Spring is a time for a reset, whether that’s spring cleaning your house or your car. A fresh start, as the warmer weather makes an appearance, is the perfect time to get the cleaning products out and get to work! After all, the last thing you want is to go from your beautifully spring-cleaned home out into a still dirty car!
Still wondering whether you should spring clean your car? Stay with us, and we’ll explain all the benefits of giving your car a deep clean this spring.
Why should you consider spring cleaning your car?
Cleanliness, safety, and a real sense of satisfaction all await after spring cleaning your car. The difference you’ll notice is staggering, and takes less time than you might think if you use the right high-quality products.
Let’s take a look at some of the key benefits of spring cleaning your car.
Get rid of the winter dirt
During winter, dirt and grit from roads can have a detrimental effect on your car’s paintwork. The longer it lingers, the more damage it will do to the car’s shine and can even cause more serious issues like corrosion. To remove winter dirt, use a specially formulated car shampoo, as water or other household cleaners won’t do the job and can actually hurt your paintwork. Make sure that you wash the whole car, including the wheels and around the bottom of the vehicle, where most dirt accumulates.
When shampooing your car, make sure you use the two-bucket wash method. This involves having one bucket for your clean shampoo solution and another for rinsing your sponge in. If you only use one bucket, you risk putting dirt back on your car, which can result in annoying swirl marks or even light scratches.
Rinsing your car with a pressure washer or hose before you start washing with the sponge will get rid of loose dirt and stones. Then use a circular motion to remove dirt and debris, and try not to scrub too hard on one spot. Lastly, rinse the car again before drying it with a good-quality chamois. This will get rid of annoying watermarks that can be left on the paintwork when it dries naturally.
Give your car a shiny summer coat
Spring is the perfect time to wax your car for a few reasons. Firstly, it’ll top up the protective layer of the paintwork, which will have worn away over the winter through exposure to rain, snow, ice, salt and mud. It’ll also help restore your car’s all-over shine, so you can drive into the new season with the shiniest paintwork possible.
A coat of fresh wax will also help protect your car’s paintwork as we move forward into the warmer part of the year. The sun’s powerful UV rays can affect a car’s paintwork over time, and may even cause fading if it’s exposed for long periods. Wax protects the paint from fading, so you can be confident your car is ready for the warm weather.
Use a good long-lasting wax such as Simoniz Original Wax and your car’s paintwork will be protected all summer from things like dead bugs, tree sap and other deposits, as well as the heat of the sun. We’d recommend applying a fresh coat of wax at the start of autumn, so you can be sure your car is protected in time for winter.
Improve your visibility
Cleaning the windscreen and all windows thoroughly, inside and out, can guarantee visibility for you, your passengers and even pedestrians and other road users. Marks and blemishes on the windscreen, in particular, can be dangerous as the glare of the sun can easily catch any slight marks on the windscreen, leading to sun dazzle getting in your eyes and making it hard to see.
Also, it’s important to make sure all your signal lights are completely clear of stains and marks. If your indicator light is even partly covered by a splattering of mud, it may be hard for other road users to understand your intentions as you come to that busy crossroad.
Clear out the clutter to save on fuel
Over winter, you might put in a spare coat, cans of de-icer, heavy shoes and other extras which you don’t need to be carrying when it’s warmer. If you drive around with lots of bags, luggage and general rubbish in your car, it could be costing you money, with the added weight reducing those all-important MPG figures.
Spring cleaning is all about cutthroat decluttering and freeing up space you genuinely forgot you had, and the same should go for your car. Get rid of everything you don’t need to carry around daily, and you’ll not only save yourself a fair amount of fuel — you won’t be embarrassed when you next need to carry your mum, your mates or a co-worker.
Freshen up your interior
Now that you’ve freed up some space in your car, it’s the ideal time to take the vacuum cleaner out into the driveway and give your car’s interior a good clean. Over winter, muddy shoes can mean you end up with dirt ground into the carpets, and streaks of mud across the interior plastics. Use our Upholstery and Carpet cleaner to get stubborn dirt out of fabrics, and our Dash Cleaner to get rid of marks on your interior.
Not only will maintenance ensure these interior features look better, it means they will last longer– potentially saving you some money in the future. It also means your passengers won’t have to tolerate slightly crunchy carpets and smelly upholstery when they settle into their seat.
Keeping the car’s interior clean means that every journey is a little more pleasant for you and your passengers, and that can make all the difference when you’re stuck in gridlock during commuter traffic.
Remove odours
Having your car not only look nice, but smell nice, is the ideal way to spring clean your car. During the winter, you might have been visiting the drive-through a bit more often, or carrying mud from your trainers into the car, causing odours to accumulate.
Once you’ve got rid of the physical dirt, it’s time to remove lingering smells. Using Simoniz Air Con Cleaner is a quick and easy way to remove smells that cling to upholstery and even within the ventilation system.
It works by spraying a mist throughout the car, being helped along by the ventilation system, eliminating foul odours, so that your car smells as fresh as it looks.
It’ll be good for your health and wellbeing, too
Mess isn’t just a matter of vanity; it can make you more stressed. When you’re late in the morning or getting in the car after a bad day at work, the last thing you need is a cluttered and messy cabin to contend with, as it’ll make your commute so much more stressful and frustrating.
Spring clean the interior of your car, and we guarantee you’ll feel better the next time you drive it, even if you’re stuck in traffic. We’d recommend investing in a good-quality car freshener and giving your air conditioning a clean to get rid of any stale smells before the hot weather kicks in.
Simoniz can help you keep your motor looking and feeling its best, with our range of car care products. Click here for the full range, keeping your car beautiful – from carpets and upholstery to bumpers and body.
