Car Care: How to Prepare Your Car for Spring

When you think about seasonal car care, you rarely think about how to prepare your car for spring. You're much more likely to think about getting things ready for the snow, ice and cold of winter than you are the mildness of the spring season. Still, if you want to keep your car in tip top shape, protect your investment, and make sure your car is as safe and economical as it can be, you need to know how to prepare your car for spring.

The first thing you should do in order to prepare your car for spring is to check all of your belts and hoses. During the winter, the cold harsh weather can cause quite a bit of wear on your car's hoses and belts. Look for any cracking on the hoses and belts and for any leaking of the hoses. Catching these problems early can mean the difference between a quick and inexpensive repair and being broken down alongside the road needing expensive repairs.

You should also check your tires in order to get ready for spring. During the spring, your car needs to be able to pull you through the mud, as well as get you over wet roads. In addition, it's not uncommon for tires to lose some air over the winter. Check to make sure that your treads on your tires are in good shape, and that your tire pressure is at the levels recommended by the vehicle's manufacturer.

Spring is a good time to check your spark plugs and spark plug wires, too. If your plugs or plug wires need to be replaced, you'll want to take care of it so you're not stranded.

You should also check your engine coolant in the spring. You want to make sure that your coolant levels are where they should be. You'll also want to make sure that your coolant is nice and clean.

When you're getting ready to prepare your car for spring, you should also get an oil change. Running your car too long in between oil changes can cause a number of problems with your engine, all of which tend to be very expensive to fix. Make sure your engine oil is clean and full.

Ultimately, just following a few simple steps to prepare your car for spring can save you hours of headach and, in many cases, hundreds of dollars down the road.