Preparing for... winter

[sketcher]

My Cooper is a month old and already I'm thinking about what I'll do in the winter. So, here are a slew of questions!

1) Freezing rain. Do the doors open even if they're covered in ice? That's not really the question but I read a few threads about having to scrape the windows but I also read that the glass used for the MINI scratch easily. Just curious to know what everyone else here does to make sure the windows don't get scratched.

2) Snow tires. Are they necessary? I mean, what about the tires that come with the Cooper (base model, no packages)? Are they all season? If I want to get snow tires, I guess I have to get them at the MINI dealership?

Well, that's my slew of questions

[dmholmes]

Well, in answer to your first question, the freezing rain we had over the winter was so severe I had to use hot water to get into the car. As far as the second question, I got around just fine with the tires on the car (I have a base Cooper) but the DSC definitely helped on a few occasions.