Spring Cleaning

By Holly:

For those of us who live through the four seasons, each one presents its own special challenges and considerations when it comes to preparing your vehicle. Spring is the seasonal equivalent to hormonal adolescence. The weather can change on a dime and you’ll want to make your vehicle is fully equipped to handle whatever state you find yourself in.

The first thing you’ll want to consider is the condition of your tires. How much tread is left? Is it time to rotate? How is the air pressure? After a long and harsh winter, your tires could use a little TLC. You may even opt to change out your tires and replace them with year round tires. Spring showers may bring May flowers, but they also leave puddles and sometimes pools of water on uneven driving surfaces and hitting a water hole at high speeds can easily cause hydroplaning. Making sure that your tread life is healthy can help get your back on track in case that happens. Tire air pressure is also important to have checked out. The air pressure outside changes with the changing temperature, so make sure to have a full tire that can withstand the changing barometric pressure outside. With the winter bumps of snow piles and other other potholes, you may be in need of correction your vehicles alignment or just rotating the tires.

Another important consideration is your wiper fluid and windshield wipers. From a light spring shower to a full blown thunderstorm, you will need to make sure you the condition of your wiper blades are in good shape. At best, bad wiper blades are a nuisance; at worst they can be downright dangerous as they impair the drivers vision on the road. Along with the wiper blades, having enough washer fluid is important for when mud and other elements are thrown onto your windshield. Anything that can adversely affect driver vision is important for your vehicle to handle the problem effectively.

A third important checkup is your vehicle spark plugs. Poor spark plugs results in loss of fuel efficiency. With the extra road trips and time spent travelling during the warmer weather months, you’ll want to make sure your vehicle is operating as efficiently as possible.

And finally, keep it clean! The build-up of winter grime from salt, dirt, gravel, etc… can really be hard on your vehicles paint. Also keeping the inside of your vehicle clean is important. The floor mats most likely need changed or deep cleaned. Not only will others notice your beautifully cleaned car, but you will feel as fresh as spring when driving a freshly cleaned car.

Nothing feels as good as a warm spring day after a long winter. So do yourself and your vehicle a favor and enjoy the beautiful, take a Sunday cruise or a spring break road trip, but make sure you’re vehicle is as ready as you are.

If you are up for the challenge of getting your car in shape but unwilling to lift a finger, go ahead and bring your car into Woody’s Automotive and allow our service department to take care of any of your car needs.