Looking After Your Land Rover This Winter

Wintertime can be hell on cars, no matter the model. Whether you’re driving a brand new 2021 Land Rover Defender, Range Rover P38, or a Land Rover Discovery 3, you’re very likely to experience some sort of issue during the winter time. In order to stop these performance issues before they develop, it’s exceedingly important that you spend some time performing maintenance on your vehicle during the winter months. This is especially true of the car’s undercarriage – which is the most exposed part of your car. 

In this article, we’ll go over some ways to keep your car in good condition during the winter time, with a primary focus on your car’s undercarriage. 

Cleaning 

No doubt the best thing you can do for your car this time of year is clean it. 

Yes, you read that right; the best thing you can do for your car in the wintertime is to clean it. 

It’s true. There’s a lot of rain and possibly snow this time of year, and you may think that snow and rain are just water. But the water in rain and snow isn’t your only worry. 

For a start, both of these substances contain more than just water. Rain of course is famously acidic; however, even acid rain is not the most worrying substance.  

Salt On The Road

More worrying is the salt used to clean away the snow during gritting. Not only does this material become attached to your vehicle before snow – when it’s still in its hard crystalline form – but it can also pose an issue after snowfall. 

This is because salt is a known oxidic, meaning it’s known to cause rust in contact with certain metals. As a result, it’s important to make sure that your vehicle is free of long standing salt – especially the undercarriage and your Land Rover’s wheels. 

Realistically, all this will take is some water – cold or hot. Apply enough so that your wheels are completely covered and with enough force that whatever was resting on the wheels will have been flung off. 

A Note On Wheel Alloys

If your Land Rover’s Alloy Wheels use aluminium in the rims, you won’t have to worry about the salt causing rust – aluminium doesn’t rust. However, salt can cause corrosion when in contact with aluminium. As a result, it’s still a good idea to clean your Land Rover’s wheels, even if you have aluminium rims.

Using a Pressure Washer

For ease of application, you might want to use a pressure washer to clean the undercarriage. This will also ensure that you have enough force to push off any salt that’s become stuck on your tire and also that you clean your undercarriage efficiently without having to put your car on a lift, a set of jacks or some other form of suspension.

Cleaning Your Land Rover’s Undercarriage

Cleaning your Land Rover’s undercarriage is very simple – even if you haven’t done it before. 

1. Spray the bottom of your Land Rover with your pressure washer, making sure to get consistent coverage of your entire undercarriage. This stage of cleaning will remove most of the contaminants from your vehicle. Depending on the amount of material on the bottom of your car, you could finish the project here. 
2. Take a degreaser and, just like step 1, cover the entirety of your undercarriage with it. After doing this, you should leave it to sit for 20 minutes. 
3. Repeat the first step, making sure to remove all the degreaser. 
4. Finally, take a brush and clean any stubborn areas with a brush. 

Additional Notes On The Undercarriage

When cleaning your undercarriage, you want to spend some time on the fuel lines and brake pads as these parts tend to incur rust far easier than other parts of the undercarriage. 

Contact John Craddock Today

For more information on performing maintenance on your Land Rover, get in contact with John Craddock and speak to one of our experienced engineers and mechanics today. 

At John Craddock, we have over 30 years’ experience in the automotive industry, in particular the sale and maintenance of Land Rover parts and accessories – meaning that we have the knowledge and experience that matches your passion for fine automotive engineering and adventure. This makes us the ideal choice for your Land Rover part and accessory suppliers, just as thousands of happy customers already have. With a catalogue of over 100,000 pieces, we are the largest independent suppliers of Land Rover parts and accessories in the world. 

So don’t delay: contact John Craddock today.