AutoZone Offers 4 Tips to Protect Your Car From the Summer Heat
25 July 2000
AutoZone Offers 4 Tips to Protect Your Car From the Summer HeatMEMPHIS, Tenn. - This summer's scorching heat can do serious damage to vehicles on America's roads, parking lots and driveways. When the temperature outside hits 95 degrees, the temperature inside a parked car can reach 140 degrees while the temperature on the surface of dashboards and steering wheels can climb to 180 degrees. "It's about more than just comfort," says Lesley Hartney, vice president of communications and training at AutoZone. "Extreme heat can cause expensive damage to your vehicle unless steps are taken to prevent it." With that in mind, AutoZone offers these 4 simple steps to prevent damage from summer heat. 1. Use a sunshade. Even a simple cardboard sunshade for your windshield can lower the temperature inside your car by nearly 50 degrees, and studies show that half of all cars on the road have sun damage that could have been prevented by one. A sun-damaged dash can impact your vehicle's resale value by as much as $2,000, while most sunshades cost less than $5. 2. Apply dashboard protectant. A spray-on solution can prevent the cracking, fading and warping of your dash. In fact, many contain chemicals that block the sun's harmful UV rays just like sunscreen lotion does for your skin. You can also protect your interior from the heat by simply spreading a light-colored towel over the dashboard and steering wheel. 3. Protect your paint with washing and waxing. In the extreme heat, drivers try to park in the shade of a tree. Unfortunately, tree sap and bird droppings can seriously damage automotive paint. So keep it clean. It's important to wash the vehicle while the exterior is cool and out of direct sunlight and not to use dish washing liquids because they contain grease removing chemicals that will strip the wax from your car's finish. Applying a fresh coat of wax after washing will protect the paint not only from the sun's rays, but also from what rains down from trees. 4. Replace your windshield wipers. Extreme heat dries out and cracks rubber components on your vehicle, and few parts suffer more than windshield wipers. About AutoZone AutoZone sells auto and light truck parts, chemicals and accessories through 2,854 AutoZone stores in 41 states in the U.S. plus the District of Columbia and 13 AutoZone stores in Mexico. AutoZone also sells heavy-duty truck parts through 48 TruckPro stores in 14 states, and automotive diagnostic and repair software through ALLDATA and diagnostic and repair information through alldatadiy.com .