Winter is Hard on Your Car
As the new year arrives, a resolution for every vehicle owner should include helping your car last another year and beyond. But did you know that the winter, with colder temperatures, dramatic temperature changes, and other factors, is the hardest season for a car’s health? With this being true, you may need some winter car maintenance tips.
For continued vehicle success, drivers need to be more intentional and focused on how they treat their cars going into the last half of this winter season. Luckily, the Performance Muffler team is here to offer some car maintenance tips for the winter. Everything from your battery, fluids, tires, and more, we’ve got you covered in this article.
Winter Car Maintenance Tip #1: Take Frequent Care of Your Tires
Cold temperatures have a significant effect on a car’s tires. Cold temperatures compress the air and compress the air in car tires, causing them to lose a great deal of pressure. When tires have less pressure, your car doesn’t perform as well. It requires greater effort to travel, braking and traction are decreased, and your safety is in jeopardy.
Visit a mechanic for tire rotation and checking your tires will get you through the winter. But something you can do for yourself is regularly to check your tire pressure and inflate your tires as needed. Carrying a tire pressure gauge and a portable air compressor in your vehicle ensures your prompt response and safety to low tire pressure.
Winter Car Maintenance Tip #2: Keep Your Gas Tank Half-full
This tip actually applies to car care year-round, but it’s especially true during the winter. Keeping your gas tank at half-full helps your vehicle perform better because the fuel pump will suck in the air if the gas runs too low, causing more drastic repairs down the line.
But keeping your gas tank half-full during the winter is also good because you can more comfortably heat your car up before trips. If you also get in an accident (which is more common during the winter), you can be sure that you can run your vehicle for safety and warmth.
Winter Car Maintenance Tip #3: Maintain Your Car Battery
A car battery has a more difficult time operating in the winter versus the summer because cold temperatures slow down its chemical reactions. So, a battery works harder in the cold. Because of this, your car battery has a greater chance of dying in the winter.
Equip your vehicle with a pair of jumper cables (be sure to know how to jump-start a car) and keep an eye out for any warning signs that you may need a new car battery. These signs include a slower time for the engine to start, dimmer lights, a bad smell, corroded connectors, and more.
Winter Car Maintenance Tip #4: Stay on Top of Fluid Replacements
Because your car works harder during the winter and with the cold temperatures changing some fluid viscosity, fluids can seem to disappear more quickly around this time. This fluid maintenance includes motor oil, brake fluid, and transmission fluid. But the ones more impacted from the cold and winter elements are coolant and windshield washer fluid.
Winter Car Maintenance Tip #5: Check Your Lights
Our last winter car maintenance tip is to check your lights every month. The winter season, of course, has more precipitation and is darker, meaning your vehicle’s lights are imperative to a safe ride. Grab a family member or friend to help double-check that all of your lights are working properly because you won’t want to put off replacing a light.
Performance Muffler Can Help you Have a Safe Winter
Since 2007, Performance Muffler has been a top custom exhaust, catalytic converter and exhaust repair shop in the Phoenix, Arizona area. Contact us today to get a quote for your vehicle or browse our blog for more automotive tips and tricks.