Car Care Basics That Anyone Can Do

Contrary to the popular belief, not all car care tasks take a lot of time and require a lot of car skills. As a matter of fact, basic car care can be done by just about anyone, even those with very minimal knowledge of mechanics.

For example, regular washings are a huge part of basic car care. By keeping the outside of your car clean, you are not only keeping your car shiny and looking like new, you are keeping your car paint from getting scratched. This is because the debris that can accumulate on the outside of a car over time can act as an abrasive, rubbing off the protective clear coat (if your car has one) and digging into your paint. To be sure, car care does not get much easier than taking your vehicle through a car wash!

One of the other easier components to car care involves regularly checking your oil levels. Believe it or not, you are actually supposed to do this every time you fill up your gas tank. Many people do not do this or fail to do it, and by the time they take their vehicles to a professional to have their oil changed, the engine of the car has been damaged already by the lack of oil that was available. Depending on how frequently you fill up your gas tank, you might not really need to check it each time, but you should definitely do it at least once a month as part of your car care routine.

Speaking of routine car care, when is the last time you changed your windshield washer blades? This should be done at least once a year, and it takes less than five minutes to do. Moreover, changing your windshield wiper blades is one of the most affordable and easiest components to car care. Over time, particularly in the cold winter months, the rubber on the blades can get hard and it will soon crack, scratching the glass of your windshield. Before this happens and you have to get your glass repaired, change them out.

Filling up your reservoir with windshield washer fluid is another easy car care basic. All you have to do is buy the fluid and dump it into the right tank. You do not want to fill it up with water, as when the weather gets cold the water can freeze and expand, bursting the plastic reservoir.

(ArticlesBase ID #472124)



September 23, 2009
By Phoenix Delray
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