Simple Maintenance Tips – Part 2

Ok, here is the second installment of our preventative maintenance series. In our last blog we covered basic engine oil monitoring. By now we should know that oil is the life blood of our cars, and checking it often will help us monitor our vehicle’s health.
Now we move on to tires.  There are roughly 45 tire companies world-wide with each carrying around 20-30 types of tires. Here in America, we have around 10 or so companies to choose from and 3-4 are the largest in the world. From a consumer point of view, there is one thing all of these companies collectively agree on.  Preventative Maintenance. Sure these companies might have different ways of maintaining their own tire, but I will list a few simple things you can do to check whatever tire may be on your car, truck or SUV.

Tip 1. Tire Pressure   

Your tire pressure should be check periodically usually when it is colder outside. To get more accurate tire pressure readings, the morning of evening is the best time. The heat outside can skew the tire pressure reading because pressure normally rises in the heat. Making sure your pressures are correct will reduce wear and also increase gas mileage.

Tip 2. Tread Wear

Checking your tread wear will give you a better idea of when you should change out those older tires. If you don’t have a tread depth gauge, raid your change jar for a penny. Place the penny within the tire’s grooves. Make sure that Abe Lincolns head faces downward. If the tire depth covers Abe Lincoln’s face, your tread of pretty good. However, if you can see his face clearly it might be time for some new tires.

Tip 3. Tire Balancing and Rotating

It is always good practice to have your tires rotated every 6-10 thousand miles. Doing this allows your tires to wear evenly instead of having all the wear on one side of a tire. Rotating and Balancing go hand in hand. You want to get your tires balanced when they are rotated so you will not have any unwanted vibrations as you are traveling at high speeds.

Tip 4. Alignment

Alignment goes along with Tire balancing and rotating. You can usually tell if your alignment is off, by driving at low speed and loosen your grip on the steering wheel. If your car shifts to one side it probably should be looked at.

Tip 5. Careful where you park

Avoid parking over oil slicks or solvents. These chemicals can drastically shorten your tire life by dissolving the tire itself over time.

Tip 6. Inspect for damage

It is good practice to give a good look at your tires once a month. When looking over your tires, check for any cracks or bulges in the sidewall. If you see any obstruction, take the tire in immediately as these problems never fix themselves.

Tip 7. Matched sets

 
Installing miss-matched tires can be extremely damaging to your alignment and the balancing of your tires. Always make sure your tires are bought in sets and not pieced together.

Tip 8. Environment

If you have to buy new or used tires, make sure you buy according to your environment. Road conditions are a tires worst enemy and they differ state to state. Roads in Oklahoma are much different than roads in Texas. If you are driving over bumpy roads, it might be good to invest in some tougher tires.

Tip 9. Speed Rating

Your tire has a code embedded in the side. All those numbers are not just the product id code, but also have a speed rating associated with it. A normal tire will show a number something like “P205-70R 15-95T” or something like that. The “T” at the end determines the speed rating of your tire. If you drive lots of high speed roads like interstates and highways, it’s a good idea to go with a higher letter rating. The ratings are listed from “A” being the lowest to “Z” being highest speed rating.

Keeping these tips in mind will help ensure that you can drive on your tires for a long time. Most of us overlook these simple things. If we kept up on these tips, it would save us loads of headaches down the road…(no pun intended)…

Simple Maintenance Tips - Part 1

We all want our new or used cars to perform forever right? At least until we are able to sell them. Unfortunately, so many people overlook the most basic maintenance to help preserve their vehicles health. Regal Car Sales sells cars, but we also want our buyers to stay in their vehicles for many  years after the sale. Our mechanics go through a rigorous 102 point checklist to make sure the vehicle you buy is in tip top shape when you drive off the lot.

Sure most cars have problems, but so many of them could have been handled when it was a simple issue, thus the term “Preventative Maintenance”. Before you rush off to your local mechanic or brand dealership to spend a lot of money, I’m going to list the basic items you should be taking care of to make sure your vehicle won’t fail. Over the next few weeks, I will list simple tips to make sure your car will run efficiently while extending the life of your vehicle.

Oil Maintenance in 5 minutes (or less)

Check your Oil! I can’t scream this loud enough. The oil in your car is like blood to humans. Your oil is responsible for reducing friction. For those of you who don’t know what friction is, take your hands and rub them together really fast. The heat you now feel on your hands is a result of friction. Now, apply that to car engine parts. Imagine the little metal parts inside your engine were rubbing together really fast. That would create a massive amount of heat, right? Ok, engine oil’s basic job is making sure those parts stay cool and rub together smoothly.

The experts usually say to have your oil changed in regular intervals of 3,000 miles or so. Well, that’s all well and good, but what if you own a 15 to 20 year old car? You might change it earlier. Cars are like people, and when people get older we need a little more TLC. It’s good to make a normal regimen of checking your oil level every other time your fill your gas tank or getting gas period.

The “Dipstick” is usually located right by your engine. Use the picture I’ve included to help you visually understand what the dipstick looks like. Once you pull the dipstick out, there will be oil on the tip of it. Now, depending on if you just shut your car off its usually best to wipe it clean and do it again to get a more accurate reading. At the bottom of the dipstick there are usually a few marks. Some have actually lines saying “Full” or “Low”. Some just have a couple holes marking the levels. If the oil level is half full, it might be good to slowly add a quart.

I know for some people this seems like very elementary information, but you would be surprised at how many people really don’t know how to take care of their car. Hopefully this brief information will help those individuals that might not be very car savvy.

Next Article – Checking Tire Pressure

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