Regarding tires, I am a huge fan of Nokian for winter tires. I have the WRg3 on 20" rims for my winter setup and I have done a lot of driving in heavy snow, through unplowed roads up to about 8" deep, ice, etc. they are solid and the car handles great.
My frustration with the doors is getting worse though. The car is pretty much useless if left in cold weather for long. If I don't preheat it for at least the full 30 minutes, sometimes longer, the front windows are freezing in the full up position which is a nightmare. The doors will generally open, but then you can close them from the inside because the window is up and hits the trim. From the outside I can flex the window a little and tuck it in enough to close the door, but. I amount of tapping, jiggling, or pushing down on the window is able to get it loose. I just have to wait for it to warm up. The full defroster seems best (double tap until it turns red), but that turns off if you get out and close the door! So really not great for skiing where the car is sitting in a parking lot at 15F getting coated in snow and ice.
The FWDs are not much better because the joints all freeze up, the sensors are covered and so the doors won't open at all from the outside, and from the inside pressing and holding to override they only open a couple inches and then give up. I had to manually actuate the door to the full open position and then it started working again. And this is after brushing off all the snow and scraping off the ice.
Anyone else having these issues?
