Skip to main content

What can you do to protect your car, truck or SUV during a wet Johnsburg summer?

Hopefully, your car, truck or SUV’s air conditioning is ready for the dog days of this Johnsburg summer ahead. Don’t be fooled – they are coming. They always do. For now, however, instead of blazing heat, we find ourselves in a Monsoon. Day after day, it’s rain and more rain. Oh, there are nice days in between but they’re far-too infrequent.

What does all this rain mean for your Johnsburg car, truck or SUV? When the sun is beating down on your car, it’s slowly burning the oils out of rubber tires and window gaskets, as well as fading that shiny finish on the vehicle. But the rain poses challenges your car, truck or SUV, too. Rust, corrosion, driving visibility, traction and an adverse effect on the vehicle’s finish are among the problems common in the wet season.

What should you do to ensure that your car, truck or SUV is prepared for all this rain? You’re not at the absolute mercy of the elements. Here are some things you should consider:

  • Maintain the exterior finish of the car, truck or SUV: wash the car regularly to get rid of any elements left on the finish. And be sure to wax the vehicle, too. That was is like a protective shell over your vehicle’s finish.
  • Clean water that gets inside the car, truck or SUV quickly. Forgot to close the windows before the rain rolled in? Rainwater that gets inside the car can effect electrical controls and wiring, initiate the deterioration of fabric and leather upholstery and leave a musty odor that’s difficult to get rid of.
  • Check the rubber trim around windows. Water can get inside your doors and windows where parts will rust and corrode. Eventually, you may have trouble with the operation of the windows and rust may eat its way out from the inside of your doors and body panels.
  • Make sure your washer fluid is full, operational and the wiper blades are in good condition. These are inexpensive ways to give yourself an edge in safely operating your vehicle while driving in the rain.
  • Make sure your tires are in good shape and have plenty of traction. Good tires are essential on winter roads in these parts. However, wet summer roads are also slippery. Having tires that are in good condition, with good tread, will ensure that you have the traction to stay in control when summer throws a blanket of water over the roadways.



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Is your antifreeze safe from freezing this Richmond winter

You still have time to have it checked Well, there’s no denying it – winter tends to get chilly here in Richmond. We have to deal with snow and ice on the roads, scraping the same off our windows and windshield, and staying warm while we drive. Of course, you had your antifreeze checked before winter rolled into town. What?! You didn’t have your antifreeze checked before winter clamped down on Richmond? So, how’s your antifreeze doing?  If you haven’t had it checked, there’s really no way of knowing, is there? This car has overheated in the middle of a Richmond  winter. But, on the other end of the spectrum, the antifreeze can also freeze if it's not up to its job. Hopefully, you haven’t had a serious problem with your antifreeze already. If you did, you’d probably know. When antifreeze fails, it’s a potentially catastrophic condition for your vehicle’s engine. You could have hoses that have burst because of freezing antifreeze. Worse than that, your engine block may have crac...

Blocks of ice falling from cars in McHenry could cause accidents or damage

We’ve all seen those blocks of snow falling from behind the rear tires of a car when the snow rolls into McHenry . Fortunately, they’re just packed snow that will disintegrate under your vehicle’s tires as you simply drive right through them, right? Don’t count on it. Those blocks of snow are often packed so tight, condensed by the thaw-and-freeze cycle, that they’re anything but oversized snowballs . They’re often more like boulders.  Hit one of those blocks and the collision between the block and one of your tires could send you careening off the road or into oncoming traffic. In some cases, they’re so solid you could pound them with a sledgehammer with little effect. They truly can represent a serious road hazard. The problem is that it’s difficult to tell how solidly they’re packed when you see them on the road, left their unwittingly by another driver. Either way, your best bet is to try to avoid them. But you want to be careful dodging blocks of ice in the road, too. You need...

Get out to McHenry Music Festival for a good time and music near to home

Some folks here in McHenry will load up the car and head out to Red Rock Amphitheater near Denver to see a show. Some will go to the MSG Sphere near Las Vegas. Some will go to the Bonaroo Festival Concert to see a show. That’s quite a bit of driving and you’d better make sure your vehicle is up to the trip. What happens, however, if something goes wrong – if your vehicle breaks down while driving there or back? What happens if the show is canceled, as happened this year with the Bonaroo Festival? We’re talking about some serious inconvenience, aren’t we? Wherever you go, whether your driving to Colorado, Nevada, Tennessee or anywhere else in this continent, you want to perform your due diligence and make sure the vehicle is up for the trip before you go. And it doesn’t really matter if you’re driving somewhere to see some live music or for any other purpose. A breakdown can be costly and may put you at the mercy of weather conditions or nefarious characters that come across you while y...