So, I find myself in a sucky situation. My Evo has never seen a winter until this current one and it does NOT like it. Never really had to worry about winter-proofing since it spent it's past 4 winters in Hawaii. Well now she's suffering in South Korea's wintery winter.

Anyways, I'm already aware that my tires are just not gonna cut it (Star Specs) but I need to find out what you cold-weather types do to keep your Evos running good in this weather.

Here's what I'm dealing with:

Doesn't start if I let it sit for more than 2 days
Runs like CRAP at idle (has stalled multiple times)
Runs like complete CRAP until completely warmed up
Temps are anywhere from single digits to 20's (then some days there's ridiculous wind chill) but normally hovering around the high teens
Using 10w30 oil
Mini battery (which is my guess at the starting problem since jumps work)... only solution to this is a trunk mount full-size due to piping

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

EDIT: AWD doughnuts in the snow are great, great fun. And very easy with Star Specs.

 

the temp diff is throwing off the tune that is in the car that can have a major role in how the car is behaving. when im at work my car sits outside for 8 hours and if its really cold it takes a sec to start nothing major. you def need snow tires!

 

Weather, the same as you describe, is occurring here and my car runs no differently than it did last summer (well, a little more power due to cold air). So, I'd suggest a big battery, tires and then if you are still having problems, something is wrong with the tune or mechanical.

 

1. get all season/snow specific tires before you kill yourself ice skating on the star specs
2. get a full size battery mounted in your trunk or swap your uicp
3. get retuned...elevation/drastic temp change are killing your drive-ability
4. you should be perfectly fine running 10w30

 

Get a normal battery first off...

 

This.

 

Brilliant guys. Thanks for the help.

 

Ehh.. How old is your mini bat? We let ours sit outside in chicago winter weather (sub 20F) for a week+ and they have no issues starting off of a mini battery.

 

The battery is less than a year old. Odyssey PC680.

 

Im in camp humperys I know How cold is :>

 

Hump is better (and warmer) than CRC.

 

fully charge ur mini battery, if it is dry cell, that could take a few days on low amp charge. may not need to drastically change tune depending on how far you are modded, however, i would def recommend doing an idle relearn, (take battery off, allow to sit for a minute ish, reinstall, fire up with all accessories off and let run for 10 minutes, this will help the car to adjust temp, fuel, elevation, etc). i personally recommend the bridgestone blizzaks snow and ice tires, work amazingly in snow.
thats just my .02

 

General Altimax Artic tires are good for the price and get good reviews.
http://www.tirerack.com/survey/Surve...Altimax+Arctic

 

Snow tires a must if you are based in Korea. They are getting slammed with snow as I have relatives out there and they say the snow is terrible. Get some Nokians, best snow tired made, but then again also the most expensive. If you do some research you can see that these tires were made in Germany and police use them during the snow to catch the bad guys. If not, get some Blizzaks LM60, I have these on my car and they worked really well.

 

I have to totally agree. Friggin awesome winter tire