After months of 100-degree temperatures, North Texas is finally starting to cool down. That feels good for drivers, but your vehicle has just spent an entire summer dealing with extreme heat, hot pavement, heavy air-conditioning use and temperatures under the hood that can be even hotter than the air outside.
Fall is a good time to take a quick look at your vehicle and catch smaller problems before colder weather arrives. The good news is that preparing a vehicle for fall and winter in Texas does not require an expensive list of special winter equipment. For most DFW drivers, it comes down to checking a handful of basics.
Here are seven places to start.
1. Check Your Tire Pressure as Temperatures Drop
One of the first signs of cooler weather may actually show up on your dashboard. You walk outside one cool morning, start the car and suddenly the tire-pressure warning light is on. That does not necessarily mean you have a flat.
As outside temperatures fall, tire inflation pressure also drops. The important point is not to intentionally overinflate your tires for winter. Instead, maintain the vehicle manufacturer’s recommended cold tire pressure.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recommends checking tire pressure at least once a month when the tires are cold. Use the pressure listed on the driver-side door placard or in the owner’s manual, not the maximum pressure printed on the tire sidewall.
If your TPMS light appears on the first cool morning of the season, check all four tires rather than simply assuming the warning system is wrong. And if one tire is consistently losing more air than the others, have it inspected for a puncture, valve problem or other issue.
What PSI Should Your Tires Be?
For many passenger cars, the recommended cold tire pressure is somewhere around 32–35 PSI, so seeing 33, 34 or 35 PSI on the door placard is very common. But don’t automatically inflate every car tire to 35 PSI. Your vehicle may call for something different, and some vehicles specify different pressures for the front and rear tires.
Pickup trucks can vary much more. A light-duty pickup running standard passenger-style tires may have recommended pressures similar to a car or SUV. Trucks equipped with LT (Light Truck) tires, especially those designed to carry heavier loads, may call for considerably higher pressures. Depending on the tire, vehicle and load, LT tire inflation tables can extend into the 50–80 PSI range.
Heavy commercial trucks are a different category altogether. Many large truck tires operate around 100 PSI or higher, with some common commercial applications calling for approximately 100–120 PSI. Their pressure requirements are based heavily on tire size, axle position and the load being carried.
A simple rule of thumb:
- Passenger cars and many SUVs: Often around 32–35 PSI
- Light-duty pickups: Often similar to passenger vehicles, but check the placard
- Pickups with LT tires: May require substantially more pressure, sometimes 50–80 PSI depending on the vehicle, tire and load
- Heavy commercial trucks: Often around 100 PSI or more
Those numbers are examples, not targets. The number that matters for your vehicle is the manufacturer’s recommended cold tire pressure on the driver’s door placard or in the owner’s manual.
And don’t use the large PSI number molded into the tire sidewall as your target. That identifies a tire specification, not necessarily the correct everyday inflation pressure for your vehicle.
2. Look at the Tread, Not Just the Air Pressure
While you are checking pressure, take another minute to look at the tires themselves. Months of driving on hot North Texas pavement can leave you with less tread than you remember, and fall rain makes good tread especially important.
- Low tread depth
- Uneven tread wear
- Cracks, cuts or other sidewall damage
- Bulges or bumps
- One tire wearing much differently from the others
NHTSA says tires should be replaced when tread is worn to 2/32 of an inch and recommends checking for physical damage and irregular wear. If only one or two tires are worn, however, that does not automatically mean you need a complete set. See our recent guide, Do You Really Need Four New Tires? When Replacing Just One or Two Makes Sense, for a practical look at when one, two or all four tires may be the better value.
A properly inspected used tire can also make sense in some situations, particularly when you need to match the remaining tread on three otherwise usable tires.
3. Uneven Wear? Check the Alignment Before Buying Tires
Suppose the inside edge of one tire is nearly bald while the rest of the tread still looks decent. Replacing the tire solves the immediate problem, but it does not explain why that tire wore out.
Alignment or suspension problems can cause premature and uneven tire wear. If the underlying problem is not corrected, the replacement tire may begin wearing the same way.
Before spending money on new tires, make sure your vehicle is not doing something that will shorten the life of the replacements. Hamm’s offers wheel alignment service at its North Texas locations, along with inspection of related suspension components when appropriate.
Other clues that an alignment should be checked include a vehicle that pulls to one side, a steering wheel that sits off-center while driving straight, or noticeably different wear from one side of a tire to the other.
4. Give the Cooling System a Break After a Brutal Texas Summer
We normally think about the cooling system when it is 105 degrees outside. But fall is actually a smart time to see how everything survived the summer.
