Important winter checks for your car
5 Things You Must Check on Your Car Before Winter
The cold winds from up North tend to wreak havoc on your car if the vehicle is left underprepared with its summer parts still installed. Regular tires cannot grip the icy roads. Standard wipers do not wipe away snow. The coolant absorbs more moisture and the brakes deteriorate faster.
In Ireland, we do not get mild winters and you cannot pack your car and go into hibernation. If your vehicle has to run on the road without breaking down or risking your life, it has to become winter-ready before the first frosts of the season start falling. Get an Irish car check done and test the following parts for winter survival mettle. Carry out the necessary replacements and become winter-ready.
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Begin with the tires
Especially when the roads are supposed to stay frosty or damp, you cannot drive on worn-out tires that are not optimally inflated. You can use a tire tread depth gauge to check the tread depth or see the tread depth reading on the Irish car check report. You will want something above 2/32-inch.
Once the tread depth checks out, take help from the owner’s manual to inflate your tires to the optimal tire pressure. And if you are expecting heavy snow and excessively damp roads, get winter tires for your car. These help to stop your car 48% faster than standard tires and even reduce the stopping distance by 30-ft. They are a worthy investment given that tires work the most when you are driving in severe winters.
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Look at your car battery next
A computerised battery tester helps to verify the internal health of the battery because most car batteries give up their lives right in between peak winter. And you will never want to be in that situation when it has already started to snow and you are still far away from the nearest town.
Before winter hits, go for an Irish car check and get your car’s battery’s voltage, conductance, internal resistance and overall condition evaluated. If the figures are below optimal, get the battery replaced immediately. Also, make sure that you hire a mechanic to clean the battery terminals off grease and acid residue as these tend to interfere when you try to hard start your car during those cold winter nights.
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Replace your car wiper blades
Wiper blades are probably the most underappreciated car part among all and yet, they can save your life even during a light snowfall. The standard wiper blades are made for rain but when snow deposits on your windshield instead of water, they simply ignore the large swaths of snow in the middle of the windshield during their up and down course.
Winter wiper blades are specifically built for removing snow deposits and they just cost around 17 euros. And you can easily install and uninstall them during autumn and spring respectively for almost no cost at all. For the type of winter blades that you may need, consult with the experts at the car check Ireland free agency or a body shop. They are a necessity for better visibility when the snow comes pouring down.
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Monitor the brakes’ health
As you drive during winters, the tires and consequently the brakes tend to pick up snow and salt that almost always stay on Ireland roads. And these snow and salt accelerate the rusting process of the discs and rotors of your vehicle’s brakes that compromise the structural integrity of the entire system. You do not want to enter winter with weak brakes. Even your winter tires will not do a fine job then.
Just hiring a mechanic to check the brakes can be an expensive affair. However, you can always go for a full Irish car check that includes damage alert reports of the brakes. You can then go for necessary replacements and shield these vital parts from the salt and snow of Irish winters.
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Check the engine coolant, brake and windshield fluids
You already know that a host of fluids circulate your car at all times when in motion. And these tend to freeze or capture moisture during winters as the heat of the car is not enough to evaporate every bit that froze during the stationary cold night.
Begin with the engine coolant first as this not only helps to maintain the engine temperature but also keeps away corrosive materials. Replace the windshield and brake fluids with winter-resistant products with lower freezing points so that they can do their jobs on unbearably cold nights. Again, go for a car check Ireland free report, identify the vehicle and then choose a full car history check to get a complete picture of your cars's health.
Author
Justin Kavanagh
Justin Kavanagh is a recognised leader
in automotive intelligence and vehicle
data supply to the entire motor industry.
He has almost 20 years experience in
building systems from the ground up.
As the Managing Director of Vehicle
Management System, he understands the
need and importance of trustworthy and
reliable vehicle history and advice to
both the trade and the public.
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