June 21st, 2018 by Chris Chapman

Plan Your Perfect Driving Trip this Summer with These Simple Summer Car Care Tips

Summer is the best time of year to go on a drive. The sun is shining, the countryside is extra beautiful, and the warm weather is a great mood-booster. Getting your car clean and shiny before a summer drive is also an incredibly satisfying activity! If you’re planning a driving trip or a driving holiday, though, there are a couple of things you should look out for. We’ve put together a list of the best summer driving advice so that you can take care of your car – and yourself while you’re driving it – as you drive through the beautiful British countryside this summer!

Look After Yourself

We’ll start with the most important part of your car – the driver! Taking a few precautions to look after yourself is the single most important part of summer driving. Always make sure you have a bottle of water in your car at all times as you never know when you’ll need it. On hot days, your body temperature can rise to dangerous levels surprisingly quickly; on a day where the temperature is around 27°C, it can take as little as 10 minutes. Keep yourself cool, make sure air flow is moving around your car, and keep hydrated.

Beware of Pollen

Pollen is everywhere in summer. If you have hayfever and you’re planning a drive through the countryside, you should plan accordingly! You might think you’re safe in your car, but pollen can still affect you as it enters your car through air vents and windows. Keep some tissues and some sunglasses in your car throughout the summer months, and always take some hayfever tablets before you set off (make sure they don’t make you drowsy, though!). It’s wise to check the weather for a pollen count before setting off and plan your route accordingly. If your hayfever makes you sneeze a lot, bear in mind that sneezing while driving at 70mph will mean you’ll lose vision for 100m! Slow down a bit if you feel a sneeze coming on. Keep your vents and windows closed to help keep pollen out of your car while driving. Of course, on a hot day, this means your car can get unbearably hot – see step 1 for more on that!

Don’t Let Bugs Sap Your Strength

Summer isn’t known for being particularly hard on your paintwork. There’s no grit on the roads to damage your car and the dry weather reduces the risk of rusting. However, if you’ve got a classic car or any vehicle that you enjoy taking out for a spin when the sun’s out, there are a few things that can affect your car’s paintwork. The main ones you’ll find are bugs and tree sap. Bug splatter on your car is unavoidable in summer, and it can be tough to remove. Tree sap is a little less common, but again, it can be hard to avoid even if you’re not parked near any trees as it can be stuck you your car by animals and insects. Both bug splatter and tree sap are incredibly difficult to remove from your car regularly as they’re so sticky, especially when dried on. That means picking up some Tar-Dah is always a good idea – it’s designed to clean tar spots, bug splatter, and tree sap from car paintwork and is a must-have if you want your car looking its best in summer!

Take Care of Glare

Sunny weather always makes for a great drive, but it comes with a few hazards to be aware of. The main one is glare on your windscreen. Windscreens are designed to reduce glare, but if your windscreen is dirty the sunlight will catch the marks on your windscreen and obscure your view of the road. It’s always a good idea to change old, tatty windscreen wipers around summertime so they don’t leave smears and streaks on your windscreen, which can catch the sunlight. You’ll also want to give your car a thorough pre-wash and wash to make sure your windscreen is spotless before you set off on a driving trip!

Remove Iron Contamination from Your Wheels

If you’re doing a lot of driving in summer, chances are your wheels will start to look discoloured and dull after a while. What’s more, no amount of cleaning seems to make a difference. The rest of your car can be gleaming in the sun, but your alloys will let you down. Why is this? Well, over time, particles of iron from your brake pads will wear away and cling to your wheel trim. These particles will eventually start to discolour your wheels in a process known as iron contamination, but luckily, the process is entirely reversible! You’ll need some iron contamination remover like Dragon’s Blood to break down the iron particles and remove them entirely from your wheels. This stuff smells, but it’ll power through iron contamination on your wheels and paintwork in minutes and leave your car looking like it’s fresh out of the showroom!

Don’t Let Your Tyres Feel the Pressure

It’s not just the appearance of your wheels that you need to look out for, you need to keep an especially close eye on your tyre pressure in summer. Both rubber and air expand when they heat up, meaning the warm summer weather and friction from the road can play havoc with your tyres. Your tyre pressure is constantly changing with the weather in summer, so be wary that your tyres don’t become under- or over-inflated. Check your tyre pressure before a long summer drive and make sure it’s all ok before you set off to avoid a blowout.