Essential Things About Car Maintenance You Should Know

If you want the feeling of freedom, comfort and independence to last with your car, you should take proper care of it. That means maintaining it in all aspects. Being lenient and too relaxed about car maintenance can end up costing you much more than if you had taken care of it before any damages or malfunctions. For a flawless look and ultimate performance, there are some things you should do. These things include some basic car maintenance activities that can extend your car’s life and save you lots of money. Keep reading to learn more about this.

1.   Replacing a flat tire

 When you are a car owner and you drive your car quite often, it’s only normal to experience a flat tire at some point. With a ruptured tire on your way, you can either call the tow service or replace the tire yourself, which is not such a big deal and everybody can learn it. Of course, even after you change the tire, you’ll have to visit the mechanic, but before that, you need to be able to drive to his shop.

Let’s go over some simple steps of how to change a tire. You’ll start by using a wrench to loosen the lug nuts, a jack lift to lift your car and finally to unscrew the lug nuts completely. Once you replace the tire, you should screw back the nuts, but not completely. You will screw them on completely when your car is firmly on the ground. With this final step, you are ready to drive off. However, keep in mind that most spare tires are narrower in diameter and their role is only to take you to the nearest mechanic and not drive with them every day.

2.   Taking care of the appearance

The appearance of your car also plays a vital role in maintaining your car. However, not everybody has the time to perform a thorough detailing of their car. This requires special skills as well as products for cleaning, polishing and waxing. It can be learned, of course, but it requires some free time and effort on the side of the owner.

And since usually our lives are pretty hectic and busy already, filled with all kinds of obligations and activities, perhaps this is an activity we can entrust professionals. Hiring professional car detailing services from time to time can do wonders for your car’s appearance. With each service, your car will look as good as a new one.

3.   Changing engine oil

For running a car smoothly as well as having an engine that lasts for over a decade, checking and changing the oil regularly is crucial. In an ideal world, this activity should be performed once a week, when the car is still warm and the engine has completely stopped working. Again, this is a basic car maintenance activity everybody can learn to do.

Firstly, you need to remove the plug and put a clean dipstick inside the engine. After it has gone all the way down, take it out and check the oil level on the dipstick. The most convenient level of oil is indicated between the two marks on the dipstick. This is the first part – checking of oil.

The next step is changing the oil. How do we do this? Start by removing the drain plug to drain all the oil, then unscrew the drain filter and empty it. Pour new oil inside, put the plug and the cap back on. If you’re still unsure how to do it safely, you should watch some instructional videos online – there are plenty of them!

4.   Removing scratches

Car scratches happen, most commonly on parking lots, by accident. This kind of marking can ruin the appearance of your car as well as the detailing done to it. You can solve this issue by taking your car to the auto body shop for larger and more serious damages or by dealing with it yourself – when a small scratch is in question.

You’ll start by determining the depth, which is the most important thing. Then, you’ll sand the surrounding area and clean it. Afterward, you should apply a rubbing compound that needs to be polished into the bodywork. The final step is waxing the area, which will seal the scratch and make it invisible. This DIY process can save you thousands of dollars.

5.   Replacing car battery

Every car battery is bound to come to an end. When you notice that it’s started to fail you, it’s time for a new one. This is also something that doesn’t necessarily require the help of a mechanic.

When you buy a new battery, all you need to do is remove the cover, disconnect the negative cables and remove the clips. You then do the same with positive cables and remove the small screws, which enables you to take out the old battery. You can now put the new battery in and connect all the cables in the way they were before.

These few simple car maintenance tips can extend your car’s life as well as save you lots of money in the long run. You should always act preventively instead of reactively.