Spring Preparations for Your Vehicle

If you’ve been driving your vehicle all winter, here are several maintenance tips that are strongly recommended:

Check Your Tire Pressure

Gases expand when they’re heared. This means that as the weather gets warmer, you run the risk of driving on overinflated tires. Be sure to check your tire pressure to ensure a smooth ride and to avoid tire blowout. And while on the subject of tires, it’s important to rotate them every 5,000 to 8,000 miles.

Check Your Equipment

You’ll want to clean your windshield wiper blades, as these can become incredibly dirty after an entire winter of removing ice, snow and sand from your windshield. You should also have the belts and hoses of your engine inspected. Winter weather is especially tough on them and they can develop cracks in the colder temperature.

Have Your Car Washed

Treating your car to a wash, wax and detail may seem to serve an aesthetic purpose only, but it can greatly increase the longevity of your vehicle. You’ll want to wash off any salt and chemicals that have built up on the car’s exterior over the course of the winter as they can cause corrosion.

In addition, it’s important to remove any salt or sand that has been brought into the car’s interior. Also coat any leather with a protective conditioner to prevent cracking that may occur from sun exposure.

Preparing Your Toys for Spring

If you own a vehicle that is only driven during the warmer months, such as a classic car or motorcycle, then you’ll want to follow some additional inspection and maintenance tips before taking your summer vehicle on the road:

• Drain and replace fluids: This includes gasoline that doesn’t have fuel stabilizer. This is especially important for brake fluid as it can easily absorb moisture over the winter.
• Test the engine battery: Make sure that it has enough juice. You may want to use a “smart” battery charger, which will automatically turn itself off before overcharging and damaging the battery.
• Check tires for flat spotting: Bring the tire pressure up to specifications. If there are signs of flat spotting, or cracking, it may be worth it to buy all new tires.