Complete Guide to Cleaning & Tuning-Up Your Vehicle for Spring

Spring cleaning our homes is an annual ritual. We clean every nook and cranny, throw away stuff we don’t need, take more stuff to storage, have a yard sale, and refresh the house.

What about spring cleaning your car, truck, or SUV? You spend about 100 minutes a day driving, so it makes sense to spring clean your car, too. Your vehicle might also need a tune-up, either to check things over or to replace well-worn parts. 

Read our complete guide to spring cleaning and giving your car a spring tune-up. Our service team is happy to help! 

How to Spring Clean Your Car in Five Simple Ways

The key to spring cleaning your car is the same as with your home. Be methodical and precise, cleaning everything you can reach.

1. Wash Your Car, Especially the Undercarriage

Freezing temperatures and salt from the road can damage the undercarriage of your engine and vehicle. Start the spring season with a thorough car wash at home or a commercial car wash. 

Spring for a premium wash at an automatic car wash because you won’t want to miss any nooks or crannies. Find one that has a system that sprays the undercarriage to remove any salt residue from winter driving. A car wash membership can help you save costs over the long run.

If you do it yourself, baking soda or a mild detergent will neutralize salt buildup. The point is to get the salt off the undercarriage as much as possible.

Powerwashing with plenty of soap is essential. Start from the top of the vehicle and work your way down. Start with a rinsing spray before adding a soap designed for cars or a mild dishwashing detergent if you’re at home. After the soap is done, rinse thoroughly. 

Cleaning the undercarriage can be challenging if you don’t use an automatic car wash. A long-handled powerwasher certainly comes in handy for this task! 

Clean out the inside of your car, truck, or SUV thoroughly. Get those coffee stains, mud spots, and handprints that accumulated over the winter. Use a glass cleaner to get the windshield, windows, and sunroof. Take the mats out, hang them up, and spray them with a power washer. Use a vacuum to clean up any debris, dirt, dust, and crud on the seats, floors, and cup holders. And, of course, clean up any trash. Use a general cleaner to remove any sticky residue from plastic surfaces and the cupholders. This is where a full-service car wash service comes into play. It can save you time and money with an exterior and interior car wash.

2. Check the Tires

Frigid temperatures during the winter can cause the air in your tires to fluctuate wildly. Colder air causes air to contract, meaning your tires may seem underinflated. Check the tire pressure, look for any cracks or damage, and make sure all four tires are inflated to the correct air pressure in your tires. Once the weather is consistently warmer, you won’t have to worry about the air pressure as much. 

Another thing to do is have your tires rotated regularly, at least every 5,000 to 7,500 miles. Check the tire treads for wear. If you see anything abnormal, bring your vehicle to our service center.

3. Replace Wiper Blades & Wiper Fluid

Snow, ice, and cold temperatures can damage your windshield wipers. If your wipers leave streaks behind or make screeching sounds, it’s time to get new ones. New wiper blades are inexpensive and straightforward to replace, so you won’t need to pay someone to do it. You should replace them every six months anyway. Top off your windshield wiper fluid, too. That way, you’re ready for pollen, dirt, or dust settling on your windshield.

4. Check Your Battery

Starting your vehicle in cold weather isn’t easy on your battery. Check the strength of your battery by taking advantage of a free battery check at a parts store or service center. If the battery is weak, replace it soon before it dies. You don’t want to be stranded on a summer road trip!

5. Change Your Oil

Is it time for an oil change? Was winter frigid? Check the oil after a frigid winter. If it’s been 7,500 miles since your last synthetic oil change, it’s time for fresh oil anyway! Some car shops, like our service team at Thompson, offer fluid top-offs, tire checks, battery checks, and even tire rotation as part of a special for an oil change. We can take care of many of these spring cleaning items in one stop!

Eight Signs Your Car Needs a Tune-Up

How was this past winter? Was it harsh? Mild? Either way, pay attention to these eight signs your car needs a tune-up. Then, bring your vehicle to Thompson Sales. We’ll have your vehicle running well in no time!

1. Noises you didn’t hear before. Is your engine making noises or do you hear something rattling around? Perhaps it’s a tire not hitting the pavement correctly. Maybe something came loose when you hit a pothole. Something could be out of whack.
2. Dashboard lights come on. Always bring your vehicle to our service center when a dashboard light comes on and stays on.
3. The engine isn’t acting like it should. Your engine could be sluggish, making noises, not starting, accelerating slower than it should, idling roughly, or stalling.  
4. The brakes aren’t working correctly. Do you hear any scraping or grinding noises coming from the brakes? You should get this problem fixed immediately because brakes are a major safety concern. 
5. Stalling. Does your vehicle lag a bit when you hit the accelerator? It could be a problem with a spark plug, fuel injector, dirty fuel filter, or something else. This could turn dangerous on the highway when trying to pass other vehicles.
6. Vibrations or shaking. Is your steering wheel shaking or vibrating? This could be from an unbalanced tire, a deflating tire, or a wheel misalignment. Get this issue fixed ASAP. 
7. Rugged shifting is a sure sign of something amiss with your transmission. You could just need new transmission fluid, which might be the case after a frigid winter.
8. Rough idling. Does your car shake or vibrate when you’re stopped at a stoplight? This could indicate that your vehicle needs a tune-up.

Spring Tune-Ups and More at Thompson Sales

Bring your car, truck, or SUV into our service center for its regular tune-up or if you just want us to look it over after the winter.  Contact us, call (417) 763-6811, or schedule service. We’ll take care of you. Look over our service specials to see if you could save some cash!