Looking after a car in a Pretoria summer

Summer care for Highveld heat: shade, fluids, tyres, and a proper wash so a car stays comfortable and ready.

A Pretoria summer is bright, dry, and long. A car that is looked after comes through it looking much as it did in October.

Shade is the kindest thing you can give a cabin. A covered bay, a tree, or a windscreen shade keeps the wheel and the dashboard comfortable and slows the trim from fading. Leather likes a light conditioner now and then. Cloth likes a vacuum more than water.

Once a month, with the engine cold, glance at the coolant and the screen wash. The coolant should sit on its mark and stay there. Fresh blades and a clear scuttle make the afternoon storms easier. After a wash, clear the drains under the windscreen so jacaranda leaves do not hold water against the body.

Set the tyre pressures in the morning, to the sticker in the door frame, before the car has been standing in the sun. Heat lifts the reading. A wash that includes the sills and the wheel arches takes the Highveld dust off the paint. Dry the door shuts and the mirror bases so water does not sit there.

A December drive to the coast, or a weekend north of the city, asks for the same care and nothing more: fluids where they should be, tyres and the spare in good order, and a full tank when you leave Wonderboom. A car that has been kept through the summer is already ready for the trip.