Your vehicle can feel a bit different during the winter months, and that is because the cold weather and road conditions actually do make it harder on your vehicle. It’s a time of year that makes you jealous of anyone with a remote starter for their car and a heated steering wheel. Though those two vehicle accessories do not actually help your vehicle itself deal with the conditions outside.
Fluctuating Tire Pressure
When the weather fluctuates the amount that it does during the winter your tires are going to have higher and lower PSI throughout the days. This is not much to worry about, but it can make the sensors go off in your vehicle and in extreme circumstances will effect steering. Also some uneven wear can be put onto the tire with the off amount of air pressure. This can be costly in the long run as certain tires can go at different rates which can cause you to buy tires for all four wheels earlier than anticipated.
Water Leaking
This is an issue that many can notice in the summer months of their old vehicles. Many A/C units will overwork and drip beneath the vehicle in summer months, luckily we don’t need that in the winter. What does happen though is when your vehicle is warmed up with some snow on it the water can end up in parts of your vehicle, then freeze in place and cause damage. This can be quite scary since these issues can also happen to your braking and steering systems. This is another reason to make sure to run the vehicle for a couple minutes before starting your trip. This allows the vehicle some time to thaw the small amounts of ice build up that can happen in these small vehicle system components.
Damaging Salt
Salt is used in the winter by many municipalities to offset the likelihood of dangerous car crashes and possible deaths. Since that is the outcome that is being avoided it would seem obvious that almost any means possible is a reasonable price to pay to offset this. The price that we pay as Torontonians is that our vehicles incur large amounts of damage over the years due to erosion and rust caused from salt on the metal that your vehicle is made of. It is recommended that you clean your car often this winter and all other winters, and even more importantly to wash off the underbelly of your vehicle. The reason to wash the undercarriage is to remove some or most of that salt that can erode your engine, transmission, and many other vehicle components.
Synthetic oil is commonly acknowledged as being better for your vehicle. This holds even more true when talking about engines in the winter, so save some time, money, and treat your vehicle right. Get a synthetic oil change that comes to you by downloading The Oil Change App!
