Winterize your Truck for 2024

Updated on Feb 6, 2024

With winter in full swing, it’s time to outfit your truck, Jeep, or SUV to take on anything the harsh season offers. Cold weather poses several challenges, especially for those living in Northern parts of the country. With regular heavy snowfall and exposure to sub-freezing temperatures, Winter in the Northern states isn’t just unpleasant but downright dangerous! 

Everything from rust-inducing road salt exposure to slick roads and other unprepared drivers can cause significant stress and wear and tear to your vehicle, most of which is avoidable with the proper upgrades! 

At RealTruck, we offer all the leading accessories to Winterize your ride, including interior and exterior protection, temperature management, and traction control products. Such accessories ensure safe and comfortable travels regardless of the weather conditions, and in this guide, we’re outlining our experts’ top product picks.

If you’re looking to improve your ride’s functionality and Winter performance, you’re in the right place!

Bulk Up for Winter

Winter brings snow, ice and plummeting temperatures, each of which can take a toll on the performance of your vehicle. To help you make sure you have the most reliable winter truck possible, follow these easy maintenance steps from our experts and check out these truck accessories that help take the edge off this frigid time of year.

Winterize Your Interior

Though your ride’s exterior takes the brunt of abuse during the Winter months, that’s not to say the interior gets off scot-free! Wet jackets, spilled hot drinks, and muddy, salty boots can wreak havoc on your upholstery and carpeting, leaving stubborn stains and unnecessary wear. Fortunately, RealTruck carries a wide selection of products to Winterize your ride’s interior!

While running boards, side steps, and nerf bars may seem like purely exterior accessories, they also offer several benefits to your vehicle’s interior! Side steps ease entry into your vehicle’s cab or, more specifically, onto the seat. Hoisting yourself on and off your seat rather than sliding across the side bolsters helps to prevent unnecessary wear and tear. Additionally, side steps help to reduce contact between you and your vehicle’s cab, minimizing dirt/salt residue transfer to keep your clothing cleaner and your seats free from staining! 

We offer several side step styles, including sleek running boards, like AMP Research PowerSteps, and off-road-inspired nerf bars, like Havoc HS2 Black Hoop Steps. No matter your needs and style, we carry a product for you!

Following the trend of seat protection, let’s discuss seat covers! We recommend seat covers for every application, especially those exposed to harsh Winter conditions. These accessories protect your vehicle’s factory upholstery with a durable, abrasion, and often moisture-resistant layer, guarding against unsightly wear and tear. Whether you slide in and out of the seat each day or occasionally spill your morning coffee, high-quality seat covers will keep your ride’s factory seats looking new for years to come. 

We offer a wide assortment of seat covers in various materials and finishes. For Winter use, we recommend products offering maximum durability and weather resistance, like Covercraft Carhartt seat covers! These seat covers feature a rugged duck-weave-fabric construction, withstanding punctures, abrasions, and moisture. For factory styling, consider Covercraft Carhartt Precision Fit Seat Covers; however, if you’re all about making a statement, check out the striking styling of Covercraft Carhartt Mossy Oak Camo Seat Covers.

Lastly, let’s talk about floor mats and liners. Your vehicle’s factory carpeting is just as prone to wear, tear, and staining as the upholstery, especially in the Winter months. Mud, snow, slush, and road salt can wreak havoc on carpeting, leaving stubborn stains and matted fibers.

Fortunately, RealTruck carries a wide selection of heavy-duty, all-weather floor liners. Products like the Husky Liners WeatherBeater Floor Liners and WeatherTech DigitalFit Floor Liners offer precise fitment, exceptional weather resistance, and sleek styling!

Winterize Your Exterior

With your ride’s interior covered, let’s move on to the area most subjected to the elements: the exterior. Corrosive road salt, road grime, ice, and mud spray the chassis and body of your vehicle throughout the Winter months, wreaking havoc on paintwork and promoting corrosion unless you have the proper accessories!

If you inspect any 10-plus-year-old vehicle in a Northern area of the country, you’ll likely notice the first inklings of structural damage from rust. We're talking physical rot holes, bubbling paint, and deep pitting. One of the most common areas for rust to form is above and around your vehicle’s wheel arches, but why? 

As you plow through snowy roads, corrosive road salt, dirt, and other contaminants collect in hard-to-reach areas, like your vehicle’s inner wheel arches, bedsides, and quarter panels. A simple exterior cleaning won’t remove these contaminants. If left long enough, the corrosive mixture eats through steel to leave unsightly holes and bubbles in the bodywork! Fortunately, RealTruck has the solution: wheel well liners!

