What to check after an Ottawa winter
Winter here leaves evidence. Spring is when it shows up, and the cheapest time to deal with it.
Get the salt off, underneath as well as on top
Road salt and brine keep working long after the roads are clear. What matters is not the paint but the underside: brake and fuel lines, suspension mounting points, subframes, and electrical connectors and ground points.
A wash that includes the underbody, done early in the spring, removes salt that would otherwise sit there corroding through the summer. It is one of the highest-value things you can do for a vehicle in this climate.
Pothole season leaves a bill
Ottawa's freeze-thaw cycle is exceptionally hard on pavement. Water works into the road surface, freezes, expands, and thaws repeatedly through the winter, and by late winter the result finds every weak component in a car.
A single hard impact can bend a wheel, damage a tire's internal structure, or knock the alignment out. If the car has driven differently since one particular pothole, mention that when you book. It narrows the diagnosis considerably.
Worth looking at in the spring
- Alignment, especially if the car pulls or the steering wheel now sits off-centre.
- Shocks, struts, and steering components after a season of impacts.
- Wheels and tires for bends, bulges, or uneven wear.
- Brake lines and calipers for corrosion, which is what the salt was doing all winter.
- Wiper blades, which take a beating from ice scraping.
- Undercarriage wash to remove accumulated salt.
Do not leave the winter tires on
Once overnight temperatures are reliably above freezing, winter tires are working outside the conditions their compound is designed for. They wear noticeably faster in warm weather, and that wear comes out of next winter's tire.
The changeover is also a natural moment to have everything above inspected, since the wheels are coming off anyway.
Related services
Steering & Suspension
Shocks, struts, and steering repairs: the parts Ottawa potholes punish hardest.
Tire Changes & Repair
Seasonal changeovers, mounting, balancing, and puncture repair.
Brake Service
Pads, rotors, calipers, and lines, inspected and quoted before any work starts.