You couldn’t possibly stay home the whole of winter and not go to work although in the coldest of days, you just want to spend your time lazing about in bed. For these times that you must and have to go out, you can winterize your car to ensure that you’re on the road safe, you ensure that you’re keeping your car in a good condition and you keep yourself away from expensive repair costs.

Regardless of the type of vehicle you drive, you’ll have a few tips to use when you’re driving in cold winter days. You can find these tips and recommendations on your vehicles manual. Keep this manual in your car and if you have time, read thoroughly on it. Take note of things like fuel consumption, maintenance and how to keep your car in tune even in the coldest of temperature. The more you know about winter car maintenance, the better you and your family will be when you’re riding out in winter.

Here are some tips for ensuring your car is in perfect running order in winter:

1. When you go out for routine maintenance, put a little extra effort for your battery and charging system in the winter season. Make sure they’re working efficiently. You see in the wintertime, the cranking power your battery gives out is greatly reduced. You’re going to have problems with starting your car if you don’t check on this in routine maintenance in winter. Make sure you bring a portable power pack or quality jumper cables in the trunk of your car when you’re driving in the cold.
2. Other parts to check into are your heater and your defrosters. Make sure they’re in good operating condition. Also, check your wiper blades.If they’re brittle or worn, replace them. If they’re smeary, replace them. It will be hard for you to see if your wipers don’t work well.
3. Winter driving will be easier for you if you check your filters, hoses and coolant. Filters for gas, air and oil have to be in good condition and your coolant level as well as your hermostat has to be fully functional so you can guarantee proper engine warmup. After every two years, your coolant has to be changed. Don’t forget your coolant tank pressure cap or your radiator cap. Hoses with leaks on it or feel soft need to be replaced.
4. One of the important things to remember before driving out in winter is lubrication. Use something like a multiviscosity oil like Mobil 1 0W30 or the 5W30. This will help you with engine startup. When temperature goes below zero, you need to have lubrication like fully synthetic oils to protect your engine. A tip to note is that when you use low viscosity oil, you have more speed with startup and you also reduce wear and tear on your car engine parts when the oil flows quickly in startup.
5. With regard to the condition of your tires, tread and pressure matter when you’re driving in cold weather. Check your tires for wear. Just like in normal temperatures, your tire air pressure has to be exact, anything over or under the recommended pressure is undesirable. You’ll be wearing your tire out more and using up more fuel if your tires are low in pressure. Overinflation and you reduce traction for your tires which can be very dangerous for you when you’re driving on icy roads. Tread matters so if you live in a place where there’s heavy snowfall, think about getting snow tires.
6. Vehicle warmup is another way to ensure the upkeep of your car in winter. When you start your car, run it idly for a few seconds. This will ensure that lubrication has already gone through the engine and this provides you with protection. Again, it’s only for a few seconds. If you keep your car running idly for a long time, you’re will be wasting fuel and it will do nothing for your car. After a few idle moments, drive extra slowly.
7. This next tip for winter car maintenance relates to number six. You have to drive slowly. Keep yourself within bounds of speed limits and if possible drive a notch or two slower than that. Drive a distance away from other cars. Pace yourself while your drive so you don’t need to make sudden stops. Remember, you’ll have mostly icy or wet road conditions to deal with and your car will have the tendency to slip before stopping entirely.
8. If you live in a place where snow comes in spades, have a few tools with you when you drive like de-icers, window ice scrapers, and a small shovel. Keep these tools in your trunk. You’ll use the de-icers for your locks just in case and if you have to dig out of snow, you can do it with ease using your shovel. It’s also good for your car if you keep a bag of sand in the trunk. This will provide you with traction if you have a rear wheel drive vehicle. Sprinkle the sand on the snow or ice if you need traction. Pack a blanket along in your car. That’s just in case you get stuck in a snow storm.
9. Drive in the snow fully equipped and this means, your rear window defroster has to be in good working order. Keep your window washer reservoir full. In your attempt to see clearly in inclement weather, these two thing will guarantee that. Don’t forget to check your fuel levels before you set out. You don’t want to get stranded in heavy snowfall.
10. Lastly, clean your car out of ice and snow and we mean your whole car.

