Winter Car Care Tips

Posted on March 28, 2019 by smikyautomowp

Winter car care is imperative for vehicles that endure the harsh winter elements, and it is essential especially for people who live in areas with a great deal of ice, snow, and other seasonal hazards. Winterizing your vehicle before the oncoming winter months will enhance the life of your vehicle and save you from expensive repair bills. The best part is that you can take care of your vehicle with very little effort.

Why Your Car Needs Special Care in Winter

Winterizing your car prepares your vehicle for the weather that winter brings, particularly the snow and ice. Today roughly 70% of motorists fail to do this, and as a result they have more problems with their vehicle during the winter season. Winterizing your vehicle helps you to save long-term money that you would have spent in maintenance and repairs. It also keeps you much safer while you are on the road.

Accidents happen to every driver, but with proper winter driving techniques and proper preparation for your vehicle you won’t have these problems as often. As you adjust to snowy or icy winters, you will learn how to better manage your particular vehicle in the snow or at night. With proper tires, a clean vehicle, and regular checks during the winter you can prevent damage not just from the dangerous road conditions but from the heavy salt that might be thrown on the roads to eat away at the snow. This salt can cause rust if it is not washed away from your vehicle regularly. If this “brine” is brought into your vehicle and your carpets aren’t cleaned regularly, it can also cause damage to your interior. If your fluids aren’t checked before winter arrives you might have a problem with your oil, your brake fluid, your transmission fluid, or your antifreeze. Thankfully there are things you can do to minimize these problems.

What You Can Do

Even if you don’t live in an area with harsh snow and ice, you could still live in an area with heavy rainfall, harsh winds, and the potential for frost. The first thing you can do is to properly prepare your vehicle for the cold weather by completing an overall inspection before winter starts. This includes inspecting your battery, checking your fluid levels, checking the pressure and tread on your tires, verifying that your windshield is in safe condition and free from any scratches or chips, and checking on the windshield wipers. You don’t want any of these things to stop working properly when you are in the dead of winter which is why you should work on having this check completed either on your own or with the help of a mechanic before winter sets in.

The other thing you can do is to wash the interior and the exterior of your vehicle. Many people forget, but there is going to be a great deal of slush and debris tracked around, and you don’t want your carpets inside the vehicle to already be full of contaminants that could thrive on the exposure to melted snow and the warmth of the heater to create prime conditions for mold.

Depending on where you live, you might also need to get snow tires. This is especially important for those who live in areas with heavy snow, long before the snow kicks in. You also might need to assess changing road conditions to understand how your vehicle will handle in certain weather. If you just moved to a new area, you might not yet know how to properly judge icy roads, or how you should adjust your speed and braking habits when the snow falls. These are things that you should learn before winter sets in and practice carefully during the winter months. You also want to adjust your driving habits, particularly your vehicle spacing and your under steering or over steering. You need to understand how to use these habits correctly when you are driving on icy or snowy roads.

How We Can Help

If you need help winterizing your vehicle, changing the tires, completing a winter check up on your fluid and tires and windshield wipers, or anything in between, St. Matthews Import can help, so bring your vehicle into one of our locations. We can help you to meet the demands of the oncoming seasons. We offer convenient locations throughout Louisville, KY like our Hubbards Lane location for automotive service and repair.