With the temperature dropping at a rapid pace, that can only mean one thing: Winter is on its way! The snow, the chilly weather, and the hot chocolate are all things that we look forward to here at Freeman Grapevine. On the flip-side, we also see plenty of car owners in our shop who neglect to take care of their vehicles during the cold weather. With that being said, I have a few tips to pass along to help you avoid getting stranded, keeping your car running and saving you money.
Keep an emergency weather kit in your car
You never know when the snow and ice will take its toll and accumulate on the roads, leaving you stranded for a few hours until the salt trucks can help you get back on the road. Nonetheless, you need to keep an emergency weather kit with you at all times, just in case you have an accident and/or get stranded. A good kit has most or all of the following products:
- Flashlight
- First Aid Kit
- Jumper Cables
- Reflective Triangle
- Shovel for snow removal
- Salt for traction on ice and snow
- Travel Blanket
- Ice Scraper
- Tow Strap
Check with Amazon and see what kind of deals they have on a kit that includes all of most of these items.
Change your windshield wipers and check your wiper fluid
While you should never use your windshield wipers to remove ice, a new set of wipers and proper ice melting wiper fluid are critical for keeping ice from accumulating on your windshield while you are driving. We’ve all done it, we sit in our cars while it’s warming up and turn the wipers on hoping it will take a chunk of ice off of the glass, but instead, it just damages your wipers and limits their effectiveness. A good ice melting wiper fluid will aid in the process and help remove any build-up of ice and snow will help keep your windshield free and clear, eliminating any visibility issues. After all, driving in snow is a task in itself, having ice and snow in your line of sight certainly doesn’t help.
Keep your eyes peeled for a few more posts on winterizing your vehicle.