Wheel well liners, like these products from Husky Liners and Rugged Liners, form a seal between your vehicle’s wheel wells and inner bedsides/quarter panels, preventing salt and mud from accessing corrosion-prone chassis and body parts.

One of the leading causes of rust is rock chips, and arguably the most chip-prone area on your Jeep, truck, or SUV is its rocker panels! As your tires eject rocks and other debris from the treads, the fender liners catch most debris; however, especially after adding low-offset wheels and wide tires, debris has a much greater chance of striking the paintwork. It only takes hours of salt exposure for surface rust to form and a single season for surface rust to bubble and rot!

Mud flaps help to counteract this issue, providing additional coverage to prevent rocks, road salt, mud, and debris from peppering your vehicle’s rocker panels. We offer several mud flap sizes and styles, ranging from factory-style products, like Husky Liners Custom Molded Mud Flaps, to oversized, rubberized flaps, like Husky Liners MudDog Mud Flaps.

Thus far, we’ve covered protection for your vehicle, but what about the cargo in your truck’s bed? Without proper cargo coverage, winter weather exposes your valuable cargo to snow, ice, and excessive moisture, causing significant damage to luggage, cardboard boxes, wooden furniture, and other delicates. Fortunately, RealTruck has just the solution to Winterize your truck’s bed: a premium tonneau cover! 

We offer a wide selection of tonneau covers, including various brands, styles, and price points. For maximum security, consider the rigid construction and lockability of a hard folding tonneau cover, like the BAKFlip MX4. However, if you’re in the market for a budget-minded option, you can’t beat the weather-proof construction of a soft roll-up bed cover, like the TruXedo Pro X15.

Winter isn’t just hard on your vehicle’s interior and exterior but also the drivetrain! Engines require heat to operate efficiently. In sub-freezing temperatures, an engine may struggle to reach proper operating temperatures, especially on shorter drives. As a result, the heater likely won’t function properly, the engine won’t operate efficiently, and drivers may experience poor fuel economy and performance. 

To counteract the cold, consider installing a Winter front! Products like the Fia Custom Winter Front and Bug Screen block airflow through your vehicle's grille, preventing cold air from dropping engine temperatures below optimal levels.

Nothing slows you down on a cold morning more than a thick layer of frost and ice frozen to your windshield. To prevent delays and late arrivals, consider investing in a premium frost shield! These products lay across your ride’s windshield; as frost settles in, it clings to the frost shield rather than your windshield. Just strip the ice-lined frost shield when it's time to leave and enjoy your clean windshield and crystal-clear visibility! 

Check out the Coverking Custom Frost Shield, a rugged, American-made frost shield featuring a ballistic nylon construction, vehicle-specific fit, and secure installation!

Improved Traction

With exterior and interior protection covered, let’s turn our attention to drivability and safety! Regardless of how recently roads have been plowed and how much salt your county drops, most roads are still slick enough to provide traction issues. Fortunately, RealTruck carries all the parts and accessories required to bolster traction!

Sufficient cold weather traction begins with your vehicle’s contact area with the asphalt: the tires! Regardless of your driving skills, cruising down an icy road with worn Summer tires is a surefire way to end up in a ditch...or worse! 

In extreme climates, we’d recommend a quality all-season or all-terrain tire with a 3-Peak Mountain Snowflake (3PMSF) rating, ensuring adequate cold-weather performance. Tires like the Falken Wildpeak A/T3W feature an attractive design, excellent on and off-road manners, and the 3PMSF rating, making them an ideal choice for your snow-dwelling pickup, Jeep or SUV!

Pickups aren’t known for even weight distribution, and with an empty bed, they often struggle to gain traction at the rear wheels. If tires alone aren’t enough, consider bolstering your ride's grip with our traction products! We offer several accessories to ensure adequate grip in the snow, including weight adders like the Shurtrax All Weather Traction System. This product consists of a durable bladder installed in the bed that, when filled with water, increases weight over the rear axles for superior traction. 

Other traction products include recovery ropes, straps, and traction boards like the Rugged Ridge Traction Recovery Kit.

A wise man once said, “It’s not if you’ll get stuck, but when.” We couldn’t agree more; when that time comes, it’s best to have a way out! There’s no better solution than a winch, allowing you to pull yourself or other drivers out of sticky situations like deep snow or muddy ditches. 

At RealTruck, we offer a wide selection of products to outfit your ride with a heavy-duty winch, including winch-capable bumpers, like the Go Rhino BR6 premium winches, the Warn Zeon 12 Platinum Series 12000 lb Winch, and the recovery gear necessary for safe and efficient winch operation.

With the aforementioned products on order, you’ll be well on your way to building a thoroughly Winterized ride! As always, we’re available seven days a week for product inquiries and order assistance. Don’t hesitate to contact the experts.

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