AAA notes that extreme summer heat adds stress to vehicle cooling systems. The radiator, thermostat, water pump and coolant all work together to control engine temperature, and worn or compromised components can become more obvious after months of extreme heat.
Things worth checking include:
- Coolant level
- Visible coolant leaks
- Cracked, swollen or deteriorating hoses
- Signs the vehicle has been running hotter than normal
- Coolant condition and whether scheduled cooling-system service is due
Coolant matters in winter too. The proper coolant mixture helps protect the engine and cooling system when North Texas temperatures occasionally drop below freezing.
Important: Never remove a radiator cap or open a pressurized cooling system while the engine is hot.
5. Summer May Have Already Weakened Your Battery
Most people associate dead batteries with cold mornings, but the damage can begin months earlier. Texas summer heat can accelerate battery deterioration, and cooler weather may simply be when a weakened battery finally shows its age.
AAA explains that summer heat can damage a battery while colder temperatures reduce available cranking power and require more energy to start the engine.
That battery that started your car perfectly when it was 102 degrees outside may suddenly struggle on the first cold morning of the year. The cold did not necessarily create the problem; months of Texas heat may have already weakened the battery.
If the engine is cranking more slowly than usual, the lights dim noticeably during startup or the battery is several years old, having it tested before colder weather arrives can help prevent an inconvenient no-start later.
6. Check the Wiper Blades Before the First Big Fall Rain
Wiper blades are easy to ignore during long stretches of dry weather. Then the first heavy fall rain arrives and you discover that the blades are smearing water across the windshield instead of clearing it.
AAA also notes that prolonged exposure to heat and cold can make wiper-blade rubber brittle and cracked.
Consider replacing the blades if they:
- Streak across the windshield
- Skip or chatter
- Leave large sections of glass wet
- Have visibly cracked or separating rubber
Also check the windshield-washer fluid level. These are inexpensive maintenance items, but you do not want to discover they need attention in the middle of a storm.
7. Pay Attention to Brakes and Suspension
Fall is also a good time to pay attention to what your vehicle has been telling you. Tire wear, braking problems and suspension issues often overlap, so one symptom can point to more than one possible cause.
Have the vehicle checked if it:
- Pulls when braking
- Shakes or vibrates when braking
- Squeals or grinds
- Bounces excessively after bumps
- Pulls to one side while driving
- Vibrates at highway speeds
Hamm’s provides brake, suspension, tire and alignment services with service availability varying by location. The goal is to identify what is actually causing the symptom before you spend money replacing parts.
What You Probably DON’T Need for a North Texas Winter
North Texas occasionally gets ice, snow and hard freezes, but we are not preparing vehicles for months of subzero temperatures and snow-covered roads.
For the typical DFW driver, there is no reason to spend money on specialized winter equipment simply because the calendar says fall. Focus first on the basics: good tires, proper inflation, healthy coolant, a dependable battery, working wipers, good brakes and fixing obvious problems before they become expensive ones.
If you are wondering what kind of tires make sense for our mix of extreme heat, rain and occasional freezing weather, read our Ultimate Guide to Choosing the Best Tires for Texas Weather.
A 5-Minute Fall Check You Can Do in Your Driveway
You do not have to be a mechanic to spot signs that your vehicle may need attention. Before taking it anywhere, spend five minutes checking:
- Tires: Look at the tread and check the cold tire pressure.
- Under the vehicle: Look for fresh fluid spots where you normally park.
- Under the hood: Check accessible fluid levels according to the owner’s manual. Never open a hot cooling system.
- Start the engine: Listen for unusually slow or labored cranking.
- Wipers: Run them with washer fluid and look for streaking or skipping.
- Short drive: Pay attention to pulling, shaking, brake noises, vibration or a steering wheel that is no longer centered.
You are not trying to diagnose the problem yourself. You are simply looking for signs that something deserves a closer look.
After a Texas Summer, a Little Maintenance Can Save a Lot of Money
North Texas vehicles take a beating during summer. Fall gives you a chance to catch some of that wear before a small issue becomes a bigger bill.
You do not need to replace parts simply because the calendar says fall. Check what you have first. A tire may still have thousands of miles left. A pressure warning may simply require air. Uneven tire wear may point to an alignment issue rather than a bad tire. And a quick inspection today may help you avoid a much more expensive problem later.
If something does not look or feel right, stop by Hamm’s Tires. With locations in Dallas, Lewisville and Watauga, we will help you figure out what your vehicle actually needs without automatically assuming the most expensive option is the right one.
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