How will a wind chill affect your car?

Answer 1

Wind chill ONLY affects something that is trying to stay warmer than the air temperature.
Wind chill affects the rate of cooling for objects. So, if your car was sitting in your driveway and not running, and it was -15 degrees, what ever the wind speed, inside your car and all parts of the car would be -15 degrees.
IF the car was running then things would be a bit different:
Since the running engine is generating heat, and the interior of the car is warm, the above temperature and a strong wind would
increase the amount of heat removed from the engine (you can see this just by driving your car after it has been stopped for a while (the engine temp will drop due to the air flow through the radiator). If you were trying to defrost your window, for instance, it is best to do it while the car is not moving, if the car was moving, the air flow over the window would slow the defrosting process by cooling the window much faster than if the car was sitting still.

Answer 2

Wind increases the rate of heat loss from an object/body. About the only effect it would have on a car is return it to the ambient temperature faster than if there was no wind. For example if you have two cars driven for an hour and you stop both, one exposed to the wind and the other protected from the wind, the one in the wind will cool off faster.

Once you start driving the car, you're generating your own wind by moving the car through the air. The only difference wind may make is a headwind would increase the relative wind on the car and a tail wind would decrease the relative wind on the car. Since wind is removing heat from the car faster, wind will increase the time it takes for the car to fully warm up.

Answer 3

I live in Idaho and it's flipping cold here. When I start my car, I put it into neutral (with the emergency brake on), so the tranny fluid moves around, about 10 minutes. The wind chill makes the weather feel colder and it will affect your car. Hope this helps.

Answer 4

Cold windy days can make it harder to start your car, and it will be sluggish when you first start moving if you don't let it idle for a few minutes before driving it. Once it's warmed up no difference between summer wind and winter wind.
At least that's what I have found from living in Saskatchewan (Canada) and Ontario.

Answer 5

Frost on the windshield (windscreen for you Brits)