Hi all,
My trusted x351 3.0 Diesel XJ do have numbers on odometer that make me looking new wheels. (349t km / 212t miles)
It still looks like a milj bucks and turn heads as x351 XJ is very rare here.
Nowdays i donīt need any more a big sedan, so looking smaller vehicle. (Ok, Ok. A toy and joy )

Since i live in area where no civilisation should never set its foot by its climate, i have question for anyone using F-Type in northern hemisphere: Canada, Scandinavia etc.
How F-Type frameless doors function on winter / iced conditions?
I have seen that different frameless doors do work differently on icing conditions. Some keep window seals dry in any conditions, some wet them in speed and then doors are iced down by windows. How it is with F-Type?

 

Get this, apply regularly and you'll be fine
https://amzn.eu/d/02Z9LeD

 

The Jaguars I've had have all experienced issues when it's very cold - the locks tend to "seize" and are difficult to open/close. Apart from that the glass often refused to drop (I guess the sensor got bad info from the frozen door lock) and I resorted to forcing it past the "also frozen) rubber seal at the top. I've not had to do frozen starts in the F-Type (the joy of retirement!) but in my previous XKR I frequently had to use brute force to get in and shut the door afterwards. No ill-effects from it, though, car worked flawlessly the rest of the time.

Oh, and the frozen folded mirrors are a pain to unfold, too. That setting in the XKR was user-modifiable throuhg thew menu system, so I disabled the "fold on lock" when it was freezing. In the F-Type it's a dealer only setting, apparently.

 

I don’t think driving a car like this is in winter conditions is ideal. I personally would never do it. The car is pretty low. If ya wanna basically use it as a snow plow I guess you can, but the car will be taking some abuse for sure. There is no doubt about it.

 

Thanks all for your comments.
Note: Been driwing in Finnish harhs winters about 40 years, so i am familar of common vehicle usage in frosen and snowy conditions.

WSHuds: I have this on my garage. Yes, works somewhat, like other similar products, but not on heavy snovy / iced conditions. Some vehicles quide a lot water/slush from melting snow (from roof/windshield) to the door frames that its overwhelming any repellant. The question was: How F-Type handle this?

SCM: Check your door frame aroud door latch. You will see 3 torx screws. Undone them ONE BY ONE and spray exsample WD40 small burst each. By this you lubricate and remove moist from inside of lock mechanics itself. By this your locks wont frose. You still might have issues with locks if the cables to the inside handles frose. I never have issues with locks by doing this for all our vehicles.(and neibhours Nissans, Peugeots, Citroens, Fiats...)
One by one, because if you remove them all same time its possible that the lock drops inside of door.

DMeister: On here the infractsructure is build for the conditions that every night can fall more than 60cm of snow and we donīt have much issues with morning traffic. Been used even lower vehicles without issues in winter. No need to use a car as a snow plow, because army of street clearing trucks by city will do it. In some times of (now days rare) winter they been run 24/7. (thats why we pay heavy taxes.. ) However: Lately heavy snow days are getting rare and since i have other methods to move as well, i can easly leave F-Type home if like so. You live in Ontario Canada? Have you ever been used your F-Type on winter conditions?

 

Yeah these cars were definitely not built for Finnish winters.

I'm pretty used to Swedish and Laponian winters with all their snow, ice, gravel and muddy slush and wouldn't feel good about subjecting a nice car to such conditions. Driving it will be fine if the roads are decently cleaned but the frameless windows and door locks will likely be an issue. I've thankfully never experienced any such issue because my car is rarely parked outdoors but to be on the safe side I always carry a tiny spray bottle of defreezer in the boot during the winters.

If you have a proper garage you might be fine though. The F-Type is a blast to drive in snow and ice and even in RWD form it drives great.

Don't know if you ever had any such issues with the XJ but many years ago I had an XF with the same locks, handles etc as the X351 and it happened a couple of times that I had to leave it outdoors overnight in freezing temperatures and had issues with mirrors stuck frozen and door locks not latching after opening. Kind of awkward to have to hold your door shut while you're driving .

 

So long as your boot lock doesn't freeze!

 

Fair point! That's hopefully much less likely than that the windows freeze so the boot seems like the most accessible place in case things freeze up.

 

.....
buy a lightweight cover that just covers the glass area of your F-Type, these can be shaken and placed in the boot ( trunk) very quickly.

 

MajorTom: Thanks for your comment.
I see you are fregrent visitor here.
Yes. And locks on X351 / XF are not the worst ones. (same used in Volvos) Please check post #5. There is a way to keep X351, XF and pretty much any vehicle locks working in winter as long as the cables inside of doors are Ok. For them only way to thread them against frozen is open the door cards and use pressuried air to pusg lubricant/ water distliller thru.
Note: The way open frozen door, trunck etc is to take plastic bag, fill it with warm (not hot) water and place the back against frozen area. In just a min or so the heat from water have been warmed the area and melt the ice. Not pour water over it or use hot gun etc. -> It will freeze again until moist or water is repelled.

