Winterizing Your Vehicle To Keep You And Your Family Safe On The Roads

With the coming of fall also comes the changing of leaves and colder weather.  While there is still a month or two before the weather starts to get really cold however, there are some important precautions to take when maintaining and preparing your vehicle for the colder, snowy months of the year.  The preventative maintenance experts at Bob Sumerel Tire Co. have compiled a pre-winter preventative maintenance check list for you to consider as the colder months approach. 

• Check Your Coolant Level: Otherwise known as antifreeze, coolant performs several important functions in your vehicle's engine.  During the colder months it is especially important to maintain this fluid as low coolant levels can put your engine at risk to overheating or worse.  The coolant should be a 50/50 mixture of water and the coolant ideally.  This helps to keep your engine cool while preventing the water from freezing in your lines.
• Inspect Your Tires: There are 3 main things you need to look for when inspecting your tires to make sure they are prepared for the winter months.  

• The first and most important detail to inspect is the tread depth on each of your tires.  Typically you should consider replacing any tire with a tread depth below 1/8 of an inch.  An easy way to figure this out is by inserting a penny upside down in the tread of your tire.  If you are able to see most or all of Abraham Lincoln's head while the penny is in the tread, then you should consider replacing your tires soon.  
• The second detail to inspect on your tires is tire pressure.  Typically tires will lose a little bit of air pressure in colder weather, so it is important to keep them well inflated (typically around 35 psi) to your vehicle's specifications.  
• The third and final detail you need to check on your tires is for any signs of dry-rot or sidewall cracks.  Typically this means your tire could be at risk for a blowout or tread separation.
• Inspect Your Wipers And Wiper Fluid: The last thing you want to happen on a busy snowy interstate is to be stuck behind a semi-truck that is flinging up the nasty road salt onto your windshield and not be able to clean it off.  This can lead to impaired visibility on the road and can put you and other drivers in danger.  Having plenty of wiper fluid and a new set of wiper blades should do the trick, and is a key part of your winter road safety for a small price.
  
• Check Your Battery Posts: A common cause of starter problems in the winter for vehicles can be linked to corroded, gunky battery posts.  A quick DIY fix to clean your battery before the cold weather hits is to pour Coca-Cola over top of the corrosion.  Watch as the battery gunk melts away!  
• Inspect Your Brakes: Simply look at the pad pressed against the metal rotor on each of your wheels.  If you notice that there is 1/4 of an inch or less left on the pad, then consider getting new breaks.  Having weak breaks or no breaks in the winter can put you and other drivers on the road in serious danger.
•  Maintain Your Engine's Oil: The oil change experts at Bob Sumerel Tire Co. can't recommend this enough that you keep your engine's oil up-to-date every 3,000-5,000 miles or so.  Old gunky oil can lose much of it's original oil properties and impair parts of your engine especially in the colder months of the year.

Since 1968 Bob Sumerel Tire Co. has been committed to keeping you and your loved ones safe on the road throughout the year.  If you are not sure what maintenance your vehicle may need before winter, please feel free to visit your local Bob Sumere Tire store for a FREE preventative maintenance check.  Bob Sumerel really does care.

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