Free your car from all that winter baggage
A thorough care routine after the hardship of the winter months not only gets your car gleaming again and helps it to maintain its value but is also a valuable road safety measure. The first thing we recommend is taking your car for a thorough wash, including underbody cleaning, to free it from all the mud and salt residue that accumulate over winter. DEKRA’s car experts, however, recommend a thorough pre-wash before you enter the car wash so that any caked-on dirt does not leave ugly marks or scratches on the paintwork.
You are then advised to touch up any damage caused by small stone chips using a touch-up pen to prevent the damage from worsening. Sealing the paintwork with hard wax provides an extra layer of protection against corrosive insect residue and acidic rain. If you notice that the windshield wipers are starting to make rubbing noises or leave streaks behind, it’s time to replace them. You can remove stubborn dirt on the inside and outside of the windshield using glass cleaner. This also helps to prevent annoying reflections from the lights of oncoming cars, which can sometimes severely impair your vision.
You can also do something about damp footwells. Dry the mats separately, air the car thoroughly by leaving the doors wide open and place newspaper over the damp areas and leave overnight. Now it’s the turn of the doors and trunk to get some attention. Clean the edges and corners and then apply a little lubricant to the door locks and a small amount of a suitable care product to the rubber sealing around the doors to pep it up a bit.
Don’t forget to take all the winter accessories – hand brush, snow chains and so on – out of your car so that they don’t drag down your fuel economy over the summer too. As part of your mini care routine, don’t forget to top up the windshield washer fluid with a summer formula. Also, check the oil level and tire pressure and top up / inflate as necessary. But, as DEKRA reminds us, leave all work on technical components – especially safety-relevant parts such as the brakes – to the experts. Many garages offer a special spring “once-over.” To ensure decent air quality in the interior, it’s often a good idea to replace the interior filter and check the A/C.