Village Matters

Top Tips for Getting your Car Ready for Winter

As the weather is beginning to change, and the nights are starting to draw in, now is a good time to give your car or van a quick check over to make sure that they are ready for the colder weather. 

These are local, Surrey Car Maintenance’s 5 top tips for ensuring that your vehicle is ready… 1. Antifreeze 

Probably the most important thing to check. Antifreeze is exactly that. It stops the water in your cars’ engine from freezing, which can cause major damage like cracking the cylinder head. 

2. Screen wash 

Not only does this help keep your windscreen clean from all the salt on the roads, it also stops the water from freezing so you can clean your windscreen all winter long. 

3. Tyres 

With an increase of water, slush and snow on the roads, your tyre tread depth is especially important to check. The legal limit is 1.6mm but we would recommend thinking of chang-ing your tyres once the tread is down to 3mm. 

4. Oil levels 

Your oil should be checked every month to make sure it is filled to the max. If your oil level gets too low, you risk causing damage to the main components of your engine like the bearings and piston rings. 

5. Battery 

Batteries really don’t like cold weather and if they are weak, or starting to play up, they will certainly die on the first cold night of winter leaving you stuck getting to school or work first thing in the morning! Surrey car mainte-nance offer a free battery testing service so feel free to pop by and have one of the team give yours a test. 

For any other vehicle requirements, or ques-tions, call SCM on 01932 988 600 and look out for our free Winter check service that runs from the start of November!