Summer Driving: Protecting Your Car From Heat
Summer driving is always fun, you're normally going somewhere exciting and the sun could be shining. However, car maintenance is important even when the temperature rises. It isn’t just us that feel the heat, it’s our cars too. Here's a few things you should do to make sure that you and your motor don’t suffer from heat stroke.
Probably the most sensible thing that you can do, especially if you are planning on using your car to go on holiday is to get a health check. So what could suffer from extreme temperatures?
Summer Driving Check 1: Coolant
Keeping every car cool is the fluid. Having the correct manufacturer approved mixture is a good start. After that it is up to you to check on the physical level when your engine is cold and watch the temperature gauge when in use.
Summer Driving Check 2: Tyres
Cracks in your tyres aren't good and can result in a MOT failure, but high temperatures can dry them out further and increase the possibility of a puncture, or leak.
Read our guide to everything you need to know about tyres
Summer Driving Check 3: Battery
We always associate cold weather with a battery failure. However, rising temperatures can evaporate the water inside your battery, degrading its performance.
Batteries also have a lot more to do in hot weather, keeping the car functioning and making greater demands on their power.
Summer Driving Check 4: Fuel
Evaporation happens faster in heat, so we recommend parking your car in a garage when not in use or at least in some shade, which will marginally improve your fuel consumption.
Summer Driving Check 5: Oil
Always part of a service routine, changing the oil more regularly in the summer months if you cover a high mileage is certainly recommended. Oil is designed to lubricate and will degrade faster in extreme heat.
Summer Driving Check 6: Brakes
The hotter brakes become the less effective they are. If for instance you were motoring around a hilly area and constantly applying the brakes there would be a longer stopping distance as time goes on and you should allow for this.
So as the temperature rises there are more reasons than ever to pay close attention to how your car is behaving. Motors need sunscreen too…
Further Reading
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