Winter car care tips

While we may be lucky enough to not experience an extremely brutal winter in Australia, it doesn’t mean we can skip out on winter car care. A change in temperature can have a lot of effect on your vehicle. To make your winter car care a little easier, we have put together a list of our best tips and tricks to keeping your car happy in the cold season.

Tires

To understand what happens to your tires in winter, it’s easier to first start with a basic science lesson. In cold weather, air molecules move slower and gather together. In warm weather, molecules move faster, moving farther apart from one another. This is what happens inside your tires when the temperate changes. Typically, your tires will lose 1-2 PSI (pounds per square inch) when the temperate drops in winter.

To combat this, it’s important to keep an eye on your tire pressure and pump them up regularly during cold weather. Low tire pressure can result in your car skidding easier, and a slower reaction time when braking. However, make sure to not over fill your tires if you are coming to the end of winter. The PSI will bounce back when the weather warms again, and you don’t want them being over-inflated! This can also cause issues, such as uneven wear and decreased traction.

Headlights

The winter months mean less daylight, and therefore less visibility. In winter, the sun will rise an hour or two later than it does in summer. The same goes for sunset, with the sun disappearing while most of us are still on our way home from work. This means that ensuring your headlights are in good working order before the colder months set in is vital. We spend a lot more time driving in the dark and relying on our headlights for visibility during winter. If any lights are not working or are looking dim, get these fixed or replaced ASAP. While dim lights may not seem like a huge problem, these can still drastically reduce your visibility and also limit other vehicles’ ability to see you on the road.

Fog lights

Living in Australia, fog lights can be easily forgotten. Having foggy conditions is quite rare in our climate, however, it can happen in our winter months. Fog happens when the cooling of the land overnight also cools the air close to the surface, creating large amounts of fog and condensation. Without a lot of warmth during the day, this fog can sometimes hang around for longer periods of time.

In order to be prepared for potential foggy days, make sure your fog lights are in working order. Since these aren’t as regularly used as standard headlights, issues can arise. Test these out and get them fixed/replaced if you notice any problems with them.

If you have any more questions about winter car care, or our tips, contact Red Devil Radiators today. As the cooling and heating experts, we can help you get your heating system in working order for the cooler months ahead.