How to Tune Your Car for Spring

Spring-cleaning is an annual ritual we do for our homes. But it’s also a great idea to spring-clean your car with a spring tune-up! Preparing your car for spring can save you a lot of headaches and even expensive repairs later in the year. It can even save you money over the entire course of owning your vehicle!

Spring auto maintenance will get you ready for a summer filled with long drives, weekend getaways to your favorite lake destination or camping spot, and cross-country vacations. You’ll also have a much safer, durable, and efficient vehicle for daily commutes and weekly errands, as well as your child’s school recitals, sporting events, and extracurricular activities.

Read our guide on how to tune your car for spring. You might be surprised how easy it is and how much better you’ll feel after you spring-clean your car! Make sure to watch out for signs your car needs a tune-up as you go through our list.

1. Visit a Car Wash

Spring-cleaning isn’t just for your home. Spring-clean your car inside and out to help it look and feel great when you drive. Cold winter weather in IN can be brutal on your vehicle. Freezing temperatures and road salt can do real damage to the metal in your engine from the salt splashing up underneath the engine compartment. Once it settles on the parts, salt can corrode them over time.

Therefore, you should start spring with a thorough car wash. If you go to a car wash, buy a premium wash because you won’t want to miss any nooks or crannies. A premium wash will get underneath the engine compartment.

If you wash your vehicle yourself, make sure to add baking soda to the wash water if your car has salt buildup from winter drives. This will help neutralize the salt and save your paint job as well as the undercarriage. While modern car paint can resist salt from roads, your undercarriage doesn’t have any paint. You’ll want to clean the underside of your car completely to neutralize the road salt and preserve your engine for many years to come.

2. Check Your Tires

Did you know you can save money on gas by making sure your tires are filled up to the manufacturer’s recommended air pressure? Your vehicle can handle roads better, and the engine won’t have to work as hard to move your vehicle, just by keeping the pressure at the correct level. Cold air and ice during the winter can be rough on the air pressure in your tires. Frigid temperatures can actually reduce the air pressure in tires. How to tune your car for spring should include a check of all four tires during and after winter weather.

Spring is a great time to check your tires for wear, too. Make sure you rotate tires regularly, at least once every time you come in for an oil change, to make the wear even. Don’t wait until you have a visible flat to fill your tires with the right amount of air. Check your tires for worn tread. Then replace any tires when the tread becomes too low. We also recommend checking your tires every time you fill up your tank because most gas stations have an air pump right there for you to use. If you have an EV, check your tires once a week.

3. Replace Wiper Blades and Wiper Fluid

Snow can damage and wear your windshield wipers quickly, especially if you use wipers to remove ice from your windshield. Windshield wipers are made of rubber, but they also wear out quickly over three to six months of regular use. If your wipers leave streaks on the glass, replace them. New wiper blades are inexpensive and simple to replace. You won’t even need to pay someone to do it for you! Make sure to top off your windshield wiper fluid and reapply any needed windshield treatments to repel water and rain as part of your car spring-cleaning ritual.

4. Check Your Battery

At the end of a long winter, take a look at your vehicle’s battery. Many parts shops, and our service center, have free battery checks where you can find out the strength of your battery. If your battery is getting weak, you can prevent future problems by replacing it before it stops working altogether. Prevent being stranded in the middle of your summer vacation by checking your battery in the spring!

5. Change Your Oil

Regular oil changes can make all the difference in your car having a long, healthy life. Oil protects your pistons from wear and tear by preventing friction as the pistons move up and down rapidly. Make sure to follow the manufacturer’s suggestions for oil change intervals and oil viscosity. Many manufacturers suggest oil changes every 5,000 to 10,000 miles with synthetic oil.

Make sure to change the oil filter as well. Some car shops offer fluid top-offs, tire checks, battery checks, and even tire rotation as part of their oil change prices. You can ask Lafayette Cadillac for a spring tune-up at any time from our dealership near Indianapolis and Frankfort. The team is happy to help in any way!

Get Expert Auto Service at Lafayette Cadillac!

Consider scheduling a tune-up the next time you bring your vehicle in for service from Delphi. The team at Lafayette Cadillac would be happy to help with that! Have more questions? Contact us or call (765) 340-2768.

We hope these tips to spring-clean your car are helpful to your vehicle’s ownership.