Our tips for car maintenance

By Steve George

April 23, 2013Cars

car-maintenance-tips

Car maintenance seems to be less relevant to car owners as more of them wait for the dash warning lights to come on in order to take the car for a service. What most people don’t realize is that preventive service is something that you can do in the garage with your home tool box. Instead of having high car maintenance costs for simple service that only seems complex, you can browse on-line or read your owner’s manual and learn how to do it yourself. And we are not referring to simple car services like oil and tire changing, but rather more complex like certain engine repairs. Some of these repair processes can be learned by paying a careful attention to what your mechanic is doing when you take your car for service. Moreover, if you are willing to learn, ask questions. Lots of questions. People can learn regardless of age. Here we will elaborate on some tips on how to do some simple service tasks.

Here’s a news flash when it comes to impaired windshield – your driving will be more efficient and safe if your windshield is not broken or damaged. The technique of replacing a windscreen is an easy one – it can be learned in an hour, literally. All you need is a little more concentration while you are placing the adhesive on the edges and the right tools. If you are willing to trade one Sunday afternoon on car maintenance for days spent at the mechanic shop for windshield replacement than consider this option.

Tires are another part of the car that are part of car maintenance tasks that can be done at home with standard tools. We will not talk about changing the tires because even a 9 year-old knows how to do this. Instead we’ll elaborate on problem of tire leaks. Tires leak at some period and need regular checking. This is because under-inflated tires can increase gas consumption, thus reflecting on your bank account status. As simple as it is, tire service is not that often needed. The optimal rate should be twice a year. There are also some other simple tire repairs that you can do like CV joint replacement, brake disk replacement, rim balancing etc.

Other than these, other engine parts require special knowledge for their service. This doesn’t mean that you can’t learn how to repair them, but it is best to leave complex tasks to professionals.