Tips To Help Prepare Your Car For The Spring

Winter is a long season and it can be particularly hard on our cars. The weather conditions are harsh on it’s exterior and your engine is often working overtime especially if you need to use the demisters, window heaters, heated seats and the internal heating on too.

A few things you might want to think about include:

Booking a service

Some cars have their own system for telling you when they need a service. If not, you should book your car in for a service every 12,000 miles or once a year. However, if you use your car regularly you might want to do it sooner so every 6 months or 6,000 miles. The end of winter is a great time to get it booked into the garage. A service ensures that the oil, filters and fluids are all replaced and/or topped up as required.

Checking your battery and wipers

As I’ve already mentioned your car has been worked a lot over the winter. It’s had its lights on longer due to the darker nights and heating on due to the colder weather. With this in mind, it is worth checking your car’s battery at the end of the season. If it needs replacing it’s much better to do it before it becomes totally dead. Now is also the time to change your wiper blades both on the front and back windows as they will have been working hard in the wetter weather too and they only have a shelf life of 6 months to a year.

Checking your tyres

If you changed your tyres to winter ones now is the time to change them back, if not make sure that they still have good tread on them and aren’t perished or damaged.

Give it a good clean

• Inside – Empty any rubbish that may have accumulated in the car, give any leather a wipe over with special leather cleaner or clothes and give any plastic trimmings a dust too. Make sure you vacuum the footwells, car mats and carpets – you may even want to give them a clean with a carpet cleaner if you have a machine and correct attachments.
• Outside – You should always clean your car regularly but especially so after the winter. Make sure you clean the underneath, wheel arches and other hidden areas as this is where all the dirt and muck lives – left untouched this can cause your car to rust and cause damage. If you aren’t able to clean your car yourself take it to a hand car wash who will wash it for you – sometimes they charge extra for a deeper clean but it is worth it in the long run as you would only need to do this type of clean every few months.

Giving your car a little TLC

Once you have given your car the once over you might decide to buy accessories for your car, you might want to add a new air freshener or perhaps a sun shield for your windscreen or maybe even a new gear knob to add a little personal touch to your car.

Are you planning on giving your car the once over at the end of winter?

*This is a collaborative post*