The heat can have adverse effects on car and driver alike

New and used car owners, this is not your standard “the weather’s warm so the editor made us write a summer driving post.” If you live above the Mason-Dixon line, you’ve already taken off your snow tires. Hopefully you’ve also already taken your car in for a tune-up.

Consider this a post-Fourth of July post. If you’re like most drivers, you probably put a couple hundred miles on your vehicle to go on vacation. That means that your car has more wear and tear than it normally would. Considering we still have all of Auugst, plus Labor Day weekend, consider this a primer on making life easy for you and your car.

Streaks and Squeaks

Did you know that wiper blades are designed to work in warm weather, cold weather, but not both? Like tires, some are designed to try and bridge the gap. But if you’re wondering why you see white build-up like a color-bleached sunrise, it’s probably your wiper blades. Considering the number of rain storms that occur over the summer, you want as much visibility as you can get.

Try looking at your local car parts store or even department store for wiper blades that are made for warmer weather. They wil be a bit softer and better suited for hot temperatures, making sure that both water and grime stay out of your line of vision.

The other thing to watch out for is any squeaks that you may hear. The holiday weekend was probably the longest trip you’ve made since the weather warmed up. That means that parts of the body can settle, or shift minor problems. If you hear anything untoward, take it into the shop before it gets worse.

Easy Does It

I track how long it takes me to get from my home to my relatives, and try to better my time each time I make the trek. But I don’t do it by going 10, 15 or 20 miles over the speed limit. Why? It’s not good for me, and it’s not good for my car.

While a car can overheat because of age or mechanical malfunction, the hot weather means that if you act like a speed demon on the road, you’re playing with fire. Or rather, the smoke that might rise from your engine on a 100-degree day.

It also hurts your gas mileage, and if you’d like to actually enjoy your trip it would be nice to have some more money. It’s not just the speeding, but the start and stops and frequent braking of people who don’t use proper distancing techniques.

Save your head from migraines and your car from trouble. Relax.

Practice Tetris

Want to save a couple bucks each time you fill up? Take a hundred pounds of stuff out of your car. Think that’s a lot? It’s about the size of two checked bags on an airline flight.

When we say Tetris, we’re imagining fitting blocks into small, complementary spaces. You can do that when you pack, and it helps for two reasons. One, the less you pack the better your car, truck or SUV will handle. Also, the lower it is to the bed of the trunk or back will help it drive better, and increase your vision.

Of course, the simplest way to get out of packing too many things is to travel light. If you don’t need it, don’t bring it. That’s what making friends in new locales is for.

Increase Your Suds Quotient

If you live in the colder areas of the country, your car may have been caked in salt. While the necessity of getting the entire underside of the car washed like some people recommend is debatable, the salt and other things that get caked on to your vehicle during the winter can have an adverse effect on your car.

In addition to the standard issues of making your car less attractive, the salt and gunk can corrode things like your brake rotors and other pieces of trim on the vehicle. So the next time you do take your car to the car wash, make sure you spend some time on the wheelwell, spraying out the brakes, the wheels and as much as you can reach on the underneath.

Not only will the car look a little bit better, but you’ll be reducing the odds of corrosion. And if it makes you more likely to do it, it can also have a bit of an effect on fuel economy.

[Image: robbie1 via Flickr]

Lincoln and Cadillac have both announced that they would offer free servicing programs in a bid to compete with luxury automakers like BMW in providing service to customers. But is free service that necessary for a new car buyer?

Using Edmunds.com’s spreadsheet for the estimated value of vehicle maintenance programs, we can see that these programs don’t offer the most value. For example, BMW offers a 4-year, 50,000 mile program that includes standard maintenance intervals and normal wear and tear items.

By The Numbers

The estimated value of that is $2,200 or so. In other words, BMW’s plan is the equivalent of buying a $50,000 car and getting a loan for 5 years at a 4 percent APR versus 6 percent.

In fact, the Cadillac and Lincoln plans are less involved, with them just including oil changes, tire rotations and an inspection. Considering most local repair shops offer the tire rotation and possibly an inspection of the car for different concerns, you’re looking at a value of perhaps a few hundred dollars over the course of the three-year Lincoln program or the four-year Cadillac program.

The Reality

If you were to try and go for a new car, and the dealership advocated its dealer maintenance program, you could easily make up the difference by asking even for 0.5% lower APR on cars over $30,000, a bit more leeway on lower-priced new or used autos, or a higher value on your trade-in. Quite simply, these maintenance offers are not a huge savings.

What they do offer is simplicity. You’re going to a dealer staffed by technicians who work solely on one brand or family of cars. And you get the advantage of knowing that everything is taken care of by the same people who sold you the car.

The Value of Warranties

If you are looking for a real value when shopping for a new or used car online, warranties may be your best bet. As long as you bring in your car for regular service intervals, you can be covered by a 3-year, 5-year, or even Hyundai’s 10-year warranty. In the case of catastrophic failure, these are much more valuable than any premium maintenance program that may be available.

But again, if reducing costs down the road is not a key consideration in your next car buying purchase, than the premium servicing options may be just a handy amenity. Just don’t take them as a huge savings without doing the math, or letting PSCars.com staff writers do it for you.

John Curran is a PSCars.com automotive writer. He can be reached at JohnC@practicalsystems.com.