When Was The Last Time You Tuned Up Your Car?

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Automotive maintenance is an important but easy-to-ignore problem with modern vehicles. It's easy to not think about problems until you notice an issue, but by the time you notice a problem, it's often too late. While it can be worse, such as ignoring small problems until major, car-stopping problems occur, you can save even more money by keeping regular maintenance whether you notice driving issues or not. Here are a few indicators to keep an eye out for and some benefits of keeping up regular oil changes, tire rotations, and general vehicle maintenance.

Veering To The Side? Check Those Tires!

If you've noticed that your vehicle slightly pulls to the left or the right, it could be the road. If it's every road that you drive on, it's time to inflate, rotate, or even change those tires.

Tires wear out unevenly and can lose air through a lot of different situations. Temperature changes, hitting a bump that pushes air through the stem, or having a very slow leak that only happens when pressure is applied to a specific area are problems that can happen to everyone, and the fixes are relatively cheap if you catch them early.

If there's a slow leak on expensive tires, the first thing going through your mind should be the warranty. Ask the company that sold you the tires or your vendor, because unless you're constantly driving through nails or glass, the replacement isn't a big deal.

After that, you'll be paying out of pocket for a puncture removal and patching. If whatever punctured your tires is still in there, it can be removed and the hole patched. This is preferable if your tires are new or still have prominent treading, but if your tires are becoming worn out or are almost smooth/sheer, it's time for replacement.

Oil Changes For Engine Longevity

Oil is necessary for the smooth movement of different parts of the engine. Many fast-moving components would be damaged and ruined due to high-speed, high-temperature, metal-to-metal contact. Your engine's oil reduces friction and creates a layer of protection between different metal components.

The oil you use has a lot more features than lubrication. Many oils include detergents for cleaning off harmful particulate materials--a boasting point for high-cost oil brands that want to clean out their competition's debris--and sealing materials that add protective barriers in addition to the lubrication function. It's like making your engine more slippery and smooth with liquid and then creating gel-like surfaces that add secondary layers of protection.

This protection is temporary and depends on the oil pump moving oil from the pump and through the oil filter. Oil can solidify over time as it degrades, but it can also burn as it enters high-temperature components like the cylinders. Oil needs to be changed on a regular basis because of this, since the burning and debris buildup creates friction and can damage the engine--albeit less quickly than having no oil at all.

Contact an automobile tune-up professional to discuss oil changes and other maintenance points to keep your vehicle moving smoothly. Contact a company like Precision Automotive to learn more.


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