Car Care: Here are some basic bottom to top car care tips.
Tire Pressure: Keep the tire pressure up to spec. The specs are right on the
tire as recommended pressure. Way back it was like always 32 psi (pounds per square inch) but those days are long
gone. Make sure what your specific tire needs and go right to that pressure. You would be surprised how much
the pressure can change over the course of the year. Air basically expands and contracts in size depending on the
temperature outside. When it comes to a tire air actually fills the space inside the rubber. So when it expands
in hot temperatures it actually raises the tire pressure. When it contracts in lower temperature that actually lowers
the air pressure in the tire. You should start a habit of marking the seasons with an air pressure check. Air pressure
gauges are cheap and better than relying on a shoddy or non-existent gauge built into the air pump.
Again, for nostalgia's sake, I remember the days when you spun the knob to dial in the pressure that you wanted
and just filled up the tire until the pump got quieter and stopped ringing. Well, so much for progress!
I mean can't someone at least digitize this to accomplish the same thing? Now there's an idea! We'll get right
on it!!!
Tire Wear: Keeping the tire pressure steady all year round is going
to help keep you tires wearing more evenly which helps them to last longer. Do a good inspection of your tires.
You may see wear especially to one side. This could happen if you're flying around clover leafs all the time.
That adds up to a lot of right turns causing a lot of wear on the left sides of the front tires especially.
To avoid confusion, when I say left side of the tire I mean the drivers side of the tire.
If your tires are always over-inflated they will
wear more down the middle. If they are wearing out on both sides you may be indiscriminately making hard
lefts and rights. Anyway, if your tires are wearing "funny" you can have them rotated for starters to get a
little more life out of them. There is a standard way to rotate tires that basically puts the lefts on the
rights and the fronts on the backs criss-cross style. However, if say you need to buy only two new tires,
have the new ones put on the front and the old ones put on the back. This is because between the commonality
of front wheel drive and the front tires taking the brunt of the wear of turns. The back tires are just
sort of always dragging along for the ride. If you see a tire with treads wearing through or a bubble or something
on the sidewall you should have those tires replaced immediately. When you get your next set of tires you will
have a good leg up on getting the best mileage that your tires have to offer. Between chilling out and keeping
steady pressure in your tires year-round you will get more life out of them too.
Tire Balance: Do you have a shimmy in your steering wheel?
Before it gets out of control have the tires balanced as the first step. You might as well get them rotated
while they're at it. If the shimmy continues you may need to replace one or more tires or it could
be that you have some front-end problems. See a mechanic, have him take it for a test ride, put it on a
lift and have them give you a firm estimate of what it will take to fix it. On close inspection they can
see bad ball-joints or tie-rods.
Wheel Alignment: OK, so you or someone who used your car hit a curb.
Maybe it was a really bad pothole. This can throw off your alignment. This can also lead to "funny" wear on your tires.
But the main test is to get on a solidly straight and level road and momentarily let go of the wheel.
The car should go straight. If the car pulls to the left or right get an alignment.
I usually perform this test on the way to replace my set of
tires. If it is pretty noticeable I go strait from THE tire shop (THE one I use is the best) to the alignment shop.
I recommend that you look up an alignment specialist, as your regular mechanic has to send it out anyway so
you might as well go direct. They can often do it as you wait.
Engine Oil: Get it changed with a new filter from time to time...
I used to change my oil every 3,000 miles but then I saw a report from a reliable source that said that it doesn't have to be changed all that often.
I have not changed it on my car in over 12,000 miles, which is really crazy?! I think that you should check your
oil regularly and when you notice that you're down a quart it's time to change the oil. I believe, without any
scientific back up, that this means that it is getting kind of dirty and starting to burn off.
It's just a crazy theory of mine... Anyway, if you don't drive much, change the oil at least a couple of times a year whether it needs it or not.
Engine tune-up: More nostalgia... in the good old days you could just
replace your air filer, gas filter, spark plugs, wires, pcv valve, rotor and distributor cap and have pretty much
done a tune-up for short money. On top of that I would have a mechanic check the timing and do a lube job.
I can't even guess at what it takes today! I would try to get a mechanic to
do a "basic tune-up" and ask them exactly what they will replace, test and adjust for their price. Good luck!
Excess Baggage: Clean out the back seat, clean out the trunk.
Lugging all that extra stuff around all the time can't help your gas mileage. A few basic tools, a Frisbee,
a baseball mitt with a ball, a bat and maybe an umbrella are all you really need. OK, keep the spare tire too...
Roof Racks: What a drag...
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .