In these times of high inflation and rising fuel costs, it is important to make sure that your car is not costing you more than it should. There are a lot of ways to lower the cost of car ownership such as shopping around for cheaper insurance and hypermiling to save fuel. It doesn’t matter if you own a Jaguar or a second-hand car, you should be looking for ways to save money.
One way to save a lot of money, in the long run, is to keep your car maintained. This is because parts wear out and need to be replaced but if you keep the car in good working order then you are less likely to have unexpected repairs later on. The better you take care of your car then the longer it will go without needing any major repairs. Thus, it costs you less money over the lifetime of the car. In this article, we will go over several of the basics that you need to do to keep your car maintained.
1) Keep it tuned up
A tune-up is an essential maintenance procedure that should not be overlooked. It involves aspects of how the car runs and when it is not tuned up properly you will have issues that affect the fuel efficiency and even the exhaust of the car. Although you can buy Corvette exhaust systems online and save money, it is better to keep them in good running order to avoid hefty repair costs later on.
The issue is that the spark plugs need to be firing precisely to keep the pistons moving in rhythm and the fuel mix regulated so it isn’t running rich or lean. It is sort of the crux of the entire operation of the engine so it is one of the most important things to have working correctly.
Luckily, a tune-up is not something you necessarily need to bring your car to the mechanic to do. After watching a few tutorials you should be able to change the sparkplugs yourself as well as the distributor cap and rotors. This will save you hundreds of dollars on the tune-up plus the cost of other repairs that would come up as a result of a badly out-of-tune car.
2) Take care of the tires
With the high cost of fuel these days, finding a way to cut down on consumption is going to save you hard-earned money. Your tires are one of the best ways to make sure that you are not using more gas than necessary.
The first thing to take care of is making sure the tires are always at the right air pressure. If they are low on pressure then the contact of the rubber with the road is too high and causes friction which means higher consumption. Keeping the tires at the correct pressure will save you hundreds of dollars in gas costs.
You should also be rotating your tires. This is going to help you cut down on the cost of fuel, but also on the tires themselves. When you rotate them you are spreading out the wear and tear on them so they will last longer. If you don’t rotate then one tire will bear the brunt of the wear and the treads will get rubbed down faster. Then you have to replace all of your tires which costs quite a bit.
3) Replace the brake pads
Brakes don’t last forever and will eventually wear down. The pads are relatively soft and once they wear down, then the caliper is likely to rub through to the disc and cause a lot of damage.
Replacing the pads on time will extend the life of the discs and avoid costly repairs. When you hear some grinding from the brakes then this is a sign that you’ve waited too long to replace the pads. Rather than wait until you hear that noise, check the thickness of the pads and replace them when they are getting thin.
4) Top up all the fluids
The fluids that a car needs to operate are like the lifeline of all mechanical operations. Your coolant fluid will prevent the car from overheating and damaging the engine. Your brake fluid ensures the car is safe to drive, and the oil needs to be topped up so there is enough lubricating the engine.
Keeping these fluids topped up is one of the most basic maintenance operations that you can do.