General Car Maintenance Tips for the Beginner

While you are forgiven if you head to the mechanic for most car and engine repairs, you must ensure you carry out basic maintenance and checks on your own. Car maintenance checks are much more than checking and topping off your fluids, checking your tire pressure, and make sure all your lights work. In order to enhance the shelf life of your car, you will need to carry out the following basic maintenance operations on your car.

Make Sure Your Brakes Are Efficient

Brakes and brake pads in a car are very important for you to efficiently maneuver the vehicle. You must never ignore the condition of your brakes, as brake failure can be the most dangerous car break downs that can be life shattering, second only to tire failure. In order to make sure you never have to bear the brunt of a brake failure in your life, check the fluid levels periodically and ensure that your brake pads are in top working order. Failure in the brake components must be immediately taken care of by a mechanic before it leaves you stranded on the freeway or worse. You must ideally, look to replace your brakes once you notice that your stopping power has greatly diminished or your brake pedal isn’t as stiff as it once was.

Regular Tire Inspections Are A Must

The tires on your car are the victims of rash driving, incessant speed changes, bad and bumpy roads, and constant braking. Nonetheless, they tend to wear away sooner than the eight year shelf life they’re sold with. You must keep an eye on the tire alignment, tire pressure and other tire safety parameters. When you notice even a slight problem with your tires, make sure you immediately visit a mechanic and get your car inspected. Tires are hugely responsible for safety in the car and you must never let faulty tires put you and your car in risk at all. One way you can ensure long lasting tires is by using a tread depth gauge to check for optimum thickness regularly. However, during summers and winters, proper tire inspections at a garage are necessary, though the readings on the tread depth gauge might reveal no problems.

Proper Coolant Checks Are Important

The coolant in your engine is in charge of several tasks and thus, requires constant checking. It not only keeps your radiator from overheating but also is a good antifreeze component, and keeps corrosion levels low in the internal hardware of your car. Treating your coolant with the recognition it deserves is an important general car maintenance task. You must not only check the coolant levels regularly, but also make sure that cleanliness and effectiveness is at an even keel. If there is a slight disconnect in the efficiency of your coolant, you must strive to replace it as soon as possible. Though you must look at your car manual for more details on the specific coolant replacement times recommended, we suggest replacing the coolant either after 24,000 miles or every two years. Apart from fuel inspections, you also have to check engine belts, head, brake and turn signal lights, and fuel efficiency for a comfortable shelf life.