If you don’t have a garage, you have no option than to leave your car outside during the winter. But if you don’t take measures to protect it, it is going to sustain damage easily.
If the car is exposed in winter, it can sustain the following problems:
- The fluids (oil, steering fluid, brake fluid, and coolant) could thicken
- The battery can die
- The tire pressure could start to drop
- The exterior could sustain damage from the snow
- Corrosion from road salt
- Windshield and wipers damage
Photo by Bannon Morrissy on Unsplash
While your car stays outside exposed to the summer heat, you can use car shades to block the UV rays and protect your car’s interior. But what about winter, and how do you protect the exterior from damage? See the tips below:
1. Wax the car
If you know the car will stay outside during winter, wax it. The best time to wax it is right before winter. Waxing protects your paintwork from snow, dust, debris and other types of casual damage.
The wax is going to prevent the snow, salt, and the water coming into contact with the car’s exterior. The wax provides a nice buffer zone that will prevent damage to the car, and keep the paint coat safe and healthy.
Don’t depend on waxing alone to prevent damage to your car during winter. It can only do so much and some parts, such as the undercarriage, cannot be waxed, so they stay unprotected.
Waxing a car involves applying a layer of wax on it, and then buffing it out with a polisher. When you do this, a thin coat of wax still remains on the body.
It leaves a minimal amount of wax coat on the exterior of the car. This offers some protection against moisture, not too much, but it is protection all the same.
2. Cover it with a portable tent
The good thing with a portable tent is, its portability of course, and the ability to use it anywhere. When you deploy this tent over your car, you will be preventing the snow from landing directly on the roof of the car.
You can also use this tent all the time, and not only in the winter. For instance, you can use it in summer to keep the car cool.
If you park your car under a tree, deploy this tent to protect the vehicle from bird droppings. This is an all-weather tent to help you maintain your car’s exterior in great shape.
Since this tent is battery-operated, when you want to go, it packs small. It does not occupy too much space in your trunk, and it can come with a carry bag, or you can buy one separately.
To stop the wind from blowing the tent off the car, you can secure it with weatherproof straps which attach to the wheels, or the door handles. Besides, many tents come with a suction cup for the roof. This cup is not going to cause dents to the roof, but it will attach the tent securely.
Many of these tents come with a remote controller, and so it is pretty thug-proof because no one can steal it. It will not fold without the remote controller.
If there is no snow, ice, water, dust, or other debris falling directly onto your car, it can stay in good exterior shape. It will also require minimal care and maintenance.
3. Use a windshield cover
Not only does ice on the windshields take a long time to warm and thaw, but you also don’t want to cause that kind of distress to your glass. It can affect its lifespan.
You could buy a cover for your car’s windshield online, in which case it will come in just the right size. But if you cannot buy one, don’t worry.
Get a fitting or large cardboard and place it on the windshield. You can use such a cover even during summer, to keep excess heat out of the car while it is parked.
If you don’t want to buy a cover, use a large towel or blanket to keep the snow from the windshield. In the morning, remove it and your windshield will be clean, and you won’t have to wait too long before you can go.
4. Clean the underneath of the car to get rid of salt
Road salt is used to melt the snow. Unfortunately, it does not stop there because it also gets stuck on your car’s undercarriage, and it starts to eat away at the metal.
To prevent corrosion, have your car cleaned regularly, and since the road salt will have splashed to the body of the car too, use the touchless cleaning mode at the car wash.
Any other cleaning mode can have the salt scrubbing the body of the car and leaving abrasions that you really don’t need on your paintwork.
Do not wipe the salt off because that too will cause abrasions. Do not also scrub it off with a scraper because that is even worse. Hose it out with water.
Photo by Zachary Keimig on Unsplash
5. Get a good car cover
If you cannot invest in a foldable tent for your car, get a high quality, waterproof car cover. It is going to keep your car dry, and it will prevent direct contact with the snow itself.
When ordering, specify that you want an all-weather cover. Also, learn how to use the cover correctly because it is possible to cause rust on your car if there is moisture.
The good thing with this cover is that it covers everything, including the tires. The only exposed parts will be the underbelly of your car.
In the morning, you can wipe the snow off the car without worrying about damaging your car’s paintwork, because it is the cover you will be scrubbing at.
Another benefit of using these covers is that they are all season. In summer, you will want to keep the car covered to protect the paintwork from UV damage. The cover will also keep dust away from your car’s exterior and interior.
6. Leave the wipers standing up
If you are not using a full car cover, leave the wipers standing up. If you leave them in their usual position against the windshield of the car, they will sustain damage and also cause damage to the windshield itself.
They will start streaking soon, and you will have to replace them. If the springs wear out, the wiper blades lack uniform pressure, so they leave streaks behind when you use them. This causes poor visibility among other issues.
7. Spray the plastic parts with cooking spray
Use cooking spray on the plastic parts of your car. This is going to penetrate any cracks and seal them up.
The spray creates a coating on the plastic to prevent water from getting in. If moisture gets in the smallest cracks, it will expand and cause the plastic to expand too. Water expands when it changes into ice.
Conclusion
Your car is a costly investment, and you need to protect it from damage during summer, winter or any other season.
Here are more tips for winter outdoor parking:
- Park away from the roads, so the snow plow won’t heap snow on the car
- Use an ice scraper on the glass parts of the car only – not on the metal parts
- Keep waterproof gloves or thick socks to help sweep the snow off your car
- If you park for some time, remove the battery and connect it to the tender in the house