Maintaining your car on a budget
Saving on car maintenance is one of the best ways to ensure that you stay within your budget. Even if you don’t have a lot of experience with cars, you can use these tips to save money on your maintenance costs.
1. Keep your car clean
This may seem strange, but if you frequently drive with a lot of extra stuff in your vehicle, you can cause your car to ride unevenly. With enough weight, this can cause your tires and other mechanical parts to wear out faster.
2. Change your tires
Changing a tire is one of the simplest repairs you can make, and it can save you hundreds of dollars when it’s time get new tires. Work with a friend to remove lug nuts and remove the old tire if you need extra muscle (promise them you’ll help on their car when the time comes).
3. Use coupons for places like Auto Zone or Tire Rack
These stores offer a lot of deals and discounts, and they’re full of people who know a lot about cars. Take advantage of their coupons and their expertise.
4. Learn to change your own oil
This is a little more difficult than changing a tire, but you will save hundreds of dollars a year if you drive frequently. There are tons of online tutorial; find one for your make and model of vehicle.
5. Take advantage of free diagnostics
Places like Auto Zone and Tire Rack are able to hook your car up to the same diagnostic equipment used by many auto mechanics. In fact, most places will do it for free. This will allow you to diagnose your car’s problems on your own, and the experts at these stores can help you find the parts you need. Even if you have to hire a mechanic, later to help you with your problem, you’ll save a lot of money on the diagnostic fees.
6. Flush the cooling system within your car
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You need to make sure you replace the coolant inside your car at least once a year. To switch the coolant and put in new coolant you will need to have a mixture of distilled water and coolant in the ratio of 50/50. Changing the coolant will actually keep your cars system inside cooling well and keep corrosion from occurring along with deposits that can initially build up within the cooling system of your car.
7. Transmission and differential oils
Changing out the differential oils along with your transmission is one thing you need to keep up with. These oils do not have to be changed a lot but they do need to be replaced every once in a while according to the service intervals with cars. You need to make sure you only buy oils to place inside your cars that are the ones recommend for your car.
8. Keep your car cleaned
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Obviously, you will keep the outside of your car clean but this is more focused to the underside of your car. Everything you run over while driving your vehicle basically sticks to the underside of your car and you need to clean your car underneath to keep things off such as grimy stuff on the road and winter salt. Also, make sure you keep your car waxed about every six months or so this is the recommended frame.
9. Greasing
Make sure everything that should be greased and that needs to be greased has been taken care of if not you could have ball joints go bad or other things that may need greasing inside your car.Along with this, you should also make sure you keep all wheel bearings replaced and up to date also make sure there is the right grease placed on your wheel bearings. These are actually inexpensive. Make sure to always pack the wheel bearings and clean them accordingly.
10. Protect your car
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By parking in the shade and using a reflecting shade on the inside window of your dashboard so you can eliminate your interior from fading or to keep the vinyl and plastic from becoming very dried out.
