Great road trips don’t need to take a back seat once the snow flies and remember that safe winter driving does require some preparation. Taking these key steps to get your car ready for winter road trips can help keep your travel safe and stress-free. Here’s a checklist with seven steps to follow to get your car ready for winter road trips to help get you and your passengers safely to your destination, even in bad weather.

Install Winter Tires

In Canada, winter tires are essential! Winter tires are mandatory in Quebec and most of British Columbia, and are made from a different rubber compound compared to summer tires. You’ll have better grip in snow/ice/slush/sleet helping keep you and others safer on the roads.

Change Your Oil

Regular oil changes are essential to keep your engine running smoothly. Clean oil helps optimize your engines performance and quite literally, is the lifeblood of your engine. Newer oil is more viscous, meaning it flows better, which is important to help keep your engine moving in colder weather. We ask George from Toronto Mobile Mechanics to take care of this for us every fall at the same time as our winter tire change. Easily find the manufacturer’s recommendation for your car in the owner’s manual.

Replace Your Windshield Wipers

Over time, the rubber strip on your wiper blade becomes weathered, pitted, and stiff, resulting in streaking and make the blades ineffective. Most modern vehicles use a standard clip for wiper blades, and new blades typically cost $30 or less each. This a quick and easy job to take care of on your own. Find the correct sizes for your car’s make and model year online or at your favourite auto parts store.

Use Winter Washer Fluid

There are different formulations for windshield washer fluid. “Summer” fluid excels at removing stuck-on bugs and grime from your glass. “Winter” fluid contains antifreeze, which helps melt snow and ice and makes them easier to remove. Clearly seeing always what’s ahead if you is crucial to safe winter driving.

Clean The Inside Of Your Windows

Keeping the outside of your windows clean is important and a clean inside is equally important. Grime, dust and dirt can collect and create a film on the inside of your car’s windows and you may not notice until you’re trying to defrost on a cold day and it takes longer for the inside of the glass to clear up.  Why does this happen? When there’s dirt on the inside of the glass, the moisture in the air has something to cling to for longer. By cleaning the inside of your windshield, you’ll see a noticeable improvement in how quickly the fog will clear. A simple glass cleaner and a microfibre cloth does the trick.

Clean Or Replace Your Winter Floor Mats 

Often overlooked, this is also important. As you and your passengers are getting into your vehicle with wet and salt-covered winter boots, the upholstery in summer floor mats won’t stand a chance. Invest in a set of high quality set of rubber floor mats to keep dirt and salt from getting ground into your upholstery. Also, winter floor mats can be cleaned easily by hosing them down. It both keeps your carpets looking good and helps retain more of your car’s value.

Create A Winter Emergency Kit 

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Prepared for unplanned emergencies that can befall us when we venture out onto the roads in winter weather. Keeping a winter emergency kit in your car means you’ll have extra winter accessories and blankets to stay warm, spare food and water in case you get stranded, and supplies to get yourself unstuck from a ditch or restarted if your battery dies. Get your car ready for winter by putting together a winter survival kit consisting of:

Snow brush with ice scraper
Jumper cables battery booster kit
Extra washer fluid
Sand, salt, folding shovel
Spare toque and gloves
Blankets
Candle, coffee can, waterproof matches, lighter
Bottled water in an insulated bag
Non perishable food

For more safe driving tips and road trip adventures and ideas, visit roadtripper.ca