New season, new car care tips. Every few months, there’s a new batch of recommended seasonal car care to ensure your car is ready for changing temperatures and hazardous weather. While it may feel like a lot, changes in weather can cause your car’s essential systems to take a real hit. This is especially true in the more extreme seasons of summer and winter. Let’s take a look at how harsh winter weather and cold temperatures can impact your car.

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Your Fluids Become Thicker with Cold Temperatures

Every notice your car having trouble getting started on an especially cold morning? And maybe some lack of power while it’s still warming up? That’s because the fluids your car relies on, including engine oil and transmission fluid, thicken in cold temperatures. That means they’ll move less freely through your car’s systems until the car warms up enough to thin out the liquids. The more you drive your car, the warmer it becomes, and the better your performance will become in cold weather.

Batteries Have to Work Even Harder

The lower temperatures get, the lower your battery’s starting capacity becomes. That means it’s harder and harder for your battery to start the engine as temperatures drop. A battery that’s already a few years old may be unable to hold enough charge to get the engine running on a freezing cold morning. This is only exaggerated by the thickening of fluids in your car that take more effort to get running initially.

Corrosion on the Underside of Your Car from Salt

Most people are focused on road conditions and how snow or ice may keep them from reaching their destination. While that’s definitely worth your attention throughout the winter and can potentially cause damage to your car, it’s also important to consider the effects of salt on the road. Many areas use salt on the roads to limit the impact of snow and ice but that salt can actually be pretty harmful to metal parts on the underside of your car. If not washed off regularly, that salt can cause rust and corrosion to build up, eventually causing serious damage to those parts. Considering much of your exhaust system and suspension are on the underside of your car, it’s worth paying attention to.