How to prepare the car for the trip?

A holiday is ahead, i.e. a time when many drivers go on a long-awaited vacation. To be able to fully enjoy your vacation, you should take care of the technical condition of the vehicle in advance. Inspection of the car takes no more than a few tens of minutes and in the future can save us from long hours of waiting for help on the road.

What should we do to prepare our car for the trip? There are two solutions, we can give the car to specialists or take care of it ourselves. Of course, if we have the necessary knowledge, tools and capabilities. In the second case, the “PO-W” principle is applied, that is, checking fluids, tires, as well as headlights. This is the absolute minimum if we want to avoid any hassle while traveling. At the very beginning, we will take care of replacing winter tires with summer tires, if you have not already done so.

- Summer tires differ from winter tires mainly in the composition of the mixture. In the summer season, it is designed to work at temperatures above 7 degrees. Below this temperature, tires quickly harden and lose their properties. A winter tire with a temperature of 7 degrees Celsius begins to heat up faster, which contributes to its faster wear. In addition, its soft compound makes braking less effective on dry and wet surfaces in summer conditions. Summer tires also differ from winter tires in terms of tread pattern. The tread of winter tires has more cuts in the tire, which are also deeper than those of summer tires. This allows the winter tire to retain grip in winter conditions and thus reduce its performance in summer conditions,” says Marek Godziska, Technical Director of Auto-Boss.

Let's take a look at the liquid level. We will also change the windshield washer fluid for the summer version, it has better washing properties. It also does not contain alcohol, which quickly evaporates from glass at higher temperatures, reducing its effectiveness. Let's take care of the cleanliness of the coolant exposed to high temperatures in spring and summer. Check the brake fluid level for water content. The water in the brake fluid lowers the boiling point of the fluid. If the amount of water is above 2%, the car should be sent to a service. Also don't forget to change the oil.

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In addition, when traveling on vacation, we will need an efficient air conditioning system. So let's clean out the whole system and replace the pollen filter. Ozone will be useful for cleaning it, as it eliminates mold, fungus and mites that negatively affect our health.

After we have prepared the car, it is worth familiarizing yourself with the rules / requirements of the country we are going to. Let's check the requirements for equipping a car, for example, in France in July they introduced a requirement to have a breathalyzer in a car, and in the Czech Republic it is necessary to have a reflective vest, a first aid kit, a set of spare bulbs and an emergency stop sign.

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