Used Car Maintenance and Cleaning

Maintenance is an essential part of owning a used car. Usually, once you take ownership of a car from a reputable used car dealer, you will be continuing a routine of good maintenance already set in place by the dealer to maximize the car's value. Now the purpose of maintenance will shift from keeping the car in a condition to sell to keeping the car running and safe for you to drive.

Used cars naturally require more frequent maintenance than new cars and, even with little experience under the hood, most used car owners are able to regularly complete the tasks outlined in this article.

Checking the tires regularly helps ensure the best handling and fuel consumption. You should check the pressure of your tires a few times a month with a tester that can either be purchased from most automotive accessory stores or found at some gas stations. It is recommended to purchase your own tire tester for use at home as, once you have driven to the gas station, the air in your tires will have warmed up, leading to an inaccurate reading.

The ideal tire pressure for your car can be found either in the owner's manual or printed inside the car.

An often overlooked maintenance task, particularly in areas with infrequent rainfall, is checking the windshield wipers. Windshield wipers that are cracked or have become bowed in a way that limits their contact with the glass should be replaced straight away.

Vacuuming the inside of your car is a quick way to get most dirt out before you take to the interior with a damp cloth.

Remove all the mats and seat covers that can be easily removed and vacuum them outside the car. The floors will be easier to vacuum without the mats in your way.

With the vacuuming complete, use a cloth damp with water to wipe the dashboard, door panels and any other areas that require cleaning.

To stay safe, and to avoid run-ins with the law, be sure to check your lights are working regularly. You should check your head lights, brake lights, tail lights and signal lights before you begin driving. If you do not have access to a second person to stand outside the car and tell you if your brake lights are working, just move your car close to your garage door or other moderately reflective surface and watch for the reflection of your lights.

While you can do many tasks yourself, a regular maintenance check-up and tune-up should be sought from a professional mechanic. In most tune-ups, mechanics will ensure the proper operation of your brakes, battery, air filter, fan belts, wheel bearings and shock absorbers. Spark plugs may also be replaced and your tires may be rotated and aligned.

A professional check-up is recommended every 20,000 miles to ensure the safe and reliable running of your used car.



November 13, 2009
By Bruce Haapman
Bruce writes on behalf of Wisconsin Used Cars

Car Cleaning

Auto Detailing Made Easy Must Read For a Car Owner

Auto detailing is a task for the persevering and patient person. Yes, this is true especially if you want to give your car that extra shine you won’t get anywhere else. In this case, some people think that auto detailing is a task that is exclusive to some class of people with the perfect match in terms the behavioral requirements in this job. There is truism in this claim in some degree though.

We love our cars as we love our homes. Then, our cars deserve the best care that we could possibly afford in order to preserve it up to a certain extent. So, this is one of the basic reasons why many people consider auto detailing a mandatory service that cars should receive at certain time intervals.

So, how do you give your car some auto detailing service? If you do not have enough money but you have the patience and time together with some small amount of money for certain tools you will need, you can auto detail your car yourself. This is because unlike other vocational tasks, car detailing can be done if you only have the right amount of perseverance coupled with tools to do the job. You can then follow the steps that auto detailers do.

Here are some of the things you should consider when you are auto detailing.

1. Complete the tools you need to make auto detailing easy. Tools you will need are different sizes of brushes, finishing, wax, sealants, water buckets, sprayer, tire black, rags and other tools.

2. Interior detailing should come first before the exterior.

3. Vacuum all portions of the interior and make sure you remove dust from all surfaces and spot all carpeting then take away all dirt and dust. Also, make sure you clean all interior surfaces.

4. Give the interior a final touch up to clean portions that have not been very thoroughly cleaned.

5. Then, you can proceed in detailing the exterior of the auto. Put on some degreaser to tires and wheels.

6. Use different brushes to reach all portions. This is actually the heart of auto detailing—cleaning all hard to reach spots and details and making sure no form of dirt stays after car detailing.

7. Wash wheels thoroughly.

8. Wash the engine bay. Do this using hot water as this will make detailing this part easier.

9. Use APC-soap mixture in cleaning engine parts.

10. Then, rinse all fenders, support, underside and all painted parts.

11. Wash these parts of the car with hot water.

12. Check and remove all tar-based dirt.

13. Wash exterior from top to bottom.

14. Dry the body and perform spot drying.

15. Use clay if it is still needed.

16. Polish all painted portions and make sure you apply wax and sealants to appropriate portions only. Apply LSP and do some quick detailing to make sure no form of dirt whatsoever is left.

So, this is basically the list of steps that auto detailing shops do and you can also do the same to your cars or vehicles.

Auto detailing will prove to be rewarding if you know how to proceed with this task. You only have to follow this list of steps and be methodical when you do it.



October 29, 2009
By Alex Baumm
At the largest http://www.carclubtalk.com Car Forum there is a special subforum on http://www.carclubtalk.com/auto-detailing Auto Detailing, http://www.carclubtalk.com/defensive-driving Defensive Driving. Please don't hesitate to join our community of car owners. Alex Baumm

Car Detailing

Should You Spray Paint Your Own Car Or Take it to the Workshop Spray Painting

There are good and bad points to both car painting yourself or having it done at a professional shop.

Reasons to Paint Your Own Car.

1. It’s a money saver or at least can be if you do it right of course. If you don’t take the time to learn to do it properly then it can still be an expensive endeavor.

2. it’s a great achievement to complete this task and then be able to stand back and look at the great job you have done.

3. If you are into car restoration, it is one way you can cut down your expenses.

4. Often there is preliminary work that you will have to do yourself before you get to the point of car painting itself.

Reasons To Paint Your Shop In A Car

1. Its most likely a time saver. Unless you have the extra time to spend car painting, then this will be the route you want to go. Don’ t forget there’s more to it than just putting the paint on.

2. The shop more than likely has much better car painting equipment then you would have. This means they can get a much more even finish.

3. The quality of the paint they use perhaps is better than what you are able to buy.

4. They know how to complete the necessary body work first as they have professionals on staff specifically for that job.

5. Reputable companies will stand behind their work. In other words they will give you some type of guarantee.

6. They have the commercial products to clean the car prior to car painting, which is extremely important.

7. They have the proper facilities, whereas if you do it yourself you may not be able to protect the car against the elements in case you can’t get it finished.

So as you can see there are good and bad points for both arguments. If you can improvise and create the same circumstances as for the favorable points of using a shop then you may want to consider it. Car painting is a serious undertaking. Another thing you may want to consider as well is the value of the car. If it’s a second vehicle or a fairly old one then maybe you don’t want to pay the price of having it professionally painted. In this case you would probably be further ahead to do the car painting yourself. In these circumstances small flaws in the overall work isn’t going to make that much of a difference.

The other point is if you have some experience with car painting or even other types of spray painting then you may be able to do a great job without putting it into a shop. These are all things you will need to consider. If you decide that you are going to do it yourself though it would be a good idea to read some “how to” books or watch a video on the subject.



July 15, 2009
By Mario Goldstein
About Author
Find out how to spray paint your car easily and quickly: http://www.SprayPaintSecrets.com You can download *free* videos on car spray painting techniques, bodywork paint repair and much more... Visit SprayPaintSecrets now and start spray painting you car the easier and smarter way.
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