As the old adage goes, “Take care of your car, and it will take care of you.” On that note, you may think that sticking to your vehicle maintenance schedule and keeping your car clean inside out is all it takes to ensure your car is always running in tiptop shape, but it’s not. You may not know it, but you may have acquired some bad driving habits over the years that impact your car negatively. Ask yourself: are you guilty of the following six mistakes?
Driving like a race car driver. If you treat the road like a racetrack day in day out, you subject your car’s components to excessive wear and tear. Not only that, you also increase your risk of a road mishap. Protect your car and keep safe by always driving at manageable speeds.
Resting your left foot on the clutch. Do you drive a manual? Make sure to remove your left foot from the clutch pedal after you engage. Otherwise, you’re causing your clutch disc’s friction material and pressure plate to grind with each other. Eventually, you’ll lose the ability to shift if you keep doing this.
Not removing your hand from the gear knob. Similar to when you keep stepping on your clutch, keeping one hand rested on the gear knob causes friction between your shifter’s bushings and synchronizers. Avoid damaging these parts by keeping both hands on the wheel where they should be.
Not engaging the handbrake when parked. Your handbrake needs to be engaged whenever you’re parked, regardless if it’s on an inclined or flat surface. Without the handbrake, you put too much stress on your transmission system, which ultimately puts its many components at risk of damage.
Hitting humps and potholes at full speed. Humps, bumps and potholes must be avoided at all costs, and if you can’t avoid them, you need to reduce your speed and go over them with care. A lot of parts can get damaged if you keep hitting these road obstacles—wheels, tires, arms, shocks, steering column—all of which are expensive to replace.
©4wheelsnews
Driving on empty tank fuel. Sure, you still have a few liters of gas when your fuel needle hits “E,” but stop pushing your luck. Much of the functionality of your fuel system’s parts depend on your tank having the optimal amount of fuel. Driving regularly on “low” allows air to enter your fuel system, which could cause a range of problems including mistiming and engine overheating.