It’s summertime again. It’s amazing how fast the year goes by. Your family, you’re all ready to pack up the minivan and get your neighbor to collect your mail, there won’t be any trash cans to take out. You’re going to head down to the beach for two weeks to go visit Aunt Becky, or Granny Jones.

You’re going to go somewhere in the summer more than likely, especially if you have children.

Let’s talk about a couple things. The subject today is summer car prep, keeping your vehicle in great condition. Let’s talk about the mechanical aspect of this first, and then we’ll get into the aesthetics of the interior and the exterior.

CAR MECHANICAL TIPS

Mechanically, let’s talk about a few things. Number one, common sense. If you’re going on a trip, taking your family, there are a few things you’re going to want to do.

#1 – you’re going to definitely want to have the fluids checked, and possibly your oil changed.

#2 – you’re going to want to have your tires inspect or rotated, and possibly purchase four brand new tires. Nothing worse than being on vacation and having a blowout and you take a spin, or being stranded on the side of the road.

#3 – another very important fact you’ll want to have checked out is your air conditioning. Is it working properly, does it have enough Freon in it? Are the pipes, rubber tubing, or whatever it is, are they structurally in tact?

What else would we want to include on this? So, you’ve got your fluids, your oil change. You have your tires, you have your air conditioner checked.

Actually, you know, something else you want to inspect if you’re going to be driving are going to be all the turn signals, the brake lights, the backup lights, the fog lights. You want all of those things to be working right and brightly to keep you safe.

You want to make sure you don’t have a check engine light on before you head off on vacation. Head into the mechanic to get your oil changed and have them do a basic inspection, including reading any warning codes your car may have. It’s better to take care of repairs now while you are in the comfort of your own home.

Again, make sure there’s no check engine light. You can have your auto mechanic double check when they change your oil; they just plugin their code reader to see if anything comes up.

Make sure that you have, also, a flashlight, jumper cables, an emergency kit. You may want to take some extra water, who knows what situation you’re going to get into? It is better to be prepared for the worse case scenario that never happens than to be caught in it unprepared.

Let’s face it, vacations are expensive. How much more expensive are they when you have to stop off in Little Town, Alabama, or Little Town, Arkansas, wherever you’re at, and pay for a hotel and pay to have your vehicle repaired.

CAR INTERIOR & EXTERIOR TIPS

You’re taking your family on a vacation, you’re going to spend hours in this vehicle. You’re going to be breathing the air, touching the surfaces. Kids, Aunt Becky, Uncle Johnny, whoever, all in the car with you.

First thing’s first. You want to do an interior detailing of your own vehicle. You’re going to want to make sure that all the trash is removed, it’s been freshly vacuumed, that the surfaces have been wiped down with an antibacterial or antimicrobial wipe. Make sure your windows are clean.

You want to make sure that the car interior is germ free, that the air is breathable and good for your family. A few things here that you can do.

CHANGE THE CABIN AIR FILTER

Number one, the cabin filter inside your vehicle. Go to YouTube and type in your make, model of vehicle, how to change the in cabin air filter? More than likely, it’s a no brainer. If you can’t get it done, give US Auto Spa a call, we’ll be happy to assist you.

You’d be amazed the amount of dirt, the black residue, leaves. I’ve seen all kinds of stuff. Hair, dog hair, what else? Pretty much that it removes from the air circulation. You turn your air conditioner on, you put it on recirculate, the air is going through and through, and through your car. It’s got to go through something, it’s going through this filter.

How clean is your in cabin air filter in your vehicle? Have you checked it lately? Are you jeopardizing the health of your family by letting them breath air that they shouldn’t be breathing?

PROTECT FROM UV DAMAGE

On the inside, you’re going to make sure that the vinyl and plastics are protected from UV damage. There’s products on the market you can get by McGuire’s, dash protectant. It’s not bad. I do recommend the Gtechniq products. They have matte dash, which protects your dash from fading and cracking.

Also, if you haven’t considered one great thing on the interior of your vehicle to reduce sun damage are have your windows tinted. Now, they have ceramic window tinting which is very effective in reducing almost all the UV damage that goes in your vehicle.

CLEAN OUT YOUR VEHICLE REGULARLY

As you travel, every time you get gas, go through your vehicle and just police it. Get rid of all the trash, everything you can throw away in the vehicle, any trash, down to the gum wrapper, just get rid of it, or straw, so you don’t have any build up.

As you travel, it’s good to have a bag. A Publix bag works good for this, to put random trash in. It’s also good to have a bag, have a couple, especially if you have kids. Have an extra, I’d say, 10 or 12 Publix bags or dollar store trash bags in your car; you never know when one of the kids might get car sick and vomit all over your vehicle.

