Cars are complex machines, especially nowadays with the amount of onboard tech, but it’s incredibly important to stay on top of regular maintenance. When you’re travelling at high speeds you want to be able to depend on your vehicle to keep you safe, and not worry about what might go wrong. That’s why you should never skip rotating your tires and other maintenance like oil changes.
Below we further break down what some of the most essential regular maintenance is and why it’s so important.
Why You Should Never Skip Rotating Your Tires
To be clear, rotating your tires refers to changing the placement of the set of 4 tires you have on your car. For example, swapping the driver-side front tire to the rear and the rear to the front. Like making sure your tires are inflated to the right psi, rotating your tires ensures even wear on all 4 of them.
This matters because if any one of your tires wears down faster than the others it can not only cause traction problems since that tire has less grip than the others, but it can also cause vibrating in your drive or even premature tire failure in extreme cases.
Why You Need to Change Your Oil
One of the most well-known aspects of car maintenance, changing your oil is relatively straightforward to do, but how does it affect your vehicle?
If the air was always 100% clean when your engine air intake moved it through your car’s engine, your oil would last significantly longer. However, because dirt, dust, and debris get into your oil after a while, it causes it to thicken and turn into sludge. This significantly reduces its effectiveness as a lubricant. When this happens, the oil stops keeping your engine’s metal components safe and starts to damage them over time instead. Left long enough, this can cause your engine to overheat, blow a gasket, or even warp your engine to the point where it may need to be replaced entirely.
Why You Need to Replace Your Brake Pads
Moving and stopping on command is the main benefit of any vehicle, but without being able to stop, the vehicle becomes dangerous to any driver, the passengers, and everyone else around them. This is why replacing your brake pads on time is so crucial.
Even if you can still stop without brake pads, if the pads are totally worn down you can quickly damage the brake rotors which can be expensive to replace. Plus, your ability to brake quickly will be drastically reduced.
Brake pads get worn out much quicker when used during in-city driving versus highway driving so if you find yourself doing more of the former, make sure to check your brake pads more often.
Overall, preventative care through regular maintenance for your car will ensure you can continue to depend on your vehicle no matter where you’re driving.