Top 7 Winterize Your Car Tips

Doing the routine maintenance on our cars can be a hassle, but not nearly as much of a hassle as breaking down in the middle of winter. Nows the time for a check-up. Pep boys service manager Patrick Starkey helped us put together our countdown. Number 7 on the list, an emergency kit. You can buy one ready-made or put together your own. Just make sure you have stuff like have jumper cables, flares, blankets, a flashlight and some basic tools. Number six. Check your lights. With the nights getting longer, you dont want to have a headlight out. Number five. Check your engine oil and fuel levels. With idle times now being at their peak because people are going to let their vehicles run a lot longer to warm them up, defrost the car, proper fluid levels is a definite must. Number four. Check your windshield wipers. A real easy way to check your wiper blades is to turn on your wiper fluid and make sure those wiper blades remove all the water and dont leave any streaks. Number three. Check your tire pressure and tread wear. Cold weather will actually cause tire pressure to deflate a tire which will cause more spinage than actual grip. So you need to look at your tire pressure a lot. And on the tread side of it, the same way, youve got to be able to make sure youve got enough tread in there to give you enough grip if we get into snow or wet weather. Number two. Check your battery. Cold weather will zap a weak battery in a hurry. And our number one winterizing tip. Check your coolant. Todays antifreeze is better than ever. But its still a good idea to make sure its working at peak performance. Whether you do it yourself or have your mechanic take a look, making these 7 checks should keep your car off the side of the road this winter.