If you exert a lot of effort just to have your most-loved car a great look, you can start it by washing it once a week. This is a good idea to eliminate the contaminants on its surface. Therefore, before you do the cleaning, there are things that you need to know first or you will be harming your car’s cover and leave a major paint swirls. For sure, you don’t want this to happen, right?

To help you achieve the appropriate ways of car cleaning, read the following do’s and don’ts to prevent mistakes:

1. Do not use a dish soap in washing as this can scratch off the paint of the cover. Instead, use a diluted shampoo or baking soda to result gleaming chrome once it dries off. Water would also do. It is free from any chemicals to spoil the car’s coat.
2. Attach a sprayer crown on the hose before you rinse your car surface with the right amount of water.
3. When you dry your car with a towel, do not rub it so hard nor scrub the cover or this will get streaks. Otherwise, use an electric car dryer. You will not only dry it out quickly but will blow the crevices out as well.

Remember these tips and you will never cry in secret.

You don’t need to be a mechanic, or even a car enthusiast, to perform basic maintenance on your car. You can save money and hassle by learning how to keep your car in good working order year-round. No more emergency calls to the mechanic on the weekend. No more desperate roadside AAA service. Perform regular inspections and tune-ups and your car will be reliable, safe, and road-ready.

One of the simplest ways you can extend the life of your automobile without paying for costly tune-ups is to check your oil, if it’s low. Also, examine the rag. If you noticed any sediment or chunky-looking oil, you’re probably in need of an oil change. Put the dipstick back and remove it once more to check the level. Notches on the dipstick should tell you how full the compartment should be.

Another tip is to inspect the tires. Nothing’s worse than a busted tire at the wrong moment, when you’re running late to work in the rain. Regularly inspecting tires and rotating them can help to avoid this irritation. Check both the air pressure in your tires, and check the tread for wear and replace the tires if you need to. Also, find the windshield washer fluid, brake fluid, as well as the anti-freeze compartment to make sure they’re both full and clean. This is not something you will need to check every week, but doing it semi-regularly will ensure that your car is in good working order. The brake fluid is housed in a white plastic reservoir in the engine compartment, labelled ”brake fluid.” This should never go down, unless you’ve got a leak in your line somewhere, which means you need to take it into be serviced immediately, or check the lines yourself. Radiator fluid needs to be checked when the engine is stone cold. If you notice a strange, sickly-sweet smell that comes through your air-conditioner ducts as you’re driving, you might have a coolant leak, causing glycol to drip onto the engine compartment and burn. If your levels are low, this could be the cause.

Inspect your car’s battery for corrosion and other signs of wear. If you’re noticing the car does not start up as crisply as it used to, inspect the contact points. Clean them, if necessary, with baking soda and an old toothbrush. You can also a tiny amount of soda pop to cut through the corrosion and clean them up. Loosen the bolts that secure them, if necessary, and clear out any build-up. It is also a good idea if you regularly perform light checks to make sure all your lights are functioning properly and that nothing is burned out. To check the bright, you can park aimed at a wall and flash them. They’ll sometimes need aligned to make sure they’ll sometimes need aligned to make sure they’re illuminating the right amount of road and giving you the vision necessarily for safe night driving.

When an issue comes up, there’s no time like the present to get out in the driveway and start tuning things up. Driving around with a squeaky alternator belt for weeks at a time is both bad form for your engine and for your neighbour’s sanity.

Your car’s body picks up a lot of dust and grime while driving. Anyone who drives a dark car can tell you that. All of that grim slowly chips away at your vehicle’s paint, exposing the sheet metal beneath. Winter is especially rough on your vehicle’s exterior. Though salt is great at melting the ice on the road, those same properties make quick work of your exterior. And once the sheet metal is exposed, the rust moves in and gets very comfortable. And it’s a greedy, hungry guest.

Weekly washing is best because some contaminants quickly do serious long term damage to paint if they are allowed to remain. Two such organic compounds are bug remains and bird droppings. These bio-hazards contain complex proteins that bind to the surface and organic acids that penetrate and break down the surface, eating into your clear coat if not removed promptly. Weak spots in the clear coat make your vehicle susceptible to corrosion and discolouration.

