Just bought my '09 S5 in May so this will be my first winter with it. It's already in the low 20s at night here, and I'm having issues with my doors / windows, wanted to see what you all are doing.

I'll be honest, the first time I got in an S5 when I was shopping and saw that window pop down to let the door open, I thought to myself, "oh yeah, THAT'S gonna be a problem". I was right.

First overnight freezing rain, doors opened, but windows never popped down. Didn't realize it until I went to close the door and clanged the window off the trim strip. Couldn't get door closed without dragging a heat gun and a cord out. OK, freezing rain, 1/8" of ice all over the car....I get it. Tough day.

Couple days later, just a normal frost, windows frozen up. Just from frost. Which we have virtually every day.

I used to have a Jag XJ-S that the doors were CONSTANTLY frozen shut, I used Sil-Glyde silicone grease (yeah the brake stuff...gotta have silicone) to lube all the weatherstrips and never had another issue. Did that on the S5, including the beltline strips, figuring they were freezing to the window and holding it up. The window doesn't seem to have an issue separating from the weatherstrip surrounding the door aperture.

Went out this morning, temp about 31 (which is NOT cold, especially for this area), and NO frost, car completely clear. The window did pop down, slowly, with effort. The door handle also stuck open until I slammed the door a couple times. Again there was NO frost, NO ice and I'd already greased the weatherstrip. The passenger window wouldn't go down (didn't try opening the door) until a good amount of heat had built up in the car, I was almost at work.

I'm thinking this car's gonna be tough to live with in the winter. By the time December rolls around I probably won't see a single high temperature above 20F until late March or April. Not kidding. I live on top of a mountain (in a town called Mountain Top) in northeast PA.

Those of you that don't live in sunny LA, how are you living with your S5 in the winter? Or are you not? I'm seriously worried here. Thing that really sucks is there's not even a way to put a remote starter on these cars so I can start it when I wake up and let it thaw a little!

Is there something better I can use to lube up the window rubbers and belt strips? How about carefully-applied silicone brake fluid? Anyone successfully gotten the door latches waterproofed / lubed?

I hate winter so much. So, so much.
Darel