October is National Car Care Month: Prepare for Seasonal Weather Changes with These Car Care Tips

October is National Car Care Month!  Let us help you prepare your vehicle for the change in seasonal weather conditions with the helpful hints and tips from our service center.  Feel free to give us a call and schedule your appointment today for your monthly and seasonal maintenance needs.

Our service professionals are available to get your vehicle service and in tip top shape before blustery rainstorms and impending winter weather arrive.

• Check the fluids and change your oil. Be sure to top off all fluids such as antifreeze and oil, and get your systems flushed and changed as needed.  As you’ll be running your car idle more frequently to warm it up on chilly mornings, you don’t want anything to seize up while doing so!  Our maintenance and service technicians can help guide you on what needs to be flushed or pencil you for an oil change appointment as part of your regular maintenance schedule.

• Inspect the tires.  Keep yourself and your passengers safe, as well as other vehicles on the road, by ensuring that your tires have proper tread depth and show no signs of extreme wear and tear.  Bring your car into the service center for a tire rotation, wheel alignment, and replace any tires that appear overly worn or close to their end of life.  Your tires provide significant stopping power by gripping the road in slippery conditions. We recommend considering a really good all-weather or winter tire in the next few weeks.

• Make sure all of the lights work. Sunset is creeping up earlier and earlier over the next few weeks. It’s important to make sure all of your headlights and brakelights are fully functional.  You’ll need them for those foggy, blustery evenings!  Especially important to have working headlights for trick or treating to make sure you can see the kids wandering around in costumes.  Additionally, you don’t want to get a ticket for improperly working headlights, nor get into any serious accidents because you missed something in the roadway and were unable to stop in time.

• Thoroughly inspect the brakes.  There are few things more dangerous than wet, slippery leaves or black ice on the roadways, and both are common foes in the mid to late autumn weather.  Inspect the brakes and rotors and be sure to test them out to ensure they are not squeaking, squealing, or grinding.  If you suspect that your brakes are not stopping as quickly as usual, or are less responsive to pressure, bring your car in immediately for a service or replacement brakes.

• Make sure the heater and defroster are working properly. With the temperatures dropping rapidly, especially in the evening, frosty windows are a common occurrence in the mid to late fall.  You’ll want to double check that all heating vents and defroster elements are working, and do so before the need arises! It’s very important to visibility that your car has an adequate defroster and defogger, so call for a maintenance appointment if either of these features is not functioning properly.

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