Road Trip to Sirkka from UK

LogicUK · Post by **LogicUK** » Thu Feb 06, 2014 12:01 am

Hoping for a little advice please.
We are travelling to Sirkka from the UK in December (I know its far away put lots of planning required). We are going to a wedding of some friends and wanted to take the opportunity to have a road trip. We will be driving 3 1992 land rover defenders. My main concern is the cold as we get further north.
I am just wondering what people do to prepare/install any extra to their vehicle. All the land rovers have fully working 4x4 and all fitted with mud and snow tyres.
I am a fully qualified mechanic so will be carry out all servicing and prep work before we leave.
Any advice would be very grateful, just trying to get as many ideas as possible.

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CH · Post by CH » Thu Feb 06, 2014 9:50 am

If you aren't used to driving in icy conditions I would go with studded tyres rather than mud & snow tyres (kitkarengas, for us natives).

Your cars are a bit on the old side, so my main concern would be how well they start on a cold morning. Most here have a block heater in their car and often also a space heater inside that are set to turn on an hour or so before leaving in the morning (the block heater comes with a plug in the car so it can be connected to an electrical outlet). So that might be something to look into. I assume your car heater (the one that heats the car while it is running) is working properly so you don't have to freeze while driving.

Other than that... the cars should do fine, but do you have experience in driving on snow/ice? Driving on snow/ice is not rocket science, but even experienced drivers can be surprised by ice and end up on the wrong side of the road with a truck coming right at them.

Oh, and get some warm winter boots, and some winter clothing.

Upphew · Post by **Upphew** » Thu Feb 06, 2014 10:28 am

CH wrote:If you aren't used to driving in icy conditions I would go with studded tyres rather than mud & snow tyres (kitkarengas, for us natives).

Some of the M+S tyres are definitely aimed for mud and I wouldn't mention them in same sentence as kitkarengas. I agree that for novice driver (on snow and ice) I too would recommend studded tyre.

CH wrote:Your cars are a bit on the old side, so my main concern would be how well they start on a cold morning. Most here have a block heater in their car and often also a space heater inside that are run for that are set to turn on an hour or so before leaving in the morning (the block heater comes with a plug in the car so it can be connected to an electrical outlet). So that might be something to look into. I assume your car heater (the one that heats the car while it is running) is working properly so you don't have to freeze while driving.

Other than that... the cars should do fine, but do you have experience in driving on snow/ice? Driving on snow/ice is not rocket science, but even experienced drivers can be surprised by ice and end up on the wrong side of the road with a truck coming right at them.

Oh, and get some warm winter boots, and some winter clothing.

That last one I agree wholeheartedly! I've been inexperienced driver with 4x4 and know that only real difference with it and "normal" car in winter is how deep in to the snowbank you end up. And I would add some snow shovels too, helps to keep you warm as you dig your car out.

CH · Post by CH » Thu Feb 06, 2014 2:01 pm

Upphew wrote:And I would add some snow shovels too, helps to keep you warm as you dig your car out.

Heh, true. And you can dig your car out from where you parked it after the snow plow has buried it under snow.

The amount of snow in December varies a lot from year to year, here is some data for when there is permanent snow on average. So in southern Finland there may or may not be snow in December, but up north there probably is.

Oh, and also... if you have old batteries I would change them. Unless you want to be carrying them in for the night. I have no idea if there is some difference between operating temperatures between car batteries, but as a mechanic you probably do. Oh, and stock up on some antifreeze for the windshield wipers, something that goes at least to -20C (if it is warmer than the min temperature you can dilute it more with water, but you really don't want to have your washer fluid frozen up in the middle of nowhere on a long car trip with your windshield full of gunk... anyway, you can buy that here at any gas station/grocery store).

DMC · Post by **DMC** » Thu Feb 06, 2014 2:18 pm

The problem with M&Ss is the cold rather than the snow. Often they just don't get traction. Of course, changing tyres for one trip is an expensive option, so look at other ways to cope. One way is to drop the tyre pressures. Run them lower than normal and if you get stuck somewhere drop them even further. Maybe you would feel happier carrying a small portable compressor that runs off a car battery so you can put some air back in the tyres after extricating yourself from a stuck position.

What fuel do the Defenders use? If diesel, aim to arrive with near empty tanks so you can fill up straight away. Diesel here has an additive in winter to prevent waxing.

Carry something you can use to blank off the radiators if temperatures are very low. Not normally needed, but you never know, especially with older vehicles and vehicles sold in warmer markets.

If the cars are well maintained, block heaters should not be needed to get them started. They are nice to have, but I don't think I would fit heaters for one visit.

I second the idea of carrying shovels. Also a good torch. At the first fuel station here buy a brush for clearing snow off the car.

LogicUK · Post by **LogicUK** » Thu Feb 06, 2014 11:49 pm

Thanks, thats great. We are experienced in driving on mud but definitely not on ice, sounds silly but I didnt realy think about that.
Any more advice would be most grateful

Upphew · Post by **Upphew** » Fri Feb 07, 2014 8:27 am

LogicUK wrote:Thanks, thats great. We are experienced in driving on mud but definitely not on ice, sounds silly but I didnt realy think about that.
Any more advice would be most grateful

Rhd cars + lhd traffic = annoyed and or blinded oncoming traffic.

edit. switched the handedness of cars and traffic

DMC · Post by **DMC** » Fri Feb 07, 2014 9:42 am

Upphew wrote:Rhd cars + lhd traffic = annoyed and or blinded oncoming traffic.

If that were a major problem nobody from the UK would drive in Europe, and conversely nobody in Europe would drive in the UK.
Anyone taking a UK car abroad fits blanking stickers on the lights, and/or adjusts the lights. Not ideal, but acceptable, and the stickers are readily available at the channel ports. I have never had any problems driving a car on the "wrong" side of the road.

Upphew · Post by **Upphew** » Fri Feb 07, 2014 11:10 am

DMC wrote:
Upphew wrote:Rhd cars + lhd traffic = annoyed and or blinded oncoming traffic.
If that were a major problem nobody from the UK would drive in Europe, and conversely nobody in Europe would drive in the UK.
Anyone taking a UK car abroad fits blanking stickers on the lights, and/or adjusts the lights. Not ideal, but acceptable, and the stickers are readily available at the channel ports. I have never had any problems driving a car on the "wrong" side of the road.

Dunno about UKsians driving in Europe, Stickers, adjustments etc. I just know that op is looking at ~4h long day, so there will be driving in dark and there are enough Finnish cars with lights shining all over the place and I would expect the effect being same as rhd car's lights. Which is annoying. Good thing that there are easy sticker solutions readily available. Getting high beams from truck as a reminder to switch to low is luminous experience.

edit. length of day: http://www.moisio.fi/taivas/aurinko.php ... 12&yr=2014

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