Preparing our cars for winter challenges is important as the temperature drops and the snowflakes fall. Icy conditions and cold weather may seriously affect our vehicles, resulting in mechanical problems and safety hazards if not addressed properly.
From ensuring our heater works properly and checking antifreeze levels to installing new snow tires, experts at D Wells Auto say that we need to prepare our vehicles early so they can keep running efficiently throughout the winter.
Why Prepare Your Vehicle for Winter?
Driving our cars in unfavorable and slippery conditions can be dangerous and annoying. It can be more stressful if we continue to drive on a slippery road.
Preparing our vehicles for winter is a perfect way to prevent dangerous situations, injuries, and stress. We can keep ourselves, our vehicles, and our family safe throughout the winter through preparation.
Preparation Tips
Road safety begins with our vehicles’ safety. This is why learning how to prepare our vehicles for icy conditions and cold weather is crucial. Here are preparation tips that can help:
1. Check the Tire Pressure
We should begin with what gives us traction and moves us through the snow, including our tires. Icy conditions and freezing temperatures often affect tire pressure.
If you wake up to a cold and icy winter morning, start the car, and see low tire pressure lights on, know that the cause is winter. Although our tire pressure can return to normal as we drive and friction hears our tires, we still have to maintain the required pressure.
2. Look at the Tire Treads
When preparing our cars for the winter, we should thoroughly inspect our tires for any tread wear and properly rotate them in all oil changes. To check our tires’ treads, we can use the ‘Penny Test.’
How do we go about this?
The answer is simple – we place a penny in our tire’s tread groove. We should put the penny with Lincoln’s head facing us and stick it in the car’s tread to ensure that Lincoln’s head isn’t visible. We must replace the tires if the entire Lincoln’s head is visible.
3. Inspect Signals and Lights
Days are often shown during winter, and visibility decreases. Therefore, check that every light, including turn, brake, and headlights, works correctly and replace all burnt-out bulbs.
4. Take a Look at the Oil & Fuel Levels
Our car’s oil level must be between the maximum and minimum mark on the dipstick, or it risks a breakdown and damaging the engine.
Get your vehicle ready for icy conditions by checking the oil and fuel levels when the car is warmed up completely. Cold vehicles may look low on oil. However, remember that too much oil is dangerous.
5. Lubricate Locks and Doors
Avoid freeing locks and doors by applying a graphite or silicone lubricant to locks and door gaskets. This will help to prevent them from sticking because of freezing temperatures and moisture.
In conclusion, preparing our car for the winter doesn’t just ensures our vehicles run efficiently. It is also keeps us safe while on the road. From lubricating locks/doors to inspecting signals/lights to changing tire treads, all steps to prepare our cars contribute to a safer driving experience throughout the winter.