A Publix bag or dollar store trash bag is a great way, something to have in your vehicle, if someone were to get sick they don’t expose your whole vehicle to a bunch of contaminants, and you don’t have to contract US Auto Spa to come out and rid your vehicle of bio hazards.

DOUBLE CHECK YOUR VISIBILITY AND BE PREPARED.

In the interior, make sure that the windows are clean. When you’re traveling, make sure you’ve got your side view mirrors adjusted, your rear view mirror adjusted, make sure all the lights are working around the vehicle. Your headlights working, high and low beam.

Secondly, is your windshield very clean? Are your windshield wiper blades been changed lately? Is your license plate light, tag light, working properly? Some things you never think about.

Also, this brings back to mind, one thing that I would strongly recommend that you look at before you head out of town, back to the maintenance of your vehicle, the mechanical operation, are the headlights. Are you’re headlights dull or oxidized?

PROTECT AGAINST VACATION WEAR AND TEAR WITH A CERAMIC CAR COATING.

Let’s talk about exterior. Exterior, you’re going down to Florida, it’s June. What’s big in June in Florida? A lot of bugs.

A lot of bugs, they’re like missiles. When you ride through a lot of bugs, it’s like your vehicle is getting hail stones, padded all over, across all of the surface of your vehicle.

Within these bugs, those large bugs to the smallest but that you’ll hit, they have acids. Those acids, the second they hit your vehicle surface they start to react with the clear coat.

What I mean by that is, the acid in the bug starts to penetrate the clear coated surface and there’s no protection so it etches into that clear coat.

There are only, at the most, maybe four or five coats of clear coat on your vehicle, possibly much less, so you only have a bit of damage that you can spare. In fact, the amount of clear coat on a vehicle is less than a thickness of a dollar bill, to give you an idea.

So, do you want your vehicle to be as protected as it possibly can be?

If so, this is what I would suggest. Before you go on vacation, not after but before, you should have your vehicle professionally detailed. We offer on-site detailing the brings the detailing shop to you at your convenience.

We can come out and give you a full assessment of what needs to be done to your vehicle to best protect it from the bugs, sunshine, and road wear of the summer. We can protect it so that when you go on your trip, that you have the peace of mind that knowing no matter what happens, the paint is protected.

You have a peace of mind that if you were to get hard water spots, bird droppings, bug damage, all this stuff, it doesn’t matter. Even something from the road, maybe tar or road paint. You’re paint will be protected.

WHAT IS A CERAMIC COATING?

Ceramic coatings, in a nutshell, are pretty much a sacrificial barrier. What I mean by that is this: if a contaminant gets on the surface of your paint and you have a ceramic coating, which is nano ceramic coating.

We offer ceramic coatings that range from two years to nine years. We also are accredited through Gtechniq North America. US Auto Spa is an accredited detailer and installer for Gtechniq. Very few people in the United States can say that. I’m very proud to say we are one of the few.

If you don’t have the protection, you get bird droppings, acid rain, hard water spots, etc. on your vehicle, it hits your clear coat which is, like I said, less than a dollar bill thickness and starts to react, penetrating that clear coat. That acid burns fast.

So, if you’re vehicle has a nano coating on it, it has like a nuclear shield of protection so if you were to get any damage on your vehicle, let me tell you the beauty of that. You contact US Auto Spa; we come out and polish that out. We prep it and reapply some coating. It’s not even that big of a deal and you’re good to go.

Then you’re at a point where your beautiful vehicle becomes marred. Whether you’re driving it for a two year – three year lease, or you buy a new car every 18 months, or you’re going to drive it for 10 years, either way, you don’t want to have the ugliest vehicle in the parking lot, especially at church or at your office.

MAKE VACATION CLEAN UP EASY!

If you’re going on a trip, as far as the exterior, make sure your paint is protected with a polymer paint sealant at the least, and a ceramic coating.

Ceramic coatings are very affordable. We have a two year ceramic coating that starts at $399. It’s an excellent product, gives you great durability, great shine, UV protection, protection from environmental industrial fallout.

Actually, one thing I want to mention is, when you have a ceramic coating on your vehicle, washing your vehicle is almost enjoyable. When it rains, it’s mesmerizing because all the water beads up on the surface and just sheets off. So, ceramic coatings are the future.

You want long term protection, peace of mind?

You want to make sure that your vehicle is free of contaminants, bacteria?

You have an odor that you cannot somehow get rid of?

If any of these things apply to you, US Auto Spa has the solution. We are a vetted company – just check out our online reviews.

Give us a call today for a free, no-obligation quote for your vehicle – (770) 380-3261 – or contact us online through our free quote form.