“I’m a huge NASCAR fan, but I’m not a gearhead. I’ve never been into fixing cars. It’s not because I don’t like it. I would love to know more. It’s just my dad never taught me that stuff because my dad wasn’t a mechanic.” — Larry the Cable Guy
Larry the Cable Guy is a funny dude and he’s right on point here. So many people are intrigued with just how their cars operate and how important car maintenance really is. Some really take the time to find out and the treat their cars the way they need to be treated. All in an effort to get the very best performance out of it at all times.
There are some people out there that just don’t have the time to bring their car into the shop for voluntary car maintenance, and that’s not a good thing. In our opinion, your car maintenance is vitally important and should be tended to on a regular basis.
According to a survey put together by the Car Council, they found that:
- 25% of cars had low or dirty engine oil.
- 13% had low or contaminated brake fluid.
- 18% had dirty air filters.
- 17% had inadequate cooling protection or low coolant levels.
- 16% needed new windshield wiper and 27% had low or contaminated washer fluid.
- 18% needed new belts
- Overall, 89% of vehicles were in need of at least one service or repair.
This Car maintenance blog post is something for the everyday car owner to look at to understand that car maintenance is so important. Here are some tips you can do, or your local auto repair shop can do, or we can do as well, so your cars maintenance remains a priority.
Car Maintenance Checklist
Always Pay Attention to the Tires
Tires are one of the most important aspects in car maintenance, if not the most important aspect toward car maintenance. People easily take their tires quality for granted. According to safercar.gov, “more than 11,000 tow-away crashes annually are caused by tire issues.”
It’s been proven that low pressurized tires are huge reasons why serious accidents occur. So, checking your tires pressure is key to your car maintenance needs. You should use a tire pressure gauge to test them at least once a month and make sure the pressure matches the recommended pressure in your car’s manual. Another tire car maintenance tip is to rotate your tires every 7,000 to 8,000 miles and check your alignment at the same time. This will give your tires and car the much-needed tune-up to keep it running at its optimal levels.
Changing your Oil and other Fluids
I think everyone can agree that one of the main car maintenance tips is to check your oil and fluids. It always depends on the number of miles you are putting on your car each month. If you can do it yourself, you should change your oil every 3,000 miles. If not, please take it in to your local auto repair shop. Or contact us here, so we can set up an appointment to check your levels. This should always be maintained!
The same goes for any other fluids such as your power-steering, automatic transmission, wiper, and brake fluids.
Wiper Blades
We wrote about this in a previous blog post. Click here to read more. To briefly cover this, we’ll say that changing your wiper blades, especially now, during the bad weather is of vital importance toward your car maintenance and your overall safety.
Air Filter
If you know how to pull this air filter out, please take the time to do it. Put it in some light and check to see if you can see through it. If you can, then it’s time to replace it. If you have a good auto repair company, then they’ll most likely be checking your air-filter out during your oil and lube check-up. If they don’t, then mention it, and ask them to look at it. Your car maintenance plan should always include this.
Regular check-ups
Your car maintenance should include regular check-ups. It’s not something to mess around with. Many other car maintenance responsibilities will include the inspection of the exhaust, flushing of the cooling system, and replacing valves, hoses, and brakes.
Finally
For your car to always be running at its best condition, taking your car maintenance seriously is so important. If you can do these things to your car yourself, then you are lucky. If you can’t, then contacting us, or your favorite auto repair shop is a must. We’ll check your tires, change your oil, look at your fluids, replace your air filter and set up regular checkups all to keep up with your car maintenance needs. Don’t hesitate to contact us. We are here for all your car maintenance questions or concerns.
