PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD) — Winter weather has taken its toll on cars in Central Illinois the past few weeks.
Local automotive industry members said keeping a car running properly during the winter can keep it out of the shop and help keep money in the wallet.
Austin Lasley, a service manager at Tires Plus in Peoria, said to look at the cold cranking amps on the vehicle’s battery. The rating could help when starting a car in the winter.
“The lower they get, the harder it is for it to start up in this cold weather, that’s what we’ve had a lot of today, getting batteries taken care of because we’re at negative temperatures this week,” said Lasley.
Many people find themselves heating up their cars before driving away. Beachler’s Vehicle Care & Repair Owner Terry Beachler said people might want to think twice about doing that.
“Somebody’s not gonna need the car for a couple of days, they go out and start it during the cold weather, and all it does is take the battery down, and it doesn’t run long enough to recharge the battery, and then when you do need it, dead battery,” said Terry Beachler.
Lasley said it is also important to make sure tire pressure is at the recommended settings.
“At least a pound or two over is not gonna hurt, but you don’t wanna exceed five or six pounds over what the recommended is, especially for the vehicle because it actually begins to wear down the tires even faster than it should,” said Lasley.
He said during the cold weather, tire pressure is brought down.
“Usually just a couple PSI a day, but say you have other things going on, you might have a nail in there or something, and that’s gonna bring it down even faster,” said Lasley.