Preparing Your Car For a Michigan Winter
Posted October 25, 2013
With a Michigan winter right around the corner, it is important to take care of your cars before the snow starts coming down. We at Veenstra’s have come up with a few tips we recommend you do to prepare your car for the upcoming winter months.
Check your Tire Pressure
As the temperature starts to drop, so does the air pressure in your tires. Especially with large temperature drops, the loss of air pressure in your tires can be quite noticeable. Take a few minutes to check all four tires and your spare to make sure they are ready to go.
Inspect your wiper blades
Wiper blades are extremely important, especially when there is snow coming down. Make sure your wipers aren’t dried out from the summer heat. If your wiper blades are cracked or don’t cleanly sweep across your entire windshield, you will want to replace them before the snow starts to fall. Here are a few wiper blades we recommend to check out.
Check under the hood
Make sure none of your fluids are running low. This is especially important for the anti-freeze and brake fluid. The antifreeze should be mixed with distilled water to prevent the engine cooling system from freezing or boiling over. Make sure your brake fluid is full so your brakes will not be damaged with the rough winter driving.
Have an ice scraper ready
With the cold and snow of a Michigan winter, your windshield is going to get covered in snow and ice. Make sure you are prepared with an ice scraper in your car to clear the snow or ice off your windshield. Here is a website we recommend that offers a variety of ice scrappers of different shapes and sizes!
Check your lights
Make sure the bulbs of your headlights and taillights aren’t burned out. You want to make sure other drivers are going to be able to see you in the dark and through the snow.
Pack an emergency kit
Any car on the road has potential to break down or slide off the road at any time. Make sure you have extra warm clothes, blankets, jumper cables, gloves and a flashlight. Having all of these things could make a big difference if you do happen to get stuck in the snow. Here is a website that has a variety of pre packaged winter emergency kits that come ready to be put in your car. Each kit offers different supplies of things you may need.
Check the battery
During the colder months your car’s battery has to work even harder than normal. Cold weather can cause damage to older batteries, so keep an eye on older batteries to make sure they are maintaining good condition.
Check the windshield defroster
In the cold weather our windshield defrosters are extremely important. Before the temperature drops too low and you need your defrosters to see, test yours out to make sure it is working properly.