Preparing your car for winter!!

[north_skye]

We all know the old routine ,
check the oil, check the tyres, check your wipers etc etc .......

What about checking your Headlamps ???
Not only to make sure they are all working but are they all actually set right..
Driving home over the last week at 5pm ish has really got on my nerves, not becasue i had the weather to contend with, but other road users with faulty or incorrect set headlights.

last night I counted 9 cars between hear and wick with dodgey lighting , one car hand only 1 side of it's lights working !!!!

take 5 mins check your car out for your own benefit if you have a headlight pointing skyward well it isn't lighting up the road , so therefore you can't see properly, plus you then dazzle the driver coming towards you, if you have a bulb out you can't see properly and the driver coming at you can't see you properly take 5 mins go by a replacement it isn't rocket science.

Park your car facing a wall or garage door or shed anything solid. Turn on Dip headlights if you have dodgey lights you will see it in the height of the light beam ,

Have a bit of consideration for other drivers people!!

[wicker]

I agree completely, the amount of cars in caithness with dodgy lights is unreal, its not safe for the driver of the car or the person coming towards them.
It only takes 2 minutes to check that all lights are working correctly and 5 mins to fix most of the time if they dont.

[Tugmistress]

i would also add that keep the lenses clean, both front and rear.
and please don't use fog lights in rain! it is illegal (i think) and dazzles the driver behind.
make sure your water coolant has enough antifreeze in it and hasn't been watered down after summer.... frozen water in your pipes do not make for conducive motoring, just a big bang and big bill!
it also helps if you check the water in the washer bottle and top this up too as mucky roads will blind a windscreen in seconds in the right conditions and this needs an antifreeze containing product too ;)
ok not very well written but i know what i mean ;)

[angela5]

On a frosty morning when my front and back windscreen is frozing over i fill a jug with warm water and pour it over them both, crystal clear.
it really annoys me to see so many driving around with windscreens they can barely see out of.
and it is worth checking your washers are working before setting off, i have anti-freeze in mine and never thought to check, what a nice surprise that was after a lorry sprayed all the road muck on my windscreen.

[wicker]

Aye i have antifreeze in my washers aswell but it still seems to be frozen most mornings, even by time i get to thurso it still frozen, anyone got remedy's for this?

[marion]

We all know the old routine ,
check the oil, check the tyres, check your wipers etc etc .......

What about checking your Headlamps ???

take 5 mins check your car out for your own benefit if you have a headlight pointing skyward well it isn't lighting up the road , so therefore you can't see properly, plus you then dazzle the driver coming towards you, if you have a bulb out you can't see properly and the driver coming at you can't see you properly take 5 mins go by a replacement it isn't rocket science.

Park your car facing a wall or garage door or shed anything solid. Turn on Dip headlights if you have dodgey lights you will see it in the height of the light beam ,

Have a bit of consideration for other drivers people!!

Checking headlamps is an excellent idea. I neglected to do so and received an equipment warning from the local police.

[north_skye]

Marion,

Our police , don't seems to have the interest or the time to stop vehicles out in the country for faulty lights , all they would have to do is sit on the castletown road at night and pull over every car with faulty headlights, maybe people would pay attention then and get there lights fixed .

[Biker]

I may have missed something here but I do consider myself reasonably mechanically minded yet I am not sure of the ability of the average person to adjust the angle of their lights! Cahnging them is normally fairly easy, but I do know that some models are more hassle than others.

My advice is to check:

Screen wash (enough and good concentration)
Spare screenwash for long journeys
Tyres at correct pressure and enough tread
Antifreeze at correct level and concentration

also:

Have spare clothes in the car so if you do get stuck you can stay warm without running the engine

and most importantly allow lots of time for the journey and don't let other drivers force you to go faster than you feel comfortable with in the prevailing conditions.

[north_skye]

Biker ,

Did i actually say adjust your own headlights , i consider myself more than a bit mechanically minded, but this isn't something you need a degree for , most cars have a wee screw or knob that turns near the headlight. I wouldn't advise touching this unless you really know what you are doing.
I said park it against a wall and check the beam height , try it .. you will see how easy it is to see where they sit if one is obviously lower or higher than the other , then surely common sense say's ohh best take it to the garage as my lights are wrong therefore i can't see correctly at night.
Another small tip , if your car has adjustable headlights from a dial in the inside of the car, if you have a full car adjust your lights down (read the car manual it should tell you) mine does.
Also faulty lights are an MOT failure. I beleive then that if you are running around with defective lights the vehicle is illegal , hence why the police tend to stop you when you have a brake light out.

Your other points are extremely valid and again i can but hope common sense would prevail then again maybe my faith in our fellow drivers is unfounded as yet again this morning on the way to work more dazzling faulty lights!!!!!!!!!
I'm not try to change the world here , just instill a bit of safety on our roads....

[angela5]

(quote)Also faulty lights are an MOT failure. I beleive then that if you are running around with defective lights the vehicle is illegal , hence why the police tend to stop you when you have a brake light out.

I did wonder if that was illegal, only the other day i noticed a policeman in his own vehicle turning into the station, he only had 1 brake light, i wonder if he was pulled over at all on his way home.

[SJR]

Geezer, there is 1 rule for them and 1 rule for us. As most things in life unfortunatly.
My b/f says he sees loads of cars with inncorrectly fitted bulbs, esp headlight bulbs, which most people(appear) to be unable to fit, poss. due to lack of time and light when fitting them.He reckons 90% is the bulbs are upside down etc, not the fact the headlamps themselves that are out of line.