Extreme weather conditions put the paintwork, tires and interiors of vehicles to the test, as does your skills as a driver. What methods can best be used to prepare your own car for external influences such as ice, snow and road salt in order to ensure maximum safety when participating in road traffic? Professional car care and quality winter tires make it possible.

Read in this guide how you can best prepare your vehicle for winter. In addition: Precious convertibles bring you driving pleasure in the summer months. However, many owners do not want to expose their automobile to winter weather. Trust our expertise and find out in the following text how you can best prepare your roadster for a longer downtime in winter.

1. Optimal care of your sports car in winter

2. Convertible treatment for the winter break

3. Safety first: choosing the right winter tire

4. Our winterfestes conclusion

5. You will find the right vehicle with us

Fog hangs over the fields, the days are getting shorter and the temperatures are falling - winter has arrived. The weather conditions of the coming months require you as the driver to be particularly mindful and your vehicle a good deal of stamina. As soon as temperatures drop into the single-digit range, you should therefore take a few points to heart.

First check the level of the cooling water and fill it up if necessary. In the same step, with the bonnet open, antifreeze or winter cleaner can be filled into the washer fluid tank. This ensures that the cleaning water does not freeze and that a good view of what is happening on the road is guaranteed at all times.

If the cleaning effect is still insufficient, new windscreen wipers can often help. The inside of the windshield should also be cleaned for better visibility and safety. Enthusiasts who attach particular importance to their vehicle can also preserve the rubber seals on the doors and trunk with a care product or silicone. In this way, the seals remain soft and resistant to ice and cold.

Before a high-pressure wash, the vehicle should be cleaned of coarse impurities by hand in order to avoid unwanted scratches on the paintwork. At best, this pre-wash should be carried out in the morning, as night frost is not exposed to attack. If the outside temperature falls below 0 °, it would be advisable to reschedule the cleaning. Due to the large difference between outside and water temperature, paintwork and seals are stressed and may react sensitively.

Winter is usually a much higher burden, especially for classic cars, than for newer automobiles. Above all, the underbody, sills and wheel arches are affected by wear from road salt and moisture and form a serious rust catalyst. Owners of newer vehicles, however, can look forward to winter in peace. Over time, void-sealed metal sheets, which are located on the underbody and prevent rust, have established themselves in the automotive industry.

The convertible season ends with the last sunny days in autumn. Roadster drivers want to protect their vehicle in the cold season. In this section, we explain helpful precautions you can take to optimally prepare your Cabriolet for the winter break. This prevents damage to the vehicle that may occur in the interval between parking and restarting the vehicle.

The professional care of the high-quality materials in the interior of elegant convertibles can quickly be forgotten if the body is thoroughly cleaned. We recommend cleaning the leather seats of cars that are to be parked and treating them with care products in order to maintain the suppleness of the interior over the winter months. It is also advisable to look under the floor mats and trunk cover. It is better to dry out areas affected by moisture before standing for a longer period. In particular, you can protect young and old timers from rust.

Another focus is on the component that makes a convertible one: the lowerable top. Both soft tops and hard tops have rubber seals. A precautionary check for small cracks is advisable with both variants. With a car-colored roof, a preventive examination of the paintwork for insects or other residues such as resin, which can permanently penetrate the paintwork and permanently damage it, is also suitable. If you pay careful attention to the external appearance of your vehicle and remove these residues, for example with special cleaning tools, you can give your convertible a new shine before it is idle for a long time. Smaller paint damage caused by stone chips can thus be better identified and repaired.

If you stay in the garage for a long time, the battery should be charged every two months to protect it and the tire pressure should be increased to protect it from deformation. Releasing the handbrake before the vehicle is finally parked prevents it from jamming over the coming months. Finally, open the driver's door window a crack to ensure good air circulation over the entire service life.

It is best to leave the winter preparations for your convertible to a specialist. Please do not hesitate to contact us and make an appointment with our sports car experts. Here you and your vehicle are in the best of hands - guaranteed. Our vehicle professionals offer you professional preparation and make your vehicle fit for the winter. If you also decide to have an inspection, you can get in the next spring in the sunshine without hesitation and drive off with the roof open.

Anyone who is clear about the most important key points of good winter bikes will have an easy choice later when buying new winter tires. Is it even mandatory to install special tires for the cold season? The road traffic regulations answer this question in the affirmative. Anyone driving in ice and snow without suitable tires must expect a fine at the next traffic control. For further information on the subject of traffic fines, please take a look at our guide Status quo catalog of fines: what still counts?

How can you even recognize a good winter tire? All uniformly tested winter tires that have passed a standardized brake test on snow are given the snowflake or Alpine symbol. If tires have this marking on the flank, you are not only on the safe side when crossing an icy pass, but also during a traffic control. The specialty of winter tires compared to summer tires is their softer rubber compound. The increased proportion of rubber in the tire ensures better grip and traction as well as shorter braking distances on snow-covered roads at low temperatures.

When is the right time to fit winter tires? As soon as the winter tires currently installed on the vehicle have fallen below a tread depth of 4 mm, it is time for a pit stop and a change of tires. Basically, you should drive with winter tires from O to O, i.e. from October to Easter. Winter does not always knock on the door punctually on October 1st, but every now and then a month earlier or later. However, at the latest when the thermometer shows seven degrees Celsius or less for several nights and the freezing point is almost reached, you should make an appointment to change your tires.

Get on the safe side now and choose the right winter tire from us. At B&K Sportwagen, we regularly have over 50 inexpensive winter wheel sets on offer, which will bring you safely through the cold season.

The following is certain: a well-maintained car not only pleases the viewer. Complemented with the right set of winter tires, it also guarantees the highest level of driving safety, because winter road traffic is all about seeing and being seen. Ideally, have your vehicle serviced by a specialist before winter. We at B&K offer you the professional preparation of your vehicle on attractive terms. Please contact us at any time.

Are you still looking for a suitable winter car or are you already looking for a convertible for the warm months? We offer you a comprehensive range of suitable vehicles. For example, all-wheel drive convertibles suitable for winter such as the Bentley Continental Supersports Convertible or the Porsche 991 Carrera 4 GTS Cabriolet. Winter SUVs such as the Porsche Cayenne or Macan are also part of our portfolio.