Every car owner should understand that car repairs cannot be avoided in totality. At some point in a car’s life, you would have to take it to a service center for repairs. These repairs could be for routine tasks like replacing lamps, patching leaks in tires, and oil changes. However, these repairs could also involve major parts of your vehicle that could be downright dangerous when left unfixed. This includes problems in the exhaust, transmission, or electrical systems. Given this fact, you should be aware of certain preventive maintenance tasks to keep your visits to the repair shop to a minimum, saving you from costly repairs in the future.
Preventive maintenance does not only optimize your vehicle for maximum performance. It also adds to the longevity of your car. Preventive maintenance will make sure your car is always running smoothly, allowing you to avoid damage, especially those types that naturally come with age.
The easiest thing to do in terms of preventive maintenance is to check your tires regularly. Aside from checking daily if there are leaks, it is recommended that you have the tires rotated during every oil change. This means you switch the front right tire with the back left tire, and the front left tire with the back right tire. Doing this will even the tread on the tires. Tires should also be balanced at least annually. When the tread is worn and thin, replace the tires.
Another one of the crucial things to check is the brake system. Replace the brake pads regularly to avoid damage to the drums and rotors. You can almost always sense when something is wrong with the brake system. The damage manifests in screeching sounds or grinding when you apply the brakes. At this point, however, it is already a little late for preventive maintenance. Before this happens, make sure you check your brake system regularly.
The next things to check are the lubrication and fluids of the vehicle. It is said that lubrication is just as important as fuel. These fluids work by keeping the temperature of the car’s internal parts down by reducing friction between the metal components inside. Key lubricants include motor oil and transmission fluid. Motor oil is changed at a recommended interval of a thousand or so miles, depending on the age of the car. Transmission fluid should be checked regularly, especially when gear engagement is starting to get delayed. Other important fluids to check include steering fluid, brake fluid, and coolant. Steering fluid helps your vehicle turn more smoothly. Brake fluid helps the brake system work more efficiently. The coolant, on the other hand, helps keep the engine’s temperature down.
These are just some of the things you can check as a form of preventive maintenance. You can look up other maintenance tasks online or you can ask your nearest mechanic for some more tips. While these are just small things, you will be able to feel how big an impact these can make on how your car runs. When these are done regularly, you can expect your car to give you more miles on the road.