Winter: A Rough Time For Vehicles

Severe weather is never easy. But some types of weather pose more of an issue to the average person than others. And of these, few bring as many issues to consider as winter weather. One of the biggest reasons is that winter weather is severe from almost the very start to the very end of the season.

Spring might have severe rain every now and then. And, of course, there’s going to be rough patches of severe heat during the summer. Even fall brings some issues. But almost every day during the winter there are issues for people to face.

Even the milder days are rough for people to face. These are typically the days at the very start of the season. People are still used to the more mild temperatures of fall, and they’re far from prepared for those first moments when it’s almost, but not quite, cold enough to snow.

Weather and the state of your car

Those days are rough enough for people, but past those initial days, the weather becomes rough on the environment as a whole. The rivers begin to freeze solid. Even people in the Great Lakes regions can watch those miles and miles of water turn into giant ice cubes. And, of course, the freezing water means that it will apply to the sky as well.

Falling snow and hail are signs that things are going to become rather rough. Some people might even be able to predict walking through feet and feet of snow just to get to their cars, not to mention the debatable joys of needing to shovel sidewalks or driveways.

Winter is especially rough

People sometimes even forget how rough it is, but if they really think about what it’s like to clutch that freezing steering wheel in the morning, it might bring back some memory. There’s more to it though. If the car’s steering wheel is freezing cold, and the ground is as well, one might well consider just what’s happening to the vehicle as a whole. To begin, one should consider how one’s car is protected from the cold. A situation where one has a 2 car carport setup is very different than if it was just sitting out under the snowy winter sky.

Different parts and different needs

You might want to remember that cars don’t adjust to the weather. During winter you might have gone on a beach holiday to get away from the cold. When you get back, the cold is especially striking because you’re not used to it. Normally you acclimate to the cold to at least some extent, but your car isn’t able to do that.

It’s important to consider the fact that different parts of the car handle the weather differently. The worst hit is the car’s battery. The colder it becomes, the lower the overall power. If the weather gets down to below zero, then the overall power of the motor generally drops to about half that of a balmy summer day.

One can at least mitigate this to some extent by having the battery professionally examined before winter. A strong battery will be fine in winter. But if a battery is already struggling, then reducing efficiency is going to take a heavy toll on it.

Wiping away a problem

You’ll probably also remember how rough a time your wiper blades have during the winter. It’s true that this is often due to the weather itself, but much of it comes down to simple wear and tear.

You can increase the effectiveness of your wipers by simply replacing them at the start of winter. Given that they have an average performance peak of around six months, this will ensure that they’re always within an optimal performance range.

Final considerations

Finally, it’s important to plan in advance as much as possible. The winter weather tends to be rough as a general rule. Those memories of running out to your car at dawn, tired and shivering, are worrisome to say the least.

Scraping snow and ice off your car while just hoping it runs is never fun. Just planning on adding some covering for your car can alleviate those issues. And as seen above, that takes care of some of the larger concerns. The temperature is obviously still an issue. But removing the water falling onto a car removes the ice and snow. And that keeps it from being a total ice cube. Keeping all of this in mind can make car maintenance during the winter quite a bit easier.