Prepare your car for summer driving

The sun is raining embers and the temperature outside is hitting alarming hot degrees. What you need most right now is a cool cabin inside your car separating you from the potential hellraiser outside. It is essential you keep a check on core functions of your vehicle to ensure easy transit whether to your office, a rejuvenating trip to the mountains or just visiting family at the other end of town. Complete a vital checklist to make sure your cars stays cool inside, and essentially inside the engine bay too reducing possibilities of breaking down.

Goes without saying, the air conditioning must be working at best to keep you cool while you negotiate traffic. You don’t want to be stuck with an aircon with less flow or a malfunctioning compressor. Check the flow of air through vents making sure it’s powerful enough without any blockages or the cooling temperature is low enough for the entire cabin. If not, rush to an authorised mechanic to look into the matter.

Again this one is a no brainer that your car gets extremely hot when driving in summers. The cooling system of your car’s engine has to work overtime to keep it cool, especially when air conditioning is switched on. Check coolant level and top it up for optimum cooling, if possible have the system flushed once to get rid of blockage if any and then have a fresh one refilled.

Tyres are the most vital component of your car. They are the connection between the road and mechanical components of the car. Since they have to be in regular contact with hot tarmac, it is essential you keep air pressures and tread depth optimal for summer driving. Consider switching to nitrogen air for your car’s tyres as it is immune to thermal expansion. Normal air contracts in winters, but much worse is that it expands in summers thus increasing pressure in your tyres. This could result in a possible blowout on the highway as cars are driven at higher speeds and tyres tend to get heated a lot. Nitrogen helps avoid this issue as it does not thermally expand increasing safety of all occupants.

Often in summers, after extensive use of your car through heat you might experience fading brakes which is caused due to excessive heat. Keep a lookout for disc pad wear and immediately get them replaced with a new set. Also check brake fluid levels and top them up if required.

Keep plenty of water in your car. It helps you keep hydrated and also might be needed to add cooling water in the coolant reservoir and wiper wash wipe. Extreme heat usage generally eats up some level of coolant and the quickest fix is to add water in the reservoir which is enough to get you to the nearest workshop or your home safely.