How To Prepare Your Car For A Long Drive
Got a long journey coming up, or are you off on holiday for a few days? It’s important to make sure your car can clock up the miles! Knowing how to prepare a car for a long drive is essential for ensuring you have an incident-free journey! Follow this quick and easy guide of how to carry out essential car maintenance. Plus, discover some top cleaning tips along the way!
Things you will need
Dishwashing liquid
Hosepipe
Water
Microfibre cloths
Bin bag
Step 1
Cleaning Your Car Ready for a Long Drive
No one wants to spend a long journey listening to empty water bottles rolling round in the foot well or with sweet and sandwich wrappers reminding them they’re hungry!
So first of all, take the bin bag and empty your car of any rubbish and give it a quick vacuum inside. Dust off the dashboard with a damp cloth and make sure you can see all the gauges clearly. We have a full guide on how to clean your car interior, so it can be spotless in preparation for any road trips!
Step 2
Cleaning Car Exterior in Preparation for Road Trip
It’s important to get your trip off to a clean start so you can see clearly out of the windows and passers-by don’t feel the need to write you a message in your accumulated grime!
Add some car cleaning liquid to warm water and sponge onto the car. For particularly hard to remove grease, bird poo, or spills around the petrol cap, use some WD-40 Multi-Use Product on a damp cloth to help remove it.
Then, hose down your car, and for an extra sparkle dry off with a microfibre cloth. Give the wheel rims some extra loving. For this you will also want to use WD-40 Multi-Use Product. First, shake the can well, then spray the product on a cloth and wipe the wheel caps liberally. Wipe away the excess product and revel sparkling wheel caps ready to show off on your long drive!
Step 3
Essential Long Drive Preparations: Carry Out Car Maintenance Checks
There are several easy maintenance checks you should carry out before you set off.
Oil: If the engine doesn’t get enough lubrication, your car will break down, so do the dipstick test. Make sure the oil level is between the minimum and maximum markers.
Coolant: On a hot day, coolant removes excessive heat from your engine – essential if you’re stuck in traffic. On a cold one, it’s just as important because it also prevents the water from freezing.
Tyre pressure and tread depth: Your tyres should be inflated to the correct pressure, allowing for heavy suitcases in the boot. Most cars have a sticker (inside of the fuel filler or drivers’ door jamb) that indicates what the tyre pressures should be.
RAC is reporting that tyre depth can be checked with a 20p coin: Snippet from RAC says: To check the tread depth, insert a 20p coin into the tread grooves on the tyre. If you can’t see the outer band of the coin face, your tyres are above the legal limit (1.6mm) and you face a £2,500 fine for each illegal tyre if stopped by the police.
Lights: If your lights are defective, then you aren’t safe – people can’t see you. Ask a family member or neighbour to check the back lights for you.
Washer fluid: Keeping your windows clean will allow you to keep an eye on any hazards on your trip. If washer fluid levels are low, make sure you top them up before setting off. For winter driving, ensure correct dilution to prevent freezing.
Step 4
Lubricate Hinges, Latches And Locks in Preparation for a Long Drive
In order for hinges, door latches and locks to do their job, they need to be lubricated, use WD-40 White Lithium Grease. Grab some WD-40 Silicone and spray the entire seal or joint, Silicone will protect the seals from cracking.
Using a microfibre cloth, work the product in, and wipe away any excess. This will ensure the hinges and locks are well lubricated, to prevent squeaking, sticking and most, importantly, letting you get in and out of the car! A vital bit of car preparation for a long drive!
Step 5
In case of Breakdown: Pack essential Breakdown Items
While you may have carried out maintenance checks and lubricated everything thoroughly, you can never be over prepared, so it’s a good idea to pack a warning triangle and hi-vis vest in case disaster strikes and you do break down.
As winter is approaching, don’t forget to put in a coat and, if you’re heading North, maybe a spade should you get stuck in snow or mud. Now you can enjoy your road trip knowing your car is ready for the journey!
Now your ready for the road!
With a spotless interior and shiny paintwork, you’ll be desperate to hit the road so all that remains is time to fill up with petrol or diesel (or make sure you’re fully charged) and off you go! Bon voyage!
WD-40 can help you with your daily tasks, why not check out our How to page? You will find plenty of other ways WD-40 can help with your car as well as many other great uses!
The uses shown and described for WD-40 Multi-Use Product were provided to WD-40 Company by the users themselves. These uses haven’t been tested by WD-40 Company and do not constitute a recommendation of suggestion for use by WD-40 Company. Common sense should be exercised whenever using WD-40 Company products. Always follow the instructions and take heed of any warnings printed on the packaging.
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