Simple hacks to keep you cool this summer

Here are some easy and practical tips to keep motoring free and easy as the summer heat continues to sizzle:

1.) Park in the shade—this is the simplest, most basic tip. Park under a tree, in the basement or a covered parking slot to keep your car from heating up under the summer sun. If you do park under the tree, make sure you clean bird droppings or tree sap if any fall on your car.

2.) Pop the hood open—after you shut down your car’s engine, the coolant stops circulating throughout the engine and the radiator fans stop working, pushing your engine to very high temperatures which will creep into your car’s interior, heating it up further. If it’s safe to do so, leave the hood open to let the heat radiate away and not creep inside your cabin. Your interior will last longer as well as all the plastic and rubber parts in your engine bay.

3.) Park away from the sun—if you have no choice but to park in the open, try to park facing away from the sun. Your front windshield is the biggest opening so preventing light from entering via the front windshield will lessen the heat inside the car. Try to park with your rear windshield facing the sun. Also take note that if you will be leaving the car under the sun for the entire day, avoid parking facing west as this will lengthen the interior’s direct exposure to the sun.

4.) Tint really helps—high-end tints such as 3M’s Crystalline line, V-Kool & Huper Optik really work in rejecting heat while allowing light to still enter your cabin. I normally recommend medium dark tint on the sides and rear with a light shade of tint for the front windshield. This really helps keep the cabin cool, but doesn’t prevent you from seeing well while driving at night.

5.) A/c servicing is a must—take advantage of the many promos that car shops and dealerships are offering for a/c cleaning services. Clean the condenser and blower motors, the compressor and replace the drier and charge up the freon and you will be a happy driver this summer.

6.) Buy window shades—window shades are now very affordable; Blade, the country’s largest automotive lifestyle chain store sells a wide variety of window shades for the front and rear windshields which really block out sunlight and heat completely, and unlike very dark tints, you can remove them once you need to start driving.

7.) Cool down—if you’ve left your car under the sun for the entire day, when you are about to leave, open all the windows, pop the trunk or hatch, turn on the engine, turn on the a/c blower to maximum but do not turn on the a/c compressor. This will blow out all the hot air inside the car so your a/c system won’t be sucking in hot air and trying to cool it down. This practice also helps air out your car’s stale air inside of it. Leave the engine and a/c blower running for three to five minutes, then turn on the compressor and drive off slowly but surely.

8.) Have your cooling system checked—make sure the fan/s are working properly, the radiator is topped up with coolant and distilled water, there are no leaks and the radiator’s fins and tubes are clean. Dirty radiators cannot remove heat away effectively from the coolant. A hot running engine is prone to overheating especially when it’s burdened by the a/c system on a hot day.

9.) Silicon spray is your friend—ever notice how dried up the rubber weather strips on your car’s doors and windows? If they dry up, they won’t seal properly, allowing cold air to escape and hot air to enter, plus increase wind resistance because incoming air will force its way into every nook and cranny of your car. A can of high-quality silicone spray such as those from Wurth cost P500 thereabouts. Buy a can, get a clean washcloth, spray both the washcloth and weather strips with silicon spray and proceed to wipe, spread and dry the silicon spray to reinvigorate the rubber weather strips and keep them sealing up the interior.

We hope these small and simple tips will improve your summer motoring!