Now that Winter is almost here – if not already – I thought it’d be a good time to run through 5 quick things you should do and check on your car before it gets too wet, cold and icy and you start having issues. I’m keeping this simple so anyone can do it, and with as few tools as possible!
The first thing is the most crucial, your tyres. The biggest thing you need to check is the tread – the bit that actually touches the ground, what lets your car move and more importantly stop. At a bare minimum, slide your hand onto the top of the tyre and feel for the grooves that run around all the way around. There are normally 3 bands, what you want to do is drop the tip of your finger in them and slide your hand around the tyre feeling for the little bumps inside the grooves. Those are the wear indicators. If you feel the bumps are almost at the same height as the outer surface, it’s time to replace your tyres.
Those grooves – and all the other cutouts in the tread pattern – are what help expel water and let your wheel still make contact with the ground while driving, rather than riding on top of the water and having no grip, and therefore no control. That’s called hydroplaning and it’s a terrifying experience especially on the motorway.
If you are willing to check your tyres a touch more thoroughly, turn your wheel to full lock and look at the now nicely displayed face of the tyre. What you are looking for is the rubber cracking badly, and cuts that aren’t part of the tread, any objects like nails and screws, and also that the tread is being worn down evenly. Look at the bands, is the gap to the wear indicators all the same, or is it lower on one side or the other? If so, you should get a wheel alignment. That not only means your tyres will wear evenly, but also means you car will handle predictably and safely. As for the tyre surface, if it’s badly cracked, cut or there is a puncture, you’ll want to replace that too.
Lastly, it’s worth checking your tyre pressures too. You can do that at most petrol stations, or if you’ve got a bike pump with a pressure gauge you can use that too. If you’re willing to spend literally a couple pounds, you can pick up a pressure gauge to keep in your car – I’ll leave a link to one in the description below for you! I did a full video on tyre pressures, so go check that out in the cards above.
Next on the list is your windscreen wipers. It seems dumb, but it’s going to start raining more, you are going to be using them more often, and it turns out being able to see where you are going while driving is kind of important.. I know, who knew! It’s also really, really easy to replace them. I’ve found you can buy a number of car parts on Ebay for ridiculously low money, which is where I got my replacement blades. My front ones have a little button on the arm, you push that down and pull the blade up and away from the arm and it pops out, then putting it back in is the reverse. As for the rear one, that’s just clipped in with a little bar. Carefully pop the old one out, clip the new one in and that’s it sorted! Now they actually wipe, and the rear one doesn’t chatter!
Item number 3 is in the same vein – being able to see while driving. Since it’s getting darker, daylight hours are decreasing, you’ll need your lights a lot more. Checking them is really easy and quick, especially if you have a friend to help with the reverse and brake lights. All you need to do is turn on all your lights, jump out and check they are all working. Even better, have a friend do the checking for you, do them one by one and have them call out which lights are on so you know what’s working and what isn’t. If any of your bulbs are out, generally speaking replacing them is pretty quick, most cars don’t require any tools either, but if you are stuck most garages and shops like Halfords will fit them for you often for a small fee.
Next up is fluids – all of them. You’ll want to pop your bonnet, there’s normally a handle in the driver or passenger side footwell, and a secondary catch on the bonnet itself, often in the centre. You’ll want to top up your windscreen washer fluid, with at least a 50/50 mix or screenwash. The more screenwash you use, the less likely it is to freeze as the temperature drops, although for British winters 50/50 is perfectly fine. Speaking of 50/50, your engine coolant should be right around the max fill line of your overflow tank. Mine is a touch on the low side so I’m adding some fresh pre-mix coolant to top it up.
It’s also worth checking your engine’s oil level and quality, I have a whole video on how to do that too so check that out in the cards above too. You can also take a quick peek at your brake fluid reservoir, just make sure it’s nicely between the min and max lines. And lastly make sure you aren’t running too low on fuel, especially if the weather gets really bad and you’re likely to get stuck while travelling, being able to keep the engine running and the cabin warm is great.
Last on the list are a few items I’d recommend keeping with you in the car. A bottle of water, snacks like cereal bars, and a blanket are really useful as if you get stuck or stranded being able to keep yourself warm and at least somewhat fed is great too. It’s also worth having a small bottle of oil and screenwash in the boot so you can top up if needed.
I think that’ll do for this video – if you have any suggestions I’d love to hear them in the comments below!
