How To Winterize Your Car

Winter is coming, and smart car owners don’t want to head into the coldest months of the year unprepared, especially around Spokane, Washington. Though many people want to make sure their car is safe and set for the winter season, most don’t know exactly how to prepare their car properly for snow, ice, and freezing temperatures. If you follow the handy list below, you can rest easy knowing you’ve done everything possible to winterize your car.

Switch to Winter Tires

Image by Michael | Licensed with CC BY 2.0

Every local knows that winter often brings blizzards and deep snow drifts that blanket Washington state. Winter tires will help you keep your car steady and get the best performance out of it during the cold weather. To find out why winter tires are worth it, it’s important to know how they work compared to regular tires.

All-season tires usually include specific rubber compounds. When temperatures drop to or below freezing, these compounds slowly harden, and the tires lose their ability to maintain a firm grip on the road. This leads to worse handling and can put you at higher risk for skidding, especially when the roads get covered in snow or ice.

Winter tires are designed with special compounds that maintain traction in colder temperatures, and therefore perform better on ice and snow. That’s why winter tires decrease the chances of you losing control of your car and potentially getting into an accident.

If you’re worried about where to get winter tires or how to install them properly, here at our Hyundai dealership, we carry all the winter parts you might need and can install them for you.

Check Your Tire Pressure Frequently

Although switching to winter tires can offer you better performance, it doesn’t eliminate all need for tire upkeep. Colder temperatures still affect tire pressure disproportionately, and for every 10 degrees it cools outside, you could be losing 1 PSI of pressure. In winter, these numbers can add up. That’s why it’s good to check tire pressure more frequently in the winter months, which you can easily do in our service center.

Replace Your Wiper Blades

Even if your blades aren’t falling apart, if they’re worn and seem to be losing some of their cleaning power, it’s a good idea to replace them before winter sets in. The colder months can bring more inclement weather, including rain, hail, and snow. Your windshield wipers are the key to maintaining your visibility and safety during adverse weather events.

When replacing your blades, get wipers specifically designed for winter weather. Winter blades have heating elements embedded in them, to help melt snow or early-morning frost that much faster and keep your field of vision clear. If you want to go the extra mile, ask if you can get winter wipers equipped with a special kind of rubber that keeps ice from collecting on the blades. Ice forming on the blades will impede their function and eventually stop your wiper blades from working.

Prepare an Emergency Winter Kit

No matter how well you prepare your car for winter conditions, it may only take one unexpected blizzard or freak hailstorm to leave you stranded in your car in bad weather. If you want to be ready for any and all circumstances, you should prepare an emergency winter kit and keep it stored in your vehicle.

A winter kit will include some car safety basics, such as jumper cables, a tire inflator, and a tire patch kit. Although it’s important for cars to carry these accessories year-round, many drivers still don’t have them in their vehicles. They are even more important to carry with you in winter, as bad road or weather conditions might hinder your cell phone signal or delay roadside assistance.

In addition to the generally recommended vehicle accessories, you might want to pack gloves, a blanket, water and snacks, a flashlight, a triangle reflector kit, first aid kit, cell phone charger, and an ice scraper and brush. Prepare your winter kit to deal with the worst-case scenario of being stranded in your car, on the road, in subfreezing temperatures for hours. All these items will help you stay warm, stay hydrated, and see you through a dark winter night or blizzard conditions.

Perform a Full Car Service to Prepare for Winter Conditions

Cold temperatures and bad road conditions can adversely affect many parts of your car, including the battery and cooling system. While it’s important to have these particular car parts checked and serviced, you should also perform a general check and service of your car to prepare for winter.

Why? Because if your car belt, spark plug, or other wire and cable gives out in the wintertime, you could be stranded in bad conditions for far longer than you would like. Also, having up-to-date brakes means you’re better equipped to maintain control of your vehicle in ice, slush, and snow.

In terms of your car battery, ask your service provider to install a battery with a cold cranking amp rating of 600 CCA or above to ensure the best winter performance. If you already have such a battery installed, ask your service provider to check it for any problems. Your battery needs more power to start your car in the colder months, so you want to make sure it’s in tip-top shape.

With regards to your cooling system, you can ask our service center experts what antifreeze works best for your vehicle in winter, and what specific ratio of antifreeze to water you should use to protect your system from freezing.

Winterize Your Car At Spokane Hyundai

If you take all the steps listed above before the most frigid months of the year arrive in Spokane, your car will be well prepared for even the most extreme Washington winter. If you have any other suggestions for the best ways to winterize your car, contact us at 509-944-3600 or fill out the form below to let us know. We would love to include them in next year’s edition.