The Top Five Myths (And the real story behind them)

1: Hybrid Cars Require Plugs and Sockets to Recharge-

This is a big one, I’m sure you’ve heard it a time or two when discussion moves on to hybrid automobiles.  They say in order to utilize a hybrid car, you’ll have to plug it in and charge it like one giant Fisher-Price toy jeep or something. When you hear this, you think it’s just another thing you have to remember to charge:

Your laptop, your phone, your camera—now your car?

In Reality: Most of today’s hybrids actually make use of the regenerative charging system—which means that every time you step foot on the brake, the gas engine transfers a portion of electrical power back towards the battery so that it can remain automatically charged at all times. When charged between 40 to 60 percent of maximum capability, these hybrid batteries last a relatively long time and ensure a life span often guaranteed to surpass 100,000 miles.

2: Hybrid Cars are Weak and Have NO Power

This myth is even more ill-informed. The majority of vehicles on the road today don’t need highly abundances of power, and unless you plan on riding the Nextel Cup next year you’ll find a hybrid to suffice.  The core of this issue comes from the fact that because hybrids do not use gasoline, they are at a power disadvantage.

In Reality: Hybrid performance is actually increasing all the time. Technology is constantly being developed that applies powerful attributes of gas-driven vehicles to fuel-efficient hybrid cars. For example—the Lexus G5 450h sports more than 300 horsepower and can likely defeat most gas powered cars in a 0-60 road test—so basically it’s unwise to take shots at their power. While they may be fuel efficient, they are far from underpowered.

3. Hybrids Just Cost Too Much

Many people believe that purchasing a hybrid vehicle will set their wallet back way too much. These people see some of the price tags on these cars and shriek in fright. Whether they’re simply looking at the most expensive models or are having trouble finding a solution within their price range, they go crawling right on back to the more traditional gas powered options.

In Reality: This isn’t the case; just take a look at the Toyota Prius, which starts at only $22,000. The same is true with the famous Honda Civic Hybrid, which is equally reasonable in price and amenity. While there are expensive (see Lexus) models that can go for over a $100 grand, the same applies with gasoline powered brands and vehicles. It’s called price range, and the prices range, it’s definitely not some new conspiracy contrived by hybrid automakers. The Ferrari, for instance, is a gasoline powered vehicle with a price of $500,000. Anything can be expensive, and anything can be inexpensive, the same is with hybrids. The myth at hand is just a way of avoiding change, even when innovation is clearly beneficial.

4. Hybrid Cars are for the Far Left ONLY

I’m not even sure if this one makes any sense, but many people believe that hybrid ownership is directly indicative of a liberal political proclivity. It is many people’s opinion that if they were to drive one, they would be unjustly labeled (either by society of themselves) as a bleeding heart liberal. Not wanting to involve politics in their car choice—the pass on what is nothing but a fathomable long term vehicular decision.

In Reality: In the beginning, the stigma was installed that hybrids were the choice of democrats or  liberal consumers. But if this is an actual deterrent from making a purchase, you are clearly just afraid of new things. While liberals may have initially been the bulk of initial hybrid sale composition, due to the publicly known benefits of the vehicles, they are becoming a more inclusive and widely enjoyed upgrade.  Conservatives, auto workers, and level-minded people have seen the opportunity to save money on fuel in a practical way and jumped on it—making the hybrid choice less political and more of just common sense.

5. Hybrid Cars are going to ELIMINATE Foreign Oil Dependency in America

Some people are rallying around optimistic claims, including how hybrid cars are going to rid our nation of our unfortunate dependency on foreign oil.

In Reality: While the amount of hybrid vehicles sold annually is increasing rapidly, the total sales only account for 2.5 percent of total cars sold in America. Some people estimate that even with the savings of all those people, the foreign oil dependency is considerably grand. The fact still remains that while hybrids are a great alternative to fossil fuels, they aren’t exactly the cure-all for foreign oil dependency.

Be Smart!

There are many myths out there that surround hybrids, but they are to be eventually erased. Unfortunately, it seems that misinformation spreads much quicker than truth in this world, but at the end of the day, the facts will prevail. It’s likely that before we know it, the clear innovative benefits and advantages to the hybrid vehicle will hit the public mainstream, and the skeptics will have not a choice but to join in what they unreasonably objected to in the first place. Until then, approach everything with an open but level mind and remember to be smart!