How to get your car ready before the cold weather hits? Here’s the fall vehicle maintenance checklist that you can follow to get your vehicle prepared for the winter. These are fairly simple do-it-yourself tips that help you drive around safely when the cold season arrives.
Your easy fall vehicle maintenance checklist starts here:
1. Check Your Brakes and Tires
Your brakes and tires are two of the most important parts of your vehicle.
Test your brakes in rainy weather to see how your car stops and feel the stopping power.
It’s better to get your winter tires ready before the snow falls, which will keep you safer on the road. Check if your tires have noticeable wear, and any cracks or bulges in your tires. Then carefully inspect your winter tires (or all-season tires) to ensure they have more than 5/32” tread left on them. You can do this test yourself with a tread depth gauge.
Bring your vehicle to your local mechanic for a check if you find anything abnormal with your brakes and tires.
2. Check Your Tire Pressure
It’s good to check your tire pressure from time to time to ensure that it is at the optimum level. Most passenger cars will recommend 32 to 35 psi in the tires when they’re cold. You can find the right PSI for your tires by looking at the owner’s manual. If you find your tire pressure is constantly low, your tires may have a slow leaking that you’d better have it fixed before winter.
3. Replace Your Wiper Blades
The general rule of thumb is to replace your wiper blades every six to twelve months. But wiper blades can be worn down, crack and become useless even sooner depends on how often you drive and where you live. When snow and ice rain are on the way, you’d better check your wiper blades to make sure they are still in good shape and able to clean your windshield. Replace your blades with new ones if they were unable to clean your windshield appropriately.
4. Check Your Lights
It’s a good idea to check your lights include the headlights, taillights, brake lights, parking lights, and emergency flashers. You can have your lights turned on and walk around your vehicle to see if there are any broken bulbs. If so, simply have them replaced before winter at your dealership. Also, make sure your lights are clean so that you have good visibility on the road.
5. Change Your Oil
It’s good to have oil change as the recommended oil change time per your owner’s manual. Check your owner’s manual for the recommended oil change time if you weren’t sure. Your engine needs the proper amount of oil to work, and oil change can reduce and remove any excess dirt that can build up in your engine from use.
6. Check Your Battery
While starting a car is as easy as pressing a button or turning a key, your car battery is doing all the heavy lifting. Car batteries are one of the most important components that store electricity in amounts sufficient to run various appliances and deliver power for starting the engine. Make sure your battery is in good condition so that your car will be able to start throughout the oncoming winter. It’s a good idea to get your battery checked before winter, and replace it when necessary.
7. Check Your Fluids
It’s a good idea to check your car fluids include washer fluid, transmission fluid, brake fluid, and power steering fluid. Ensure to have them filled up at their minimum safety required levels.
8. Check Your Defrost Heater
In addition to making sure your car’s heat is up to snuff, you should also check on the defroster. When temperatures have started dropping, take a chance to check how well your car is defrosting during a few frost-filled mornings. If it’s taking too long for your car to defrost itself, maybe it’s time to get your heater and defroster systems repaired.
9. Give Your Vehicle a Full Cleaning
It is a good chance to get a full cleaning for your car inside and out. Since you won’t be able to do a full clean yourself when it is -20°C outside. It’s also a good idea to check for any obvious signs of wear after the full wash. Just look for anything that looks like it might need repairing and replacing. Checking for cracks, leaks, or anything that’s loose. Take your car to a licensed mechanic if you found anything abnormal to make sure you are all good for the coming winter.
Get your car a full check before the temperature starts to drop, follow this easy fall vehicle maintenance checklist! So you can enjoy peace of mind knowing your car will work perfectly when you need it during the cold season.
Learn more about the benefits of buying from Carnex. We believe that all clients deserve to know the good and bad of what they’re buying. Because we wanted to know these when we bought cars. That’s why at Carnex.ca, we will proudly display every detail every step of the way. Browse all the best cars, automobile buying tips, auto insurance, young drivers, driving techniques, auto industry trends from Carnex Blog.
You must be logged in to post a comment.