Grismer Tire Store
Did You Know...
How Colder Temperatures Can Affect the Overall Performance of Your Vehicle
- Do you know what parts of your vehicle are affected most by cold temperatures?
- Is it a good idea to let you car warm up in the morning, or are you wasting gas?
- What is the proper tire pressure for your vehicle?
There is a long list of questions or problems one may experience when it comes to the colder temperatures, and we believe that proper maintenance is the best prevention.
Most Common affects are to the battery and to the tires.
A battery becomes weakened in colder temperatures, and if not charged could freeze. Once the temperature outside reaches 32°F you need a 65% battery charge to start an engine. The oil in the engine is also thicker when cold, making it harder on the engine and the battery when starting. When replacing you should meet or exceed the original CCA (cold cranking amps) for the vehicle.
Tire Pressure should be checked regularly since the pressure can change by one PSI (pound per-square-inch) for every 10 degrees of temperature change.
Low temperature = low pressure
High temperature = high pressure
Your vehicle has a recommended tire pressure that can be found in the owner's manual and on the sticker located on the inside of the driver's door. The recommended tire pressure is the "cold" recommendation, so try and check your tires before going out on the road. Modern cars have an electronic monitoring system, called TPMS (Tire Pressure Monitoring System), and helps keep track of your tire pressure (You should always manually check your tires, as electronic systems can malfunction). The significance is: over-inflated tires have less contact with the road causing a bumpy ride and center tire wear. Under-inflated tires cause unnecessary wear on the treads, loss of steering control, increased friction and LOWER gas mileage.
Tire Tread - this will ensure the most amount of traction for stopping, starting and driving.
Alternator Belt - can be come brittle and crack, preventing the car to start.
Wiper Blades - can freeze to the windshield, become brittle and break, thus making it difficult and unsafe to drive during rainy or snowy weather. Also make sure that your washer fluid is filled with an antifreeze formula.
Frozen Fuel Lines - caused by the condensation build up in the gas tank. To prevent this, make sure you do not let the fuel level get to low, especially if temperatures are forecasted to get below freezing.
Tire pressure and battery life may be at the top of the list and more commonly known, but did you know letting your vehicle warm up is also a problem causer?
Letting your car sit and idle is the slowest way to bring a vehicle up to operating temperature, inviting other problems, and not to mention the waste of gas. A cold engine emits a far higher percentage of unburned hydrocarbons than a warm engine causing the catalytic converter to overwork. The average catalytic converter can't process 100% of unburned hydrocarbons even in the best of times. Due to the higher amounts of unburned hydrocarbons in cold weather, and the fact that cars are often idle for longer in cold temperatures, you can end up with a "plugged" converter.
Basically the converter becomes overwhelmed and literally ceased to function. This doesn't happen all at once but over time, the end effect is the same: poor mileage and significantly dirtier exhaust. Even in 10°F weather, start your car, let in run for 30 to 60 seconds to get fluids moving and then drive off gently.
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