It is important to make sure your car is in good, working condition before it gets out on the road. If you do not take care of your car properly can lead to major issues with your vehicle. There are certain types of car maintenance procedures that can be critical in preventing avoidable car accidents.
How-to Do Car Maintenance: Steps to Take
Tires
Looking after your tires is an essential part of car maintenance. If a tire blows while you are on the road, it could cause you to get into an accident. When this happens, you could loose control of your car, or the tire could become road debris that endangers other cars. Also, if a car can not grip the road well, the tires could slip, leading to an accident too.
Proper tire maintenance involves checking the tire treads. If your tire gets down to 2/32 of an inch, it it definitely time to get new tires. However, it is important to check the tread along the way so that you can properly plan for new tires. Look for any cracks or uneven wear, and make sure to get your tires rotated and properly aligned. Checking tire pressure is another maintenance step. If tire pressure is too low, more of the tire’s surface area touches the road. This increased friction can cause the tire to overheat, which could also lead to a blowout.
Brakes
Driving with worn out brakes is very dangerous. If brakes are worn out, they may not be able to stop your car in time to prevent an accident. How often you need to do this car maintenance procedure will depend on your driving style. However, as a general rule is to check your brake pads every 12,000 miles and replace your brake fluid every 25,000 miles.
Lights
Headlights, taillights, and turn signals are also critical to avoiding accidents. As part of your car maintenance routine, do a check to make sure that these lights are working. Especially in bad weather and low visibility, burnt out light bulbs, and malfunctioning headlights or brake lights can be very dangerous. For example, if your brake lights are out, other cars will not see that you are braking. If your headlights or taillights are not working correctly, you may not be visible to other cars.
Windshield
In bad weather, windshield wipers are what helps improve your visibility when looking out of a car. Make sure to change wiper blades as part of your routine car maintenance. Check them for cracks, stiffness or wear and tear. If they get worn out, they won’t clear the rain away. Also make sure to check windshield wiper fluids. This fluid helps to remove bugs, streaks and other gunk from your windshield so that you can see better. If your fluid runs out, you won’t be able to clean your windshield while on the road.