This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Cooper Tire for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.
It’s spring, which means it’s time to start thinking about spring and summer traveling with kids. I love to travel in the spring months, especially when the family joins me. There is nothing better than a road trip with kids, lol. Every year my husband and I pull the kids out of school for a few days to take a mini family vacation. Next week my two youngest daughters and I will be hitting the road, and heading to Albuquerque, NM. Yes, I will be traveling with my kids alone, it’s only three hours so it should be too bad.
I was talking about our trip with my kids last night when it hit me, it’s spring, we are driving, I will be traveling with kids, and I need to be sure my car is ready. Growing up with a mechanic as a father, and being married to a mechanic, I do not forget to be sure to my vehicle is ready for the season, especially since we will be doing a lot of family traveling this year. You would think my husband and father would check my car for me, but they don’t they teach me how to do it. Which is fine, it makes me feel better when I am on a road trip with the kids.
Ten Tips To Get Your Vehicle Is Ready For Spring!
Anytime I am going to be traveling with kids I make sure to check my car extra carefully. The last thing I want to worry about is being stuck on the side of the road, due to something that could have been prevented. Do you do a spring check on your car every year? If not it’s a good idea to give your car some TLC once the winter is gone, and here are a few things you should consider checking.
Give your car a bath inside and out
In the winter there is salt on the roads, and the salt can damage your vehicle’s undercarriage. Be sure to give it a good bath, make sure all the salt is off, and be sure to get the undercarriage. My husband taught me a pretty neat trick to get all the sal off the undercarriage of your vehicle. You can use your garden hose, or if you have a lawn sprinkler that is small and movable, place it under your vehicle and turn it on. Be sure to move it from front to back so it gets the entire undercarriage of your vehicle., and clean the inside too. It doens’t do anything, but make you feel better, expecially if you are traveling with kids, lol.
Check windshield wiper blades
I am so bad about checking my wiper blades, and it’s extremely important. The last thing you want to do is be stuck rain with wiper blades that do not work. We typically replace them every spring, because the winter is hard on them. Your wiper spends a lot of time moving snow, ice, dirt, and even salt from your windshield it’s a good idea to get you’re a new set, or be sure the ones you have are going to hold up.
Check windshield Wiper Fluid
Since you will be checking your windshield wipers it’s only makes sense to be sure your wiper fluid is nice and full.
Check your oil and oil filter, if needed replace.
It doesn’t matter if I am only going to be traveling an hour, I check my vehicles oil. Not having oil, or running old oil can be harmful to your vehicle. Keep up with the required maintaine, and be sure to check your oil before you travel.
Check the radiator cap
If you don’t know what you are doing, I do not suggest messing with your radiator cap at all. Your radiator cap should fit nice and snug, they do not last forever so it’s a good idea to check and make sure it’s holding pressure.
Don’t forget the gas cap
Another important things to check that we often forget is the gas cap. Did you know that your gas cap should have a tight seal, and to prevent high-priced gas from vaporizing your vehicle needs a gas cap that is not damaged or lose? If you don’t have one on your vehicle, get one. Gas is too expensive to waste.
Care for your cars cooling system
It’s fixing to get HOT, and you want your cars cooling system to be working at top performance. Flush your engines cooling system with a radiator flush product, this will help remove anything that doesn’t belong.
Check the air filter
The air filter is responsible for keeping dust out of the combustion chambers of your cars cylinders. If your air filter is not working properly, or needs replaced it can cause your vehicle to use more gas, and have a must weaker performance. We change our Air Filter every spring, and every summer, unless we are doing a lot of traveling, than we replace it more if needed.
Battery
Whether you are traveling out of town, or just driving back and forth from the grocery store., be sure to check your battery. You will want to check to see it is clean from any build up.
Clean your vehicle
You don’t have to clean the inside of your car, but it always makes me feel good to travel with in a clean car. Plus, it’s part of spring cleaning!
Check your tires
Be sure to check your tires, the cold winter months can be hard on your tires. You also want to check them and make sure they are not worn. If you are not sure, it’s a good idea to have them looked at by someone who knows tires. Good tires will help keep you and your family safe whether you are traveling to Disneyland, or just taking the kids to soccer practice.
Cooper Tires has some pretty fabulous opportunities for customers to save money and win prizes this spring. Spring is here, and Cooper can help prepare you for safe travels near and far. They are offering up to an $80 Visa® prepaid card on popular passenger and light truck tire lines during it’s national “Spring Savings Event,” which is running now until April 15th. Oh, and customers will also have a chance to win a “Roll With Cooper” prize pack to help get travelers started on their journeys!
If your vehicle needs new shoes (tires), now is the time to get them. The Spring Savings Event will help put a little extra spending money in your pockets of customers who purchase a new set of four qualifying Cooper tires through participating dealers in the United States, Puerto Rico, and District of Columbia. You can see eligible products, see the full terms and conditions, and main-in rewards form when you visit a participating Cooper Tire dealer, or you can jump online and visit Cooper Tire Rebates.
To make things even better, Cooper is celebrating life’s everyday road tips with a $1000 prize pack sweepstakes. Visit Cooper Tire on Facebook to post favorite moment of daily travels in the car, or tag #RollWithCooper on Twitter, or Cooper Tire’s NEW Instagram page and you will be entered into the Grand Prize Drawing, which is a gas card and Cooper merchandise.
Whether you load up the kids for soccer practice, and sing your favorite tune, or hit the road for work be sure to let Cooper know how you #RollWithCooper
What would you do with the prize pack if you won? Leave me a comment, and let me know! Good Luck All You Safe Travelers!
6 comments
Great tips! I am thankful that my son is mechanically inclined so when something goes wrong, he usually can fix it. One thing he alway’s has taught me is to remember to always have jumper cables in the car, you never know when you might need a jump. And on the Coopers tire sweep, I would get new tires 🙂
These are some great tips! Thanks for sharing.
good article
Great tips that I will pass along to my son!
What a great article!! It is so important to make sure your car is it “vacation ready”. I’ve been caught in rainy travel traffic without good wipers, scary! Boy, did I learn my lesson. Great tips!
My car is always up-to-date with oil, checked tires, filters. Now I need to clean it.