No matter where you live in the UK the difference between summer and winter can be quite substantial. Though I’ll admit that in recent years we’ve had relatively mild winters. As with general car maintenance, you need to consider essential winter car maintenance to help you and your car survive the winter safely.
Essential Winter Car Maintenance
What You Should Check
TYRES TYRES TYRES
Whether or not you live in an area that regularly receives snow, you should be taking a serious look at your vehicles tyres before winter sets in.
If you’re expecting snow this winter then you should probably consider purchasing a set of winter tyres for your vehicle. If you aren’t expecting snow, you should at the very least check your tyres and make sure they have plenty of tread left on them. If your tyres are nearing the legal tread depth, it’s probably safer to change them early and have the maximum amount of grip on the coming cold winter drives.
There are four things to look out for when it comes to checking your tyres.
1- Pressure
2- Uneven Wear
3- Side Wall Damage
4- Tread Depth
CHECK YOUR FLUIDS
This is something I recommend doing regularly in any season. However, making sure that you have enough of the right fluids is essential when it comes to winter car maintenance.
For example, you want to ensure your windscreen washer bottle is full of windscreen washer fluid and not just tap water (which will freeze).
I also recommend checking your engine oil, radiator coolant, brake fluid and any other liquids you can see whilst you’re under the bonnet.
INSPECT & REPLACE
Essential winter car maintenance also includes inspecting items which commonly wear out. This mainly covers rubber and plastic components such as wiper blades, hoses, bushes, belts etc. If any rubber items are showing visible cracks or wear you should probably change them before any damage occurs.
It is also worth keeping an eye on your windscreen wiper blades (as you’ll probably be using them a lot over the next few months). Streaks, squeaks and vibrations whilst using the wiper blades to clear rain, snow and ice from your windscreen are a sign that the blades need to be changed.
If you aren’t sure whether you need to change your wiper blades check out our blog on ‘How To Tell If You Need New Wiper Blades‘.
With FREE standard delivery and next day delivery available on many of our products, you can get your car parts in no time.
For more maintenance and repairs advice continue to come back to the Car Parts 4 Less blog and feel free to browse our full collection of car parts on our website.