Been using any vehicle around the year here what i have been owned. X351 have been worked great 8 years i have owned it, even kept outdoors. Warm garage is not actually very good for vehicle in low temps, because every time you drive it in/out the big temp change generate lot of moist all over and inside of vehicle frame. However: I donīt need car anymore everyday, so i were planning having an garage for F-Type (or any toy i will get ) Good wax in autumm and good undercarriage wash in eastern is mandatory.
In fact many manufacturers requlary use scandinavian area for winter testing. Not very uncommon to see Ferrari, MacLaren etc in spyes driving here in the deepest winter day.

 

Yep over on the Swedish side Arvidsjaur is a global hotspot for winter car tests but I didn't know they also run tests in Finland.

I've seen some user on here that uses an F-Type in heavy winter conditions but most of us don't so there's probably not so much common experience of how the F-Type's windows behave compared to other frameless ones. My guess is that the problem won't be much bigger or smaller than with other cars with such windows.

Anyways given your experience and conditions (having a garage, not needing to drive every day etc) its sounds like you'd be just fine with an F-Type. Just get one. These cars are just amazing.

 

There are few test areas in here too, bigest ones in Ivalo and Rovaniemi areas, but i think they use Helsinki or Turku as "GT" route to the north for long drive tests.

My friend have an Audi A7 with frameless doors and its hopeless comparing another friend BMW 328 (not absolute sure the model. 3-series two door coupe anyway)
Audi is Ok when in park, but once moving it pushes water right to the seam of the door windows, where it froze just clueing doors closed. I offer duck tape for a cure, but he was not extremely keen on that.

 

Nah, I have not driven this car in the winter. It is a summer-only fun car. I have a Toyota 4Runner for winter duty.

I know a family member of mine had a whole bunch of issues with a convertible Volkswagen car that had frameless windows. Freezing and such caused the electric motors to burn out 2 times for that little drop and raise business that is done. This doesn’t mean it will happen with the F-type necessarily, but I thought I would just mention that. It was butt pain from what I gather. They never mentioned any lock issues, but the window motors for sure were an issue.

I too could not put a beauty like this in the salt and snow. And I would be plowing here inevitably at some point. I don’t think my tax dollars are applied with the same precision in terms of guaranteeing clear roads ;-0

Good luck

 

Thanks DMeister
Yes. That kind of info i am looking for if any have experience.
It seems a vary a lot how different desings of frameless doors behave in winter conditions.

On here lot of tax money have been put on "green" traffic like public transporattion. Nothing bad on that, but when purchasing electric bendy busses (remember: bendy) for 3-4 months in a year of icy city roads and roundabouts, some would think that choosing the model where the power added to the ground thru rearmost axle could not be the brightest desission.
Very comical and now streets are cleared extra well so busses dont knife themself everywhere. (they still do)

I would laugh my *** off, (well, i do a bit) but knowing my tax money have been used for that, i just enjoy well cleared roads.

 

These windows do open about 2cm when the door latch releases and close again when latched. I don't get the cold weather to see how effective that is with varying levels of ice.

 

Thanks pahar911. This would be good when parking. However: Some cars annoingly push water to the seals when driving by airflow. After 3 hours of highway and everybody clued in. Funny, but not funny.

 

Here's a link to a Cabrio shield... designed to cover a convertible car's roof, but may help any body style of F. I live in Wisconsin, currently cold, but not anywhere near what the OP has to deal with. I would put one of these on my coupe if I had to leave him outside.

This resolves to a USA site, but I think Prestige is global.

https://prestigeautotrim.com/usa/cabrioshield.html

 

You're lucky! The glass freezes to the rubber at the top of the door frame. I used to force it off on my XKR and it didn't cause any issues.

 

Living in north central Wisconsin, we get some good cold weather, snow and ice. This week it started in the low single digits after a decent snowfall, then warmed up to 40 and rained, then fell like a rock last night to 10 (F). The only good thing was that the residual snow and ice on the roads melted and the 30 mph winds dried them.

Each fall when I handwash all my cars, the very last step is the application of this Maguiar's product.

https://meguiarsdirect.com/products/...-m180132-32-oz

I bought it one year, even though it's Marine, when I couldn't find the 'regular' formulation in the tan spray bottle. After a complete and thorough car wash, I do all the seals once around the whole car, then come back around for the second coat, especially on problematic areas like window and door seals. For glass freezing to the seals, a light coating of spray cooking 'oil' like PAM may help. Spray it on a paper towel, then run a thin strip along the inside upper edge of the window glass. It may require repeat applications if the weather has been nasty for long periods of time. The PAM is easily cleaned off with denatured alcohol and/or a good window cleaner come better weather.

https://www.pamcookingspray.com/

 

Have you tried Shin Etsu grease? There's a specific one sold by Honda that was, I've read, developed specifically for the Del Sol targa top. I use it on my door seals to keep them from drying out and also on the door and roof seals of my NA Miata. It's silicone-based, so may do the trick for icing also. I think I got my tube from Amazon and after using it on a few things, it's now something I will always keep on hand.