What to Do to Get Your Car Winter-Ready

Winter driving conditions are frequently hazardous, with ice and snow making driving difficult. Ensuring your car is up to the challenge is an important step.

Let’s look at how winterizing your car can make a difference.

Use winter tires

Your car likely has all-season tires which, as the name would imply, also work during winter. That said, these tires won’t provide maximum performance. If you’re dealing with snow and ice regularly, consider switching to winter tires. These tires are specially engineered so that their rubber compounds don’t harden when the temperatures dip below freezing. This means your car will have better traction on ice, snow and slush.

Get your car serviced

Bringing your car into a trusted mechanic is an important step in winterizing your car. The technician will complete tasks such as checking the battery, brakes and heating systems. All this is done to ensure that your vehicle is ready for the winter and won’t break down when the temperatures shift. The last thing you want is to be stuck on the side of the road on a freezing, snowy day.

Change to winter wipers

Your tires aren’t the only thing you need to change to get your car ready for winter. The standard wipers on your car aren’t going to cut it in tough winter weather. Instead, install winter-friendly wipers. These will lessen the stress that’s put on your wipers when it’s snowing or the windshield freezes. Once spring rolls around, you can remove these wipers and put your usual ones back on.

Consistent tire pressure

Even moderate dips in the temperature of around 10°F will mean a slight loss of tire pressure. It’s more important during the winter than other times of year to regularly check your tire pressure and have the tires’ air refilled. If you’re not sure how much air the tires need, the car’s manual or the tire placard on the driver’s side doorjamb will be able to help.

Pack an emergency kit

If you don’t already have an emergency kit for your car, now’s a good time to pack one. You’ll want to include items like extra blankets, bottles of water, a first aid kit, additional winter clothes, flares, a flashlight and batteries and a snow shovel. Hopefully, you will never have to use this kit.

Drive properly in winter conditions

You should know the right way to drive in winter weather before you hit the road. If it’s snowing or icy, make sure to go slowly and give additional distance between vehicles when stopping. You should also know what to do if the car begins sliding.

So that’s what you need to get your car ready for winter. The next time you need mechanic services, Auto Air & Heating, Inc is here to help. We offer a wide range of auto repair and maintenance services. We do it all from electrical work and front-end repair to brakes, tires and suspensions. Contact us today to find out more and set up your first appointment.

Categorised in: General Maintenance

This post was written by Writer