How To Make Your Car Last Longer

Car is an expensive investment and once we have bought our dream car we want it to last long in best condition. If you do the best for your car it returns your favor by giving the best mileage and driving pleasure.

The car’s manual is the best guide to get the tips to maintain the car’s performance. One should totally adhere to all the recommendation mentioned in the manual during the break-in period. Break in period is the initial 1500 km where the speed limit should be around 55mph. Keep the engine rpm below 3000 for first few hours of driving. Also, don’t keep your car idle for long periods during break-in. This affects the engine in long run.

Cars have now become a reflection of your personal choices and one can guess your personality by just looking at your car. You would not want your car to get punctured in the middle of the road when you are dropping off your kid for her first dance show. Here we have compiled some tips for the maintenance of different parts of the car.

Engine

1. Don’t accelerate the engine during start up. This deteriorates the engine performance.
2. At red light shift to neutral gear and use handbrake. This allows the engine to breathe for a while.
3. For initial few minutes don’t accelerate too much.
4. Avoid sudden jerks, breaks and acceleration while driving. This protects the drive train of engine.
5. While slowing down use gears to downshift, and not breaks to save wear and tear of breaking system.
6. Visit service station regularly for oil changes, coolant and brake fluid. Learn how to check them at home; this will save your trips to service centers.
7. In case any repairs are to be done, get quotations from at least 2-3 places. Sometimes too cheap prices might indicate inferior parts and no training of mechanic.
8. Routine maintenance decreases the need to visit mechanic.

Interiors

1. Vacuum and sponge the car’s interior every time you wash the car.
2. Clean the vinyl surface with mild detergent and water and then wipe off with sponge.
3. Keep the dashboard clean with a soft damp cloth. Be extra careful while cleaning the gauges since too many scratches makes it difficult to see in light.
4. Spray the fabric protectant on car seats and carpets to make it easy for future cleaning. Also, they become stain resistant.
5. Place a towel under baby seat. Occasionally, there can be a food spill or liquids, towel will prevent those stains.
6. Use rubber protectant to safe guard the weather-stripping of doors and windows. If there is any leakage or rain water seeps in the car, repair or replace it immediately

Exteriors

1. Wash and wax the car thoroughly to protect the finish.
2. Make sure there is enough water in windscreen wash reservoir. Wiper blades need to be changed every 6 months to protect any scratches on the windscreen.
3. Clean the wiper blades daily with a soft cotton cloth
4. It’s best to clean your car on a warm day, as it will need to dry quickly.
5. At least once in a while use pressure wash. This helps in cleaning the out of reach areas. Any dirt can start causing corrosion and will erode the paint.

Fuel

1. While driving on highway keep all windows closed, this saves gallons of fuel.
2. First switch on the engine, let it warm and then use air condition in car.
3. If your car has cruise control, use it to save 10-15%fuel.
4. Sudden acceleration and brakes waste lot of fuel, avoid it. Maintain a constant and steady speed.
5. Under-inflated tires will increase the consumption of fuel.
6. Fill up the tank early morning since fuel density is highest at colder temperatures.
7. Don’t fill up where you see the pump’s storage tanks are being refilled. It stirs the sedimentation thus impurities settle in the tank.

Tires

1. Proper air pressure in tires is bare necessity for perfectly maintained cars. Underinflated tires increases fuel consumption and cause excessive heat that can lead to frequent tire puncture.
2. Regular wheel alignment is necessary for increasing the life of tires. It also gives a pleasure while driving since there will be no screeching sound while taking a turn.
3. Avoid potholes, flying over speed bumpers to increase the life of tires
4. Rotation of tires is necessary to ensure they are wearing off evenly.
5. Don’t ignore the spare wheel. Sometimes when needed, they would be underinflated leading to puncture.
6. Check all the hubcaps and wheel covers are properly installed. If they are loose, they can fall off while driving.
7. As per your car manual get the anti-brake system serviced. Any damage, if noticed, initially can be repaired instead of waiting and get the whole ABS system replaced.

Whether you are man or woman of any age, you can find lot of material to study about your car maintenance. Lots of magazines, videos and books are available in market or on internet. Grab them and take very well care of your car.

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