How Winter Can Affect Your Car And What You Can Do About It

When you get your first car or spend your first winter in an area that experiences extremely cold temperatures, you may find yourself wondering how the winter weather can or will affect your car. In order to ensure that your vehicle makes it through the cold and snow of winter without major issues or damage, you will need to learn some of the ways that winter can wreak havoc on your car and take the necessary steps to keep your car protected in the winter months. Then, you will know that you are doing everything you can to get your car through its first cold winter in one piece.

Make Sure Your Windshield Cracks And Chips Get Repaired Right Away

Glass of all types is particularly susceptible to the effects of winter weather. As such, the windshields and side windows on your car are among the most vulnerable parts of your vehicle in the winter months. If your windshield already has cracks or chips or sustains them during the winter, you will want to get them repaired as soon as possible.

When your windshield is damaged and out in the winter snow and ice, the moisture from that precipitation can seep into those crevices in your auto glass. This moisture can then freeze in those spaces. When water freezes, it expands. Water that freezes in the cracks of your windshield will push against the damaged glass, making cracks and chips bigger. This can even lead to a shattered windshield if the damage is extensive enough.

Because of this, auto glass repair is very important in the winter. An auto glass professional, such as Genuine Auto Glass, will seal the chips or cracks with a filler that smooths out the surface of the glass and, most importantly, seals the windshield to prevent moisture from getting in.

Keep Track Of Your Tire Pressure And Traction

Winter weather can also have a major impact on your car's tires. When the weather gets cold, the air gets more condensed, or takes up less space, than it does when it is hot. This means that even though your tire pressure may have been fine in temperate or hot weather, once the extreme cold of winter hits, you may be getting warnings from your car alerting you to low tire pressure. Those alerts are not a system malfunction and should be taken seriously.

If you don't have a tire pressure indicator in your car, you will want to check your tire pressure frequently in the winter. A tire pressure gauge is a small little tool you can keep in your glove compartment and use from time to time throughout the winter. An ideal moment to do this would be when you are at the gas station filling up your tank. That way if you do need to add a little air, you will already be there to do so.

The traction and the tread on your tires can also be issues in the winter. If you have standard tires on your car, the tires are likely rubber. Rubber becomes hardened or rigid in cold temperatures, which can mean that you lose traction and tread quality in the winter. Changing out your standard tires for those designed specifically for winter can help you out with this problem. These winter tires use materials other than rubber to keep the treads pliable and flexible.

Now that you know a few of the ways winter can affect your car and what you can do about it, you can be sure that you take the best possible care of your car this winter and every winter to come.


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