Essential Maintenance to Keep Your Car Running in Winter

While keeping your car maintained throughout the year is important, when temperatures drop and road conditions worsen, staying on top of vehicle maintenance becomes essential if you’re to have a car that doesn’t struggle through until spring.

During the winter months, slippery roads are more difficult to drive on, low temperatures put a greater strain on core components of your vehicle, such as the battery, and greater amounts of rain make your vehicle more susceptible to rust — the list goes on. 

So, follow our tips below to keep on top of the essential maintenance activities your car needs in order to perform at its best while it’s cold out.

Winter tyre maintenance

Starting from the ground up, if your tyres aren’t maintained properly, driving becomes harder than it needs to be at the best of times — let alone on frozen road surfaces. So, it is absolutely crucial to make sure your tyres are correctly inflated and have sufficient tread for optimum performance. 

• Tyre pressure: Find the correct tyre pressure for your car, head to a petrol station, and use the compressed air machine to inflate your tyres to the correct amount. Alternatively, you can inflate your tyres at home.
• Tyre tread depth: The legal limit for tyre tread depth is 1.6mm but your braking distance increases significantly when your tyres get below 3mm particularly in wintery conditions including rain, ice and snow. You can check your tread depth yourself using the ‘20p test’ or, if you are unsure on how to do this, bring your vehicle into your nearest Kwik Fit for a Free Tyre Check. 
• Alongside tread depth and tyre pressure, you should also visually inspect your tyres for signs of any damage such as cracks and bulges. If you spot extensive tyre damage or a puncture,  replace the affected tyre(s) immediately.
• Lastly, if you live in a cooler climate — or if the UK is expecting a particularly frosty winter — consider swapping over to winter tyres for the best results driving in the ice and snow.

Winter battery maintenance

Next on the agenda is battery maintenance. Looking after your battery is arguably the most important part of winter vehicle maintenance as flat or ‘dead’ batteries have been the number one cause of winter breakdowns in recent years. 

Notoriously, 12-volt batteries don’t like the cold. So, park your car in a garage or sheltered space if you have one and use your car regularly — even if it’s driving it around the block every couple of days. 

You should also take extra care to switch off any appliances that might be draining your battery, such as sat navs or plug in phone chargers. In winter, things like headlights and heated seats are used a lot more than during other times of the year, putting increased strain on your battery, so make sure you give it a proper rest when your car is off.

Lastly, an often overlooked part of battery maintenance involves cleaning the battery terminals. In winter, strong winds can cause an influx of dirt and debris to accumulate under the bonnet of your car. Occasionally, battery terminals can come loose or have a build-up of dirt which prevents a clean connection. So, keep the area under the bonnet clean and dry as best you can.

At Kwik Fit, we offer a Free Battery Health Check to give drivers peace of mind that their batteries are up to the task this winter.

Winter air con maintenance

While it might come as a surprise to you, your air conditioning is not just designed for use when it’s hot outside. 

Switching on your air conditioning may seem like a strange thing to suggest during the winter, but the dry, warm air produced by your car air conditioning system is the most effective way to demist your windscreen, ensuring maximum visibility when you need it most. With that being said, here’s how you should be looking after your air conditioning system during winter: 

• Run your air con regularly. Even in winter, running your air con for a few minutes weekly helps prevent seals from drying out and keeps your air con charged for when you need it in summer.
• Check your refrigerant levels. Low refrigerant can affect performance. A quick check or top-up before winter ensures your system is ready for defogging.
• Inspect cabin air filters. Dirty filters reduce airflow and efficiency. Replace them for optimal heating and defogging performance.
• If you need a hand with air conditioning maintenance or are worrying that your air con isn’t performing as it should, book in for a Free Air Conditioning Check at Kwik Fit.

Winter windscreen wiper care

Next, we have windscreen wiper care. It’s crucial to pay your wipers extra-special attention when the cold weather sets in as, thanks to the seasonal increase of fog, rain, mist, and snow, you’ll be relying on them a lot more. Since visibility can be reduced during winter, don’t make your journey any harder than it already is by having a dirty windscreen that you can’t clear due to damaged wipers.

• Avoid damaging your windscreen by regularly cleaning your wipers — even a cautionary wipe with a cloth is better than nothing. This is especially the case if you park your car near buildings or trees where debris such as moss and leaves may fall onto your car’s roof or windscreen. 
• Inspect your windscreen wipers before winter kicks in. Check for any cracks or areas where the wiper blades have significantly worn down as this will reduce their performance in ensuring your visibility during winter weather.
• If you notice damage to your wipers, you should get them replaced to give you the best chance of maximising your visibility over the winter. Learn more in our Guide to Looking After Your Windscreen Wipers.

Maintaining your vehicle's fluids

A vehicle can’t run on empty — and we’re not just talking about fuel. Maintaining your screenwash and coolant levels are essential, and especially in winter when cold weather impacts their performance. There’s nothing worse than frozen windscreen washer fluid or damaged vehicle pipework from frozen coolant.

• Fill up your windscreen washer bottle with fluid and ensure it contains the correct concentration of screenwash to prevent freezing. Water will not do, as this will freeze when the temperatures drop.
• Check your engine coolant levels. The antifreeze in your coolant protects your engine and prevents damage to vehicle pipework which can be caused when the liquid freezes and expands.
• If, at this point, you’re feeling confused about where antifreeze fits into the picture, read our blog titled, ‘A Guide to Antifreeze: What is it & How to Replace it.’

Winter headlight maintenance

Enjoy a smooth drive this winter

Checking the above items will help to ensure your car is ready for winter but, as the driver, you also need to make sure you are prepared. Adjust your driving style to suit the weather conditions and always make sure you leave extra distance between yourself and other vehicles when driving in severe weather conditions including rain, fog, ice, and snow.

Need a hand nailing your winter car maintenance? Pop in to your local Kwik Fit centre where our trained technicians will carry out a Free Vehicle Safety Check on your car and get you cold weather-ready — that’s one less thing to worry about this winter!