Tips to protect your car from heat when it's parked at the airport
If you’re planning to be away for an extended period, you’ve likely arranged for airport parking. However, when leaving your car for more than a couple of weeks, it’s essential to take protective measures to shield it from the sun. Prolonged exposure to sunlight can damage your vehicle, but there are several steps you can take to ensure your car remains protected from the heat while parked in the open for a long duration.
Prepare Your Tyres
Before leaving your car for an extended period in airport parking, such as those at La Palma or Lanzarote airports, it’s essential to check the tyre pressure. An increase in temperature by 10 degrees can cause the tyre pressure to rise by 1 or 2 PSI, potentially leading to overinflation and an increased risk of bursting. To avoid this, slightly reduce the tyre pressure. Just remember to inflate them back to the proper level before driving home. Avoid reducing the pressure too much, as maintaining good tyre pressure helps prevent flat spots from developing while the car is stationary.
Keep Your Car Clean
Ensure your car is clean and free of any food before leaving it in the heat. High temperatures can cause leftover food and drinks to spoil rapidly, leading to unpleasant odors when you return. Cleaning out your car beforehand will help avoid coming back to a foul-smelling vehicle.
Seek Shade
If you expect hot weather, try to park your car in the shade. However, if the parking area is entirely open, consider opting for covered parking, especially for extended summer stays. Covered parking offers significant protection against the heat, helping to preserve your tyres and other components.
Exposure to the sun can accelerate tyre degradation, leading to pressure loss and potential long-term issues. Additionally, frequent exposure can mean replacing your tyres more often, which can be costly. If covered parking isn’t available, use a car cover to protect your vehicle. A car cover shields your car from various elements, including the sun and heat, ensuring comprehensive protection.
Alternative shade options
While this won’t keep the temperature of your car down, a windshield sun shade is another way of protecting your car. The foil-like effect is reflective which means that you can reflect the sun somewhat and keep your car cooler. Some options have better heat absorption too, which means they reduce the entrance of ultraviolet rays as well.
In addition to this, you could also get some of your windows tinted. This is an effective way of keeping your car cool, but not necessarily worth doing just for a long-term parking stint. The better the tint, the more rays are prevented from entering the car. However, this can only be done on the side windows, not the windscreen.
Finally, you can also cover the interior of your car. You can cover up leather or darker seats to prevent them from heating up so much in the sun. This doesn’t have to be an expensive option, you can simply use a light-coloured blanket to cover the interior.
Open the windows a crack
Another way you can keep your car cool in the hot weather, you can open the windows a crack. This can keep your car cool by releasing the build-up of heat, so that airflow is improved throughout the car. Of course, this isn’t going to do much in the way of cooling your car, so it might not be worth it as cracked open windows can increase the chance of theft. If you do park your car with the windows opened slightly, make sure you choose a reputable airport parking space. You can choose one of the car parks with security cameras for additional peace of mind.
