free phone, a 2.3. However, having another person in the car generally results in safer driving, because there’s often an extra set of eyes on the road. Also, passengers tend to stop talking when the demands of driving increase, Strayer says. “So passenger and cell conversations have different crash risks because the passenger helps out.”

Note: Teen passengers don’t have the same helpful effect with teen drivers.

Are there apps for that?

There are apps that when enabled — or when you’re traveling over, say, 10 mph — automatically answer calls (and texts) and apps that will read your text messages or e-mails aloud to you. One recent study found that listening to (but not answering) a ringing phone while driving was a distraction.

Despite the data, there’s no indication that people are giving up their phone conversations. There are probably plenty of reasons for that, but it’s hard to tackle a lack of self-awareness — or worse, hubris. “People notice others driving erratically and talking on their phones, but they don’t notice themselves making similar driver errors,” Strayer says.

In the past, people would brag about being good drivers even when drunk, Teater says. The same thing is happening now with cellphones. Teater’s work was spurred by the death of his 12-year-old son in a cellphone-related car accident. “You never think it will happen to you — until it does,” he says.

As read on: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/talking-on-a-cellphone-while-driving-is-risky-but-simpler-distractions-can-also-cause-harm/2014/02/07/49675ce8-8cf2-11e3-95dd-36ff657a4dae_story.html?sf22719260=1

Nissan shows diesel-Frontier truck

Chicago — Nissan Motor Co. on Thursday showed off a concept diesel-powered version of its Frontier mid-size pickup at the Chicago Auto Show and said it will wait for feedback from customers before deciding whether to build it.

"It's a technical study. We're going to use social media — Facebook, Twitter, so forth and the blogosphere to find out what people are saying about this truck, 'Do they like it? Do they want it? Should we build it?" and we're going to let them decide for us, basically," said Fred Diaz, senior vice president for sales and marketing at Nissan's U.S. unit.

Last month, Diaz said the company was considering building a hybrid version of the next generation Frontier.

The demonstration Nissan Frontier Diesel Runner gets an estimated fuel economy increase of 35 percent over the current Frontier V6.

In August, Nissan announced it would sell a 5.0-liter turbo diesel V8 in the next-generation Titan full-size pickup, which will arrive in 2015.

“Frontier continues to be a huge success story for us, with more than 60,000 units sold in 2013,” Diaz said. “Nissan has always valued the mid-size pickup segment, and with this technical study project, we are looking to explore what is possible for the next-generation Frontier."

This week, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV said its new 2014 Ram 1500 diesel pickup will earn a 28 miles-per-gallon highway rating, the best of any full-size half-ton pickup.

The 2013 Ram with a 3.6-liter Pentastar V-6 gasoline engine earned a 25 mpg highway rating.

The smaller pickup segment has been shrinking, although General Motors Co. announced last month it was re-entering the segment — a market that Ford Motor Co. and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV have both exited. GM also said it plans to sell a diesel version of its small Canyon and Colorado in the 2016 model year. The GM midsize trucks will go on sale this fall.

Sales in the segment fell 15 percent last year and are down by 75 percent over the last 15 years. Honda Motor Co. and Toyota Motor Corp. also both sell mid-size trucks.



From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20140206/AUTO0104/302060118#ixzz2t7R55iUr

How to Safely Remove Snow and Ice From Your Car

Worst-case-scenario: You just brought home a new SRT Viper and parked it in your driveway to ensure the neighbors got a drool-eliciting look at your ride — made all the more dazzling by that Stryker Red Tinted Pearl paint job for which you forked over an extra $14,600. As karma for your vehicular vanity would have it, a nasty snowstorm hits that night, and by the time you wake up, there's 4 inches of snow covering your $178,000 supercar. You have to get this thing cleared off ASAP — after all, your neighbors will be leaving for work soon and won't be able to tell what's underneath all that snow.

