Car’s are high-maintenance at the best of times. But in the colder months of the year they can be a total nightmare. You need to take steps to protect your car from the harsh elements, as well as regular issues. It may mean a lot of extra work for you. In fact, it might be advisable to try to use your car as little as possible in the winter.
Whether you use it or not, you’ll still have to make sure you look after your vehicle. You’ll need to protect against the cold and wet. Then there’ll be issues such as snow and ice that will have an effect on you car, not to mention on the road. Even if you have a smaller, more manoeuvrable model like a Cooper Mini, you’ll still need to follow these tips to protect your car.
Maintenance
The best way to keep your car protected during the winter is to make sure it has regular maintenance checks. You need to treat your car with gentle hands. If you look after it, then it will look after you in return. It’s important to check it every day or so over the course of the winter to make sure it’s still running efficiently. There are a lot of things that can go wrong with your car during the colder months. You’ll need to pay special attention to the engine to see that it doesn’t stutter. You should also make sure you check the upkeep of the car and, in particular, the bodywork.
If you want to go a step further, you might think about taking your car in for servicing on a regular basis. This is the best way of ensuring there is nothing wrong with it. And if there is something wrong it can be fixed in a quick and professional way. This reduces the chances of something extreme going wrong resulting in huge cost.
Headlights
During the winter, it gets dark and gloomy a lot more often and a lot earlier than at other times of the year. Because of this it’s important to remain safe and vigilant on the roads. Driving at a slower speed and keeping an eye out for road signs will help, of course. But the best way to ensure you stay safe is to use your headlights. This is a way of alerting other vehicles and pedestrians where you are. But it also helps you to see more clearly. This is especially important in winter because as well as being dark it’s also cold and icy. You need to be able to see the roads as clear as possible to prevent the chance of an accident. You need to test your headlights out often, both low beam and full beam. You may even need to replace the bulbs every so often to make sure the lights are as bright as possible.
Spare Parts
If you want to be safe and responsible as a driver, you should make sure you have spare parts. In the colder months your car in more susceptible to damage and breaking down. As a result, you may find that you need to change parts. You can, of course, take your car to a garage to get parts replaced, but this isn’t always practical or cost effective. The best way would be to make sure you have plenty of your own spare parts that you can fit and replace yourself. There are many of these available online, and they often prove to be cheap and easy to get ahold of.
Keep Warm
Keeping your car warm is a vital part of the maintenance of your vehicle throughout the winter. You might find that you have problems each morning getting your car to start. Maybe you always have to scrape a thick layer of snow and ice off as well. By keeping your car warm you cut down on these issues. You might think about keeping your car underneath a cover to shield the bodywork from the snow and frost. You might even think about keeping it in the garage if you have a garage. Whatever you decide to do make sure that you take steps to warm your car up each morning. Turn the engine on and let it run for around at least ten minutes before you try to drive. Put the heating on full blast too. This seems like an expensive suggestion, but you’ll only need to keep the heat on until the windows clear. Warming your car up each morning will ensure it runs better and breaks down less.
Drive Safe
It seems silly to say, but safe driving will also help. Yes, you should always practice safe driving anyway. But in the winter it’s even more important that you are slower and more cautious on the roads. There can be ice and even worse, black ice. If your car hits patches of ice, it can be difficult to maintain control of the vehicle. You could end up skidding and crashing your car. You should also be aware that other motorists may be driving in a more reckless manner due to the weather. By ensuring that you drive in a safe and sensible way you’ll help preserve your car in the harsh winter chill.
Windscreen
One of the major areas of your car that you need to look after in the winter is the windscreen. It will be getting battered daily by wind, rain and snow. Each morning when you get up there’ll be a thick layer of ice attached. You’ll need to get the ice off the windscreen before you can start driving for the day. To do this, you should use an ice scraper as this is the most delicate and efficient way to do so. You might also consider using a bucket of hot water too. You need to care for your windscreen even more throughout the colder months of the year. It’s important to protect it against chips and cracks that could develop into serious problems.
Tyres
Your tyres will most likely take the biggest battering of any part of the car during the winter. They’ll be in constant use on the roads over treacherous ground. They will be exposed to cold, wet and icy road surfaces. This will cause a lot of wear on the tyres and may affect the grip and traction. You should think about changing your tyres when the winter comes, so you have a new set to combat the weather. You should make sure you get your tyres checked by experts. One of the biggest causes of road accidents in the winter is skidding. By keeping your tyres in good order, you reduce the risk of your car skidding.
