The monsoon checklist: eleven things to sort before the rain sets in

The first heavy week of rain fills our bays with problems that were entirely predictable in the dry month before it. Almost none of them are expensive to prevent and almost all of them are expensive to fix afterwards.

Do these yourself, this weekend

None of the following needs a workshop. Give it a Saturday morning and you will get through the season without drama.

• Replace wipers if they chatter, streak or leave a haze — haze is the dangerous one at night
• Check tread depth across the full width, not just the middle; below 3 mm your wet braking falls off a cliff
• Top up and actually test the washer system, including the rear if you have one
• Clear the scuttle drains under the bonnet at the base of the windscreen — leaves block them and water backs into the cabin
• Check the sunroof drain tubes if you have a sunroof; this is the single most common source of a wet headliner
• Replace the cabin air filter — a damp, clogged filter is why the windows fog and the vents smell
• Test the demister on both front and rear glass
• Inspect door and boot seals for cracking; a smear of silicone grease buys you another season
• Check every exterior lamp, including reverse and the rear fog if fitted
• Look at the battery terminals — humidity accelerates corrosion and a monsoon no-start is almost always a terminal
• Put a proper microfibre and an anti-fog treatment in the glovebox now, before you need them

The two upgrades worth making

If you are going to spend money, spend it on rubber and on glass. A premium wet-weather tyre stops shorter than a budget one in a way you can measure in car lengths, and it is the only part of this list touching the road.

After that, a hydrophobic glass coating on the windscreen. Above about 60 km/h water beads and leaves the glass on its own, and you can genuinely see the difference at night in traffic.