How to Store Your Car for Winter

First, do not pull out your handcrafted corn-straw broom and start sweeping away or you'll quickly find that your college-tuition-priced paint job doesn't have quite the same effect with brush strokes etched into it. The same goes for nylon brushes and especially shovels. The recommended tool for this precarious job is a foam brush. A popular one is the SnoBrum, which has a nonabrasive, freeze-resistant molded polyethylene foam head with a recessed hard-plastic plate to prevent contact with the vehicle's surface; it has a steel telescoping handle that extends up to 46 inches for maximum reach.


"Common damage from improper snow removal are scratches in the paint," said Bryan Burgess, owner of Mr. Sparkle Detailing in Long Island, N.Y. "These could be light or very deep depending on the situation. A nylon brush for example over the paint may leave light scratches that will be visible once the car is clean on a sunny day. Remove the snow with a shovel — I've seen it done — and you're at risk for a very deep scratch that is either beyond a simple repair or would require a repaint."

The best way to proceed is to use a SnoBrum to pull, not push, the snow off the vehicle in a straight line from the front bumper by extending your arm as far across the hood as you can, Burgess advises. Keeping all motions in straight lines will ensure that if you do cause a scratch in the paint, it will at least appear to be part of the natural occurrence of your car coming in contact with debris at higher speeds, as opposed to a snow-removal foul-up. You should work from the top of the vehicle down to the sides and then to the hood and trunk areas. The windshield and window glass is hard, so there’s no need to worry about scratching it.

Minimizing contact between your car and the brush will also help prevent mishaps. "I would not try to remove every last bit of snow," he said. "Remove the majority with a brush, then allow the heat from your engine or power of the sun to remove the remaining last little bit safely."

Eco Touch Premium Car Care notes that if you don't have a foam brush handy, you likely have your hands handy. You can always use your hands — preferably leather-gloved — to push the snow off, though your reach will be limited compared with that of a brush. Eco Touch also recommends investing in a car cover (keeping in mind that, in heavy snows, the cover can be difficult to remove) and applying a coat of wax to protect the car's paint from the elements.

Jim Dvorak, a spokesman for Southern California-based wax and polish maker Mothers, stressed that planning ahead is important in prevention.

"Protecting your vehicle with a traditional wax, such as our Mothers California Gold Brazilian Carnauba Wax or California Gold Synthetic Wax before winter sets in is ideal," Dvorak said. "Minimum temperature for waxing — a wax-on, let dry-to-haze and wax-off product — should generally be in the mid-50s or higher."

Likewise, he said, if the weather is warm enough to wash the car, a spray-on wax can be used after a wash. The interior, he noted, should be protected with all-weather mats, while tracked-in soil should be routinely vacuumed and leather cleaned and conditioned to guard against stains and water damage. Windows should be routinely cleaned inside and out to reduce fogging, as well, he said.


Here are some additional tips from our Cars.com editors for keeping your paint job — super-expensive Viper red or otherwise — scratch-free in the winter:
 
Joe Wiesenfelder, executive editor: "Use a brass-blade scraper [pictured above] for the thin coating of frost on a windshield. It freaks people out because it's metal, but it's harmless and works like nothing else."
   
Kelsey Mays, consumer affairs editor: "A warm car always helps loosen the stuff off the hood and windows. Before you start clearing snow, start the car and turn on the defrosters — but take care to ensure the doors are unlocked and the tailpipe is unobstructed by a snowbank."
   
Joe Bruzek, road-test editor: "Paint protection. A good wax or sealant to protect the paint from brushes and brooms people may use to clear snow. There's also de-icer spray for the glass."
   
Kristin Varela, senior editor/family: "My husband just ripped the fabric top of his CLK scraping ice off the back windshield and catching the fabric with the edge of the ice scraper. I'd suggest estimating a 1-inch perimeter to leave around the edge windows in this case."
  
 Patrick Olsen, editor-in-chief: "One note: This tip is not about saving your own car, but being nice to others. Make sure you clear all of the big piles of snow off your car, so you don't become a moving cloud of snow spray and blind other drivers around you."
   
Mike Hanley, research editor: "Clear the whole car of snow. It’s also a potential hazard to you because braking suddenly could lead to a pile of snow on your windshield."

As read on: http://blogs.cars.com/kickingtires/2014/02/how-to-safely-remove-snow-and-ice-from-your-car.html