Menu

Car Maintenance You Shouldn't Try at Home

About Me

Car Maintenance You Shouldn't Try at Home

In a troubled economy, many people look for ways to cut costs by doing household tasks themselves. Some automotive jobs can be done fairly easily at home, particularly if you know something about cars. However, taking on the wrong job on your own will only cost you more time, stress and money in the long run. My name is Jill, and I want to tell you about which car maintenance tasks you can safely tackle on your own and which really do require some help from a pro. I'll break down the needs of a typical car and tell you exactly why you might need to ask for help sometimes.

2 Areas To Inspect Before You Take Your Vehicle On A Long Trip

6 February 2016
 Categories: Automotive, Blog

The single most important preparation that you can make before you leave on an extended road trip is to have your vehicle inspected and repaired in order to ensure the safety of you and anyone else that may be in the vehicle with you. Listed below are two areas that you should have checked prior to your trip.

Brakes

The brakes are going to be the most important thing to have checked before your trip, mostly because your brakes are the single biggest safety feature on your vehicle. A major reason to have this checked is to make sure that your brake pads have not been worn down excessively.

When your brake pads are worn down, it will take your vehicle much more space before it can come to a complete stop. This problem will become even worse if you end up having to drive through foul weather on your trip. This effect can then make it much harder to stop if another driver slams their brakes suddenly or if you do not notice a road hazard until the last minute.

Another reason to have your brakes inspected and possibly replaced is because old and worn brakes can begin squealing and grinding. Over the course of a multi-day road trip, those sounds can quickly become headache-inducing and highly annoying. Click here for more info on brake repair.

Alignment

Another important area to have checked before a long trip is the vehicle's alignment. The alignment can often develop issues if you have driven your vehicle on rough roads, driven into a curb, replaced one or two tires instead of the entire set, or simply through a lot of normal driving. One of the biggest reasons to have your wheels aligned prior to your trip is that if the wheels are not aligned properly, the vehicle can become hard to control and pull to the side.

Wheels that are out of alignment can also increase the chances that you will develop a flat while on your trip. This is because wheels that are out of alignment will often result in certain portions of your tires making more contact with the road than the others. This will result in excess wear on those areas rather than spreading the wear out across the surface of the tires, which can lead to air leaks, flats, and blowouts. 

Make an appointment with your local mechanic or auto repair shop today in order to prepare your vehicle for your upcoming trip. Make sure that your alignment and brakes are checked and repaired if necessary in order to maximize your comfort and safety during the long drive ahead.