Preparing your car for winter

Winter means marshmallows in hot chocolates, roast dinners with gravy, and the soft crackle of burning wood in the fireplace. It can also mean beanies, scarves and umbrellas while watching your offspring become the next Lance Franklin or David Beckham on a Saturday.

Whatever winter means to you, to motorists it also means cold mornings huddling in the car waiting for the windscreen to defrost, and gridlock on the roads as everybody drives to work at walking pace.

Here are our top 10 tips for staying warm and keeping your cool on the roads this winter.

These four little strips of rubber are the only thing keeping your pride and joy on the road, and your family safe, and yet we seldom spare them a second thought. If you do nothing else on this list, check your tyres today.

Do they have enough tread to channel rainwater and maximise grip? Are your tyres at the right air pressure to ensure optimal roadholding? Is your spare tyre pumped up and ready to be called into action if necessary? Do you have a tyre jack and tyre iron - or membership to a roadside-assist program?

If you regularly drive in temperatures under seven degrees Celsius or snowy conditions, you may want to consider a set of winter tyres or tyre chains. The former have more natural rubber content and are therefore more supple in the cold. They also have deeper grooves for gripping better in snow, and sipes in the tread blocks for dispersing water. The downside is that winter tyres wear faster in dry conditions.

Tyre chains are a great way to increase traction on standard road tyres in snowy conditions. You can buy your own set or rent them for that weekend ski trip. Just remember to put them on your driven wheels. If you have an all-wheel-drive car, put them on the front wheels.

You get to your car in the morning and the windscreen is covered in frost or ice. Stop! Do not rush for the kettle. We’ve all grabbed eggs from the fridge and watched as they crack badly the minute they are lowered into the boiling water. Don’t risk the same thing happening to your frost-covered windscreen by pouring boiling water over it on freezing mornings.

Instead, cold water from the hose or tap will do the job just fine, and save you hundreds on a new windscreen. If you want to help the process, keep a plastic window scraper handy, but don’t use anything that will scratch the glass.

I think we can all agree that visibility is important - not just through the windscreen ahead, but also through the side windows and via the back windscreen. Keep all your windows free from road grime on the outside and free from grubby fingerprints and other airborne muck on the inside with regular cleans. For best results use a window cleaner.

If your windscreen does fog up, resist the urge to wipe it with your hands. Instead, keep a streak-free cloth in the glovebox.

And don’t forget the wing mirrors, which are just as prone to misting up in cold weather. If your car has heated mirrors, you’re lucky. If not, a window cloth is your best bet to get the water drops off streak-free.

Most modern cars have buttons to instantly demist your front and back windscreens. If you own an older car without this feature, it’s simply a case of cranking your air-conditioning up to full heat, turn off recirculation so fresh air is coming into the car, and pointing your vents towards the windscreen. If you’re in a hurry, lower one of the windows to allow drier, colder air into the cabin to speed up the process.

A good set of windscreen blades are crucial in the rainy winter months to ensure optimal forward vision. If your blades are old or showing signs of wear, replace them with a set from your nearest dealership or accessories retailer.

Keep your windscreen washer reservoir topped up as well because wet roads mean more road grime, so you will be washing your windscreen more than usual.

If your car has wipers and washers on the headlights, give them some TLC too.

We’ve all seen cars on the road with a headlight or tail-light out, but when was the last time you checked your own? Winter makes daily driving challenging enough thanks to wet roads, slower drivers and increased traffic, let alone doing it half-dark.

Make sure your headlights are working properly on low and high beam, and check your tail-lights and indicators to ensure other road users are receiving your warning signals. If you’ve got foglights and spotlights, check them too, but be careful to not blind other drivers.

Laptops, phones, cars… All batteries discharge faster in cold weather because the cold slows down the chemical reaction. So if your car battery is a bit long in the tooth or low on charge, the winter strain may be the final straw. The best way to avoid a battery-related breakdown is to get your battery tested and replaced if necessary.

If you’d prefer to ignore this advice, at least carry a set of jumper leads…

Car companies spend billions of dollars engineering cars to work in temperatures ranging from -10 to 50 degrees Celsius, but a car’s engine and other oily bits are under more stress towards the limits of that range. Sluggish performance, rough idling, reluctant starts and pinging are all signs your car is not fighting fit for the winter frost. The best thing you as an owner can do is get your car serviced regularly to ensure all fluids and filters are in their prime.

If you live in the country or are taking a road trip this winter, spare a thought for what you’ll need if your car breaks down. We’d suggest throwing a blanket, torch, hi-vis vest, some snacks and water, heavy-duty boots or snow shoes, a phone charger and a first-aid kit in the boot.

The blanket will keep you warm if you have to wait a while in a dead car, and the hi-vis vest will ensure you’re seen in low-visibility situations. If you do need to walk for help, heavy-duty shoes will keep your tootsies dry, and the food and water will keep your energy levels up if your breakdown means you miss a meal.

Looking for something to read tonight? Ignore the latest James Patterson thriller and reach for your car insurance policy instead. It’ll be worth it the next time you’re trying to change a tyre in the rain with cold fingers or stranded in a broken-down car in a storm, or one of the thousands of Australians who will be involved in an accident this winter.

Some car insurance policies include roadside assist, which will sort that flat tyre or flat battery for you. Some will cover a tow truck if your car breaks down, some pay for the taxi so you can still get to where you’re going, and some will cover a rental car while yours is off the road. If you are in an accident, comprehensive insurance will get you back on the road again without too much financial hardship.