It’s best to clean your car on a warm day in the shade, especially if you are cleaning the interior, as it will need to dry quickly. Choose quality car care products over household cleaning products for the best results. Car care products are designed to clean the surfaces without damaging or removing the protective coatings that need to stay. Start with the wheels as they often hold a lot of gunk that you won’t want sprayed or splattered over your newly cleaned car. First, wet the wheels with water, then spray them with a wheel cleaner. Scrub them well with a cloth or scrub brush. Rinse completely with water. Then, wash the exterior. Spray the entire car down with water. If you want to detail, use a small brush to get in the cracks and crevices. When drying the exterior, use a terrycloth or microfibre cloth to remove the water and dry the exterior. If possible, open all of the doors for 5-10 minutes to allow the water drips in the door frame to dry. Wipe these areas to speed the process along. Once the exterior is dry, you are ready to wax it and make it shine. Choose a quality wax (black wax for black cars) and follow the instructions on the package to apply and remove it. Now that the outside is clean, it’s time to move to the inside. Remove any cups, trash, papers, etc. that may have been left. Use the attachments to get into the tight areas and vacuum out the rest of the loose debris. If you have an upholstery or steam cleaner, this is a great time to clean the fabric seats. Remove the dirt build up with a quality shampoo. Keep the windows open until the seats dry completely. For leather seats, use a leather cleaner and conditioner to keep the seats in top condition. The final step is to clean the windows and mirrors. This will remove any oversprays that may have occurred while cleaning and give the car a finished look.

Owning a car comes with a lot of responsibility and can generally eat away at your wallet. You have to register it, purchase car insurance for it, and make sure it gets the general care and maintenance it needs. All cars need to preserve their value longer, and might be the simplest thing you can do for your car, is to always keep your car clean and well maintained.

When you have the need for an auto collision center you will want to find one that will do the work the right way the first time. This is very true when the only vehicle you have may be sitting in the repair shop. If you have a newer vehicle, this is especially true as you do not want to continue paying for something that will continue to have problems. It would make things much easier on yourself if you found the best possible collision repair.

Insurance companies are not supposed to force you to use their chosen shop. That’s called “steering.” But most insurers keep a list of approved shops that they’ve worked with in the past. And it’s one way to narrow your choices down. Once you have that list, ask friends, colleagues — your mechanic — if they can recommend any of the shops on the list. If not, maybe they have another strong recommendation.

Next, check out the reputations of the shops people have recommended by calling or going online. Contact your local Better Business Bureau (BBB), your county consumer affairs office (if there is one) and your state consumer protection office. You should be able to find out the number of complaints, the nature of those complaints and how they were resolved. Find out whether the body shop belongs to any professional organizations.

Once you go to the shop, make sure it has a professional appearance and works on newer, nicer cars. Ask the shop if it regularly works on your make and model and has the equipment recommended by your vehicle manufacturer. You may also run into junkyard parts. If your car is fairly new, don’t accept junkyard parts. If you have an older car, it’s not as much of a problem.

When it’s time to pick up your car, study it carefully. Test every single button, switch and lock in the car to make sure it works — even the stereo. Make sure the doors, hood and trunk open and close smoothly. Examine the paint in bright sunlight to make sure the colour matches. I once had to have major body work on a car after somebody fell asleep at the wheel and plowed into it as it sat parallel parked on the street. For three months afterward, I discovered additional problems because I didn’t test every last thing before I left the body shop.

Carefully choose which collision repair facility will work on your car. Don’t feel pressured to accept generic parts or junkyard parts. Remember, the body shop works for you, not your insurance company. Put your car through its paces before you take it home.

If you’re unhappy with an auto body shop, report them to any professional organizations they belong to and file a complaint with your county or state consumer protection office. Also file a complaint with the BBB.

Spring is right around the corner and your car might need a little brushing up due to the winter kicks. Here’s 5 maintenance tips you can do to gear up your vehicle this season.

• Check the following:
  – batteries, plugs, and wires
  – tire pressure
  – belts and hoses
  – brakes
  – suspension and wheel alignment
  – fluid levels
  – engine air filter
  – windshield wipers

• Clean the interior. During the cold winter months, it is possible that your car has been a storage space for a lot of your stuff. It’s time to move those things back to where they belong. Losing an extra weight can actually increase your car’s mileage.
• Clean the exterior. Ice and snow might have stuck to your car by now. Prolonging that might cause rusting in some parts. Take it to a car wash to say goodbye to those.
• Flush and refill your car’s cooling system according to the service manuals’ recommendations. Periodically check them afterwards.
• Have hard starts, rough idling, stalling, etc. corrected before hot weather sets in.

Of course, taking your car to a skilled technician is probably the best way in ensuring its performance and state for spring.