Are You Winter Weather Ready? 5 Tips for Getting Ready for Cooler & Rainier Weather

With the season starting to get colder, most of us busy getting ready for the holidays, and making plans to go visit family and friends. One thing so many overlook during this time is what preparations they should be making for the switch from summer to fall/winter. Well, it's a good thing that you have us here at BaseLayer to help you remember. Those pretty leaves and crisp autumn evenings will soon give way to blustery snows, slushy streets, and a generally inhospitable Mother Nature.

Five Tips for Getting Ready for Colder Weather

Here are five things you need to do when trying to ensure that you and your vehicle are ready for the seasons to change. Take a minute and make sure you are prepared for the weather that is coming your way.

• Check Your Belts, Hoses, and Fluid Levels - The last thing you want to deal with on one of those cold, wet, snowy days is a vehicle that loses a serpentine belt, or one that is low on oil, coolant, or even windshield washer fluid. We have all been hit with a wave of muck from the snow plow on the opposite side of the highway that makes our windshield as easy to see through as a stained glass window (Just not nearly as pretty). Make sure you have all of your fluids topped off before the weather hits you, because once those plows start splashing your windshield it's already too late.

• Check Your Tires - Just like with your fluid levels, your tires are an area that deserves your attention now. Trying to put the emergency spare tire on when you are ankle deep in snow and slush is not going to be fun. The cold makes your fingers hurt, and the whole experience is generally unpleasant. Much easier to get any potential tire issue taken care of before the elements start to make it a terrible experience.

• Check Your Brakes & Battery - Your brakes and your battery are two of the most important pieces of equipment on your vehicle. When your brakes fail, you end up hitting stuff that will hurt yourself, others, and damage your vehicle. When your battery fails, your vehicle is no better than a 2,000 pound paperweight. Cold weather can wreak havoc on your battery life (There is a reason vehicle batteries tout their Cold Cranking Amps). Take a few minutes while it’s nice outside to check the health of your brakes and make sure your battery is ready for the beating it will take once the weather turns colder.

• Weatherize Your Vehicle's Interior - While the outside of your vehicle is going to take a beating from the elements and what is put on the roads to try and battle them (Salt anyone?), the interior of your vehicle is going to take a beating as well. Everything your vehicle drives through, you will probably walk through on your way back to your ride. Outfitting your vehicle with some wipes to clean off excess salt from surfaces, installing All-Weather floor mats so as not to ruin your vehicle's carpet, and outfitting your glovebox and center console with an organizer to keep your stuff in the correct place will go a long way towards helping you keep your vehicle interior clean during the winter months.

• Pack a Cold Weather Kit - No matter how much preparation you do there is always the chance that something will happen and you will end up stuck out in the cold. While you might think that you will be fine, and that you will be able to handle it, there are hundreds of stories of people who thought they could take what Mother Nature was dishing out and were wrong. Don’t risk injury or death by not having some simple essentials packed and on hand in your vehicle. A good starter cold weather kit should include the following items:

• First Aid Kit
• Warm blanket
• Pair of gloves
• Ice scraper/Snow brush
• Set of jumper cables
• Flashlight

Get Ready for the Cold

Now that you have the information you need to take the changing seasons head on it’s time to act on that information. As for outfitting your vehicle’s interior to stand up to the elements, we can’t help you with wipes, but we got you covered on the console organizers to store your wipes and the All-Weather Floor Liners. The  BaseLayer line of CUT-TO-FIT Floor Mats, as well as our Custom Fit Floor Liners for the Honda CR-V and the Ford F-150 are great options for helping your interior stand up to what Mother Nature dishes out during this time of year.