Winter Driving Tips

Winter brings lots of snow and frigidly cold temperatures that can take a massive toll on your car and possibly even your health if you wind up in a preventable accident. Many drivers in the greater Glockner area only consider road conditions while driving and make very little changes that greatly could affect traction and handling while driving in wintry weather. The following are some very useful tips on how to prepare your car for wintertime travels and how best to handle wintry driving conditions.

Mounting and Balancing Snow Tires

The best way to ensure your vehicle is ready for wintertime travels is to mount and balance snow tires on all four wheels. Snow tires are slightly taller and narrower than all-season radials and have a more aggressive tread pattern that bites into snow and slush and flings it away to ensure the best possible traction. The taller tires give your vehicle a bit more ground clearance while the tread ensures your car can get and maintain suitable traction for safe travels.

Do Not Oversteer or Rev the Motor

Wintertime driving means dealing with slick and icy road conditions and especially during or just after a significant snowfall. You might notice the car slipping a bit while turning corners or even while driving to a straight roadway. The accumulation of ice and slush on the roadway surface can cause your tires to lose their grip and your front or rear end to slip out of control.

If your vehicle starts to slip and slide on the roadway, you want to counter-steer to straighten your vehicle. If  the front end starts to slide to the left, gradually steering toward the right will help to straighten out the front end. If the rear end slides to one side or the other, you need to steer in the same direction to keep your vehicle straight.

It is very important that you do not counter-steer suddenly, step on the gas or slam on the brakes. Doing so can cause your already-slipping vehicle to completely lose traction and render it helpless. You also go easy on the gas pedal while continuing to gently deliver power to the drive wheels. That helps the drive wheels to continually dig for traction until they get it.

Radiator Flush and Fill

Your car needs to be able to handle the extreme cold in order for it to run and drive properly. A wintertime service will help to protect the engine block against cracking because the fluids inside froze when the outside temperature plummets to well-below freezing. The best way to make sure your car will start and will not freeze up overnight is to do a radiator flush and fill and ensure the coolant has the appropriate level of antifreeze.

Heater and Thermostat Service

While you are getting the coolant flushed and filled up again, your mechanic should inspect the hoses and replace any that are worn and might rupture while driving. Your mechanic also can pull the thermostat and install one that lets the engine run a little hotter to deliver hotter air through the heating vents and to the defroster. That will help to keep the passenger cabin toasty warm while ensuring frost does not block your vision while driving.  

Wiper Blades and Fluid Change

The snowy Ohio winters can overwhelm your summertime wiper blades. Your mechanic can install special wiper blades with two or more edges that remove significant amounts of snow and slush that otherwise could accumulate and block your vision while driving. Ice buildup and slush are especially damaging to wiper blades and require more durable ones to keep your windshield clear and your vision unobstructed.

You also need to use wiper fluid that contains deicer and will not freeze up when the temperature drops to well-below freezing. If you do not have any or have your summertime wiper fluid in the reservoir, your mechanic can remove it and replace it with the appropriate wintertime washer fluid that will melt frost and thin ice that accumulates on the windshield.

Battery and Alternator Check

Batteries double their discharge rate for every 25 degrees of drop in air temperature. That is why the first sub-freezing morning causes so many drivers in the Midwest to wake up to dead batteries that will not take a full charge. Those batteries need replacement and their dead condition could have been prevented with a free battery inspection and buying and installing a new one with plenty of cold-cranking amps to turn over the engine on the coldest of Midwestern mornings.

Emergency Kit

You never know when you might wind up stranded in wintry conditions. Something as simple as leaving the lights or radio on could cause your car to stall and not start again. Or maybe the GPS navigation sent you down what it mistook for a paved roadway that winds up getting you stuck. No matter the situation, an emergency kit that contains water, food, a blanket and road flares can help you to survive while stranded during winter. You always should have a medical emergency kit, too.

Call Us for Wintertime Service

Our highly trained and experienced technicians at Glockner Chevrolet can inspect your systems and get your car ready for wintertime travels. We have a full range of services, tires and fluids to make any vehicle much better prepared for cold and snowy travels during Midwestern winters.