You may be reading this to see where you went wrong with your car as you’re waiting for the scrapping company to come and collect your broken vehicle. If not, you could be seeking ways to prevent accidental and expensive damage to your newly built or beloved vehicle. Of course, the measures you take depend greatly on where you’re located. If you’re in a place with hard winters you’ll need Hail covers and winter tires. If you’re from a hot place you’ll need a good cooling system. But if you’re looking for general tips, look no further, as here are three useful tips to follow to lower the risk of car damage.
- Never let your fuel tank level get any lower than full.
Regularly running your fuel tank down to under full before fuelling up can damage your fuel pump. This is because having a good amount of fuel in the tank helps regulate the temperature of your fuel pump.
If the fuel is low, the pump can get very hot. This means that by the time you come to filling up your empty tank it has become exceedingly hot. You then proceed to fill up with cool/ room temperature fuel causing the fuel tank and pump to cool down very quick. This can warp and damage your fuel tank and pump, especially if it is done on a regular basis.
- Ignoring strange sounds
Many people ignore strange sounds from their cars in hope that there is nothing wrong. This is especially prevalent after a car has been in an accident but there’s no apparent damage. Ignoring this for too long can be expensive and essentially very damaging for your vehicle. It is wise to take the car to a paint and body shop immediately for an inspection, in order to prevent more costly repairs down the road.
Common sounds include a squealing noise from your brakes, a scraping noise from your wipers, a clunking noise during driving, or clicking and ticking noises during turns or when you’ve stopped the car. All of these are warning signs and require immediate attention.
- Don’t use your brakes so much on hills.
When going downhill, many people cover their brakes and use them to slow down the vehicle. Instead of this, switch to a lower gear and let the engine do the braking and speed regulating for you.
Known as ‘engine breaking’ this method reduces the amount you need to use your brakes and in turn stops them from wearing down, overheating and needing replacing more frequently than necessary.