How to Prepare Car for Summer

Photo credit: F;ickr

Just like for the cold winter days, your car need to be in the top shape when it comes to hot summer days. Heat can bring a lot of issues, especially if you’re not paying attention to some of the basic components. In this article we’ll teach you how to prepare car for summer. Let’s start in the engine bay.

Battery

Battery is one of the things that take most punishment in the winter, that’s why it’s always a good idea to check it if you don’t want to be left stranded somewhere. It is fairly simple, you can buy tool to check it, or you can take your car to local car specialist, or parts store.

Engine Oil

If you don’t have a garage, then you probably don’t check your oil regularly in the snow and cold weather, and this is really important, especially if your car leaks, or burns a bit oil. Take a day for some car maintenance, check, or do complete oil change. It is fairly simple and you can find step by step instructions online.

Coolant

This one is one of crucial when it comes to learning how to prepare car for summer, primarily because hot weather and hot engine don’t mix well. Check your coolant tank for the correct level, and add coolant according to specs in your owner’s manual. While you are there check few other simple things like windshield, brake and power steering fluids.

Air Filter

Constant bad weather takes its toll on air filter. It is cheap and easy to replace and you should definitely do this simple task. Since it is very cheap you should change cabin filter as well.

Air Conditioning

Since we are preparing for hot days, you should definitely take care of A/C. This is a bit more complicated you should take your car to specialist, but if you have some basic car knowledge, you can do it yourself.

Tires

No matter how good of a car you have, the tires are only 4 things that connect it to the road. As you probably already know, winter tires do not perform very well on hot asphalt, and they also wear out quicker. If you want to save a few bucks and keep safe on the road, make sure you install proper summer tires.

Other components

You also need to check few other things like wiper blades, bulbs, fuses, etc. And it is also a good idea to lubricate door latches and other movable components if you want to avoid any uncomfortable noise.

As you can see, learning how to prepare car for summer is fairly easy, all you have to do is follow our checklist and you’ll be done in no time.