What's the best way to get the AC colder? Recharge? Freon? and would you do it yourself?

 

bags of dry ice. we don't have freon in the cars anymore

 

Make sure the system if fully charged with R134.

 

Take it from a guy who has a black saphire pearl GS in AZ in the summer. When you start the car you need to open all of the windowns to air the car out and reduce the insane cabin temperatures, then put the system on fresh for the first minute or two then switch it to recycle. I think the color of the car plays a role in how heat soaked the cabin air will be

 

not to mention a black interior. i got in my car last summer and when i started the car, the temp read 128 degress.

 

my service advisor was telling me that cabin temperatures in a car in AZ can get as high as 160 degrees. Seems a bit high, but then again the heat in AZ never ceases to amaze me

 

i wonder how long before a heat-induced electronics meltdown......

 

It's kinda hard to believe that your refrigerant level is low already. Anyway I bought one of those DIY kits from Walmart to recharge the system and ended up putting more of the chemical than what was needed. The A/C condenser started clicking on/off. Come to find out the gauge that came with the kit was faulty when I took my car to a shop to resolve the issue. My air is cooler now though

True. I always roll at least two of my windows and drive a few minutes to flush the hot air out while the A/C is on and later switch to A/C re-circulate mode.

 

115F outside and my AC is cold as hell

 

You only need to recharge your freon if there is a leak in your A/C system somewhere. Do not add freon to a system that is not leaking. Simply adding more freon will not make your A/C colder if there is no leak.

 

Other simple stuff... Roll down the windows / roof when you approach the car with the fob and let it air out, make sure you're using recirculate until it gets cool enough.

You might also want to look into other methods of helping keep your car cool. A quality ceramic tint like Huper Optik does impressive things with keeping the UV & heat out of your car.

Even using a sunshield on your window if you don't makes a pretty big difference.