Preparing a car for sun and heat. 4451

On 24 May 2005 22:39:39 -0700, eastwardbound2003 , said the following in rec.autos.driving...

I have two Taurus' (a tan '96 wtan interior and a midnight blue '00 with grey interior) in south Georgia, while it might not get quite as hot as TX, dealing with the heat is an issue here too, so hopefully some of what I have to say will be helpful.

Neither of my vehicles have tinted windows - save for what may have been put on at the factory. One vehicle I had several years ago did have tinted windows, and so far as heat reduction went, I didn't notice any significant difference. The downside was that the tint made driving at night difficult. Also, different juristictions may have different laws WRT to the level of window tinting that is acceptible and some areas will apply their standard to all cars - even those that are registered elsewhere.

Most of the name brand waxes should be just fine. FWIW, I use Maguires on my vehicles. Don't bother with painting to a lighter color. The light colors get just as hot. As for paint fade, there is really nothing that can be done about that.

Dunno too much about leather seats - mine both have cloth seats, you might want to check with a dealer in TX on that one. As for the floor carpet, I believe they are some kind of synthetic. The carpets in my vehicles are holding up fairly well. About all I ever do is to vacuum the carpets every now and then.

I use low gloss armor-all for the dash.

I've used bug screens here during the late spring and early fall when the lovebugs are a problem, but even then, if you take care of the car, they are really not needed. A simple way to deal with the kill on the nose-windshield is to spray some Simple Green on the nose-windshield about a couple of minutes before washing the car - generally about once a week; more often if bugs are a problem; the acids from certain bugs (especially love bugs) can damage your paint if left on too long and-or the sun can bake the carcbuttes into the paint. Just if you have a large accumulation of insects on the nose, you might want to clean the radiator too.

The really dangerous time WRT to deer has been in fall around here when they are mating. Rural roads are best navagated with extreme caution at night during mating season. I know from experience that deer can f*ck up a Ford Taurus pretty badly. As for deer whistles, I've never tried one. From advertising I've seen, they come both held on by adhesive or screws.

The windshield screen won't hurt WRT to keeping the car a little cooler while its parked. Parking in the shade if possible (under a tree or in a garage) is helpful. Usually, just opening the windows for a few minutes will let most of the excess heat out. Just one bit of advice based on what I see all too often here: never *ever* leave a pet or child in a car that is parked out side. Even if its IBJAM and the windows are cracked slightly open. It takes *very* little time for the car interior to get to well over 120 degrees in the summer around here (and I suspect even higher in parts of TX) and can be bane to anyone inside the vehicle.

Check with a local car audio installer about remote starters - most of them also do alarm systems that come with remote starters and they can let you know what is required in that department. My experiece, however, is that it only takes a couple of minutes for the AC to cool down the interior when set on the max ac setting.

As for the leather seats, a beach towel or similar placed over the seat when you leave the vehicle should suffice - used to do this with a car that had vinyl seats many years ago - just remove the towel when you get into the car. Many people around here will also drape a small towel over the steering wheel for the same reason.