Author: Chris

Caring for your brakes

Standard

Your cars brakes are one of its most vital features and will need replacing during the lifetime of the vehicle as they wear out. The main components that suffer wear are the brake pads and disks. The disks, usually cast iron, are attached to the axle. The brake pads are pressed against them when you apply the brake pedal thus reducing the cars speed. Because the weight of the car shifts forward under braking, the front brakes do most of the work. You may notice that the rear brakes appear different to the fronts.
Because the rears do less work, they can suffer corrosion which is not cleaned off during braking. This happens more often in smaller or seldom used vehicles. You can combat this corrosion by applying heavy braking occasionally, when safe to do so. The disks will wear over time and will need to be replaced in pairs when the manufacturers specified minimum thickness is reached.

Braking on long downhill runs will over heat and possibly distort your brakes. Avoid this by selecting an appropriate low gear. Avoid sitting with your brakes applied after heavy braking as this may also damage your brakes.

Your Windscreen Wipers

Standard

Windscreen wipers are an essential element of your car that often gets overlooked when we think of caring for our vehicle, however ineffective wiper blades can actually cause your car to fail an MOT so you really do need to keep an eye on them.

It’s suggested that you should change your wiper blades at least once a year as the rubber can become hard and actually cause damage to the screen as well as not being effective at clearing it for safe visibility.

If you notice that the blades judder as they move across the glass or make screeching noises this could be a sign they need changing, also if they don’t clear rain and debris off the screen it may also be an indication that they are ready to be changed.

Extremes of weather can easily effect the wiper blade, particularly ice so always make sure that when clearing your screen the blades are not stuck down onto the frozen glass, give them a light spray with de-icer and allow them to thaw before turning the wipers on.

Getting the most out of your tyres

Standard

There is one really simple thing you can do to get the most out of your tyres: check their pressure regularly. Under-inflated tyres are the biggest cause of unnecessary tyre wear. Not only that, they increase stopping distances, without needing to mention the extra strain on your brake discs & suspension. Put crudely, under inflating by a third – which is the average level of cars on the UK road – can increase stopping distances by more than a third, as well as increasing the risk of a blowout, and increasing natural wear by anything up to 40%.

Measured against tread or ice, it has a significantly greater effect than low tread depth, and nearly as significant an impact as extreme wet or icy conditions. For your own safety then, as well as to get the best out of your car, it is important to check tyres regularly and adjust for the road conditions.

Is the mileage genuine?

Standard

When buying a second hand car you may have doubts as to whether the mileage is genuine. On average, most cars do about ten thousand miles per annum. If you have a ten year old car (not classic) and the owner is claiming that it has only done five thousand, alarm bells may start to ring. As part of a HPI check, which I would strongly advise everyone does with a second hand car, you can also pay to have a mileage check carried out. This will detail the mileage on MOT’s plus any declared mileage on a log book to show the history.

Physically there are also things that you can check for to confirm the mileage. If the interior quite scruffy or splits in the seats you can safely assume that it has been used a fair bit. This is also true for wear on the steering wheel and gear stick as these can be tell tale signs of higher mileage.

The advantages of buying a new car

Standard

Buying a new car comes with many advantages above and beyond owning a new shiny vehicle. All new cars do not have to be MOT’ed for three years giving you piece of mind that you will not have to be spending that money on it for a while. All new cars also come with a manufacturers warranty. This can vary depending on the make of the vehicle but often is between 3 and 5 years. This warranty will not cover everything so it is important to know what is and isn’t covered. Consumables such as tyres and wiper blades etc will not usually be covered under any warranty but sometimes you can opt to take out an additional plan that will cover tyres.

Some manufacturers offer great deals on new cars such as 0% finance, free insurance and free servicing for a limited time. Because new cars are a lot more economical and environmentally friendly, you will not only save on fuel costs but many are within the lower tax bands or even tax exempt.