Monday, January 28, 2013

Do-It Yourself Vehicle Safety Inspection


Owning a car is a delight and hassle all bundled into one.  Your car gets you from point A to point B extremely fast, provides a safe trip to a vacation spot, and if you have young kids, becomes their next play room; messiness and all.  But we sometimes forget to think about maintaining that car.  Neglecting to maintain your car, could provide an unsafe environment, not only for you and your accompanying passengers, but for others on the road as well.  That’s why you need to do a quick inspection on a regular basis.  Some of the inspections can be visual, while other parts may require you to get a little dirty.

Headlights and Tail Lights


Checking your head and tail lights shouldn’t take any more than five minutes by yourself.  Turn your lights and check to see if any of them are burned out.  At the same time, check your blinkers, hazard lights and high beams as well.  If any of these are not working, it’s best to bring your car to our repair shop and talk to one of our mechanics.  While you could replace any of the bulbs yourself, a lot of the newer cars on the market use a high capacity bulb.  What this means is that even though they may be removed from their plug, they can still hold a charge that has enough amperage to cause some bodily harm.  This way, when you bring your car to us, we will properly and safely discharge the bulb and electrical system so that it can’t cause any harm to you or anyone else.  There are also times where they bulb may burned out, get replaced and burn out again.  This is an easy indication that there is a problem with your car’s electrical system.

Clear Visibility


Your windshield wipers were designed to give you a continual clear view for driving.  Without them, you might be sticking your head out the window like Fido does.  An easy way to tell if your wipers need replacing is when you notice they are causing streaks along your windshield.  If you were to put water on your windshield or even turn on your windshield washer fluid nozzles, and you notice beads of water in same arch as your wipers, it’s time to replace them.  You may also need to do a visual inspection and look for any cracks, tears or spots where the rubber is pulled away from the frame of the wiper blade.

Take it for a Spin


You can make this next part of the inspection a quick family outing to the store or to the tallest hill to go sledding.  Drive your car and notice for anything that doesn’t seem to be acting right.  You want to look for any unnecessary shakes, vibrations, loss in stopping or accelerating power, pulling to one side or harder turning.  All of these signs can indicate the start of a bigger problem and the care should be brought in to have it checked it out.  If you notice any of these or other anomalies, it could be your brakes, steering and suspension, wheel alignment or uneven tire wear.

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