For most of us, our car is a crucial part of day-to-day life – getting us to work, to appointments and to the shops, dropping kids at school and taking us on road trips with the family.
So it makes sense to maintain your car and perform some basic safety checks regularly, right?
If you are looking for carsales in Sydney, it’s also important to know that the car your potential new car has been maintained with regular safety checks.
Have a read below of the 10 essential safety checks you can perform on your car regularly to keep it safe and running in top condition.
Tyre pressure is an easy check you can do on your car using either a portable tyre pressure gauge or with a gauge at a petrol station.
Ensuring your tyres are inflated to the correct air pressure is crucial to preventing a tyre blowout or flat tyre. The correct air pressure also maintains your cars fuel efficiently.
You can find the air pressure that your tyres need in your car’s owner’s manual.
Your tyre tread plays a tread-mendous part in how your vehicle handles on the road; the more tyre tread, the better the traction. For reference, most new tyres come with around 8mm of tread.
Over time, the tread on each of your tyres wears down. The rate this wear occurs will depend on driving habits, such as how heavily you brake, as well as wheel alignment and weight of the car.
When tyre tread is worn down to 3mm or less, it can become difficult to control your car if you need to brake suddenly or firmly, or if you have to drive on a wet road.
The lights on your car play an important role in safety on the road, particularly as they make your car and your intentions visible on the road.
Whether you frequent the city streets or the country roads, you would have seen cars with a headlight out or a brake light not working. It may have played tricks on your eyes or worst case, even caused an accident.
Car owners should check the following lights regularly:
An easy way to do this is to check the reflection of your lights against windows, garage walls and the like. Or by turning on the car to visually inspect the lights yourself.
Engine oil works to keep the engine lubricated, clean and cool and without it, your car will seize up. This is an easy check to perform on your engine too; when the engine is cool, pull out the dipstick and clean it off with an old rag or cloth. Carefully dip it back in and pull it back out to check the oil level.
If the oil marker appears to be below the line on the dipstick, you need to add more oil to your engine.
As part of your regular servicing, your mechanic should undertake an oil change to help maintain your car.
Some of our customers might be lucky enough to have never owned a car without power steering, but if you once did, you would know how much of a difference power steering makes.
However, a car’s power steering requires power steering fluid and without it, your car could become difficult to manoeuvre and control.
Much like engine oil, you can check power steering fluid and replace it as required.
As the name suggests, transmission fluid supports the automatic or manual transmission of your car by lubricating the moving parts inside your transmission.
For the right details for your car, please refer to your car manufacturer’s recommendations.
The air filter is responsible for cleaning the air in your engine before it moves through the cylinders, helping to prevent build up of debris, dust and other particles that could impact the performance of your engine.
An efficient air filter improves the performance and efficiency of your engine, decrease the car’s emissions and extend the life of your engine.
Potholes, uneven roads or surfaces and kerbs can all cause the wheels on your car to become misaligned over time, leading to unnecessary wear on your car tyres, brakes, steering and suspension.
Your preferred mechanic or tyre specialist can perform a wheel alignment for you to optimise the way your car handles overall.
There is a considerable amount of heat produced as your engine works to keep your car moving along, which is where coolant comes in.
Coolant plays an important role in keeping your engine temperature down. Just like engine oil, car owners can check the coolant levels themselves and if required, top up the coolant with the right type of coolant for their car.
Brakes bring us to a screeching halt at the end of our top 10! The brakes in your car are responsible for slowing and stopping your car to maintain speed, stop at traffic lights or avoid a collision.
If your brakes are not working at their best, you may find that it takes longer for your car to come to a complete stop, which can be incredibly dangerous for you, other drivers, cyclists and pedestrians.
Maintaining your brakes with a regular service will ensure they remain at a functional, safe level, as a professional will check your brakes for any signs of damage or wear and tear.
Whether the time has come to upgrade your car to fit your family, buy your first car or downsize your car, you can trust the team at Tony Lahood Motors for carsales in Sydney.
We stock a huge selection of quality used cars to suit your budget and needs; plus our team members have a wealth of knowledge to help you find the best car for your needs.
Ready to find your perfect car? Contact our team at Tony Lahood Motors today or visit one of our two used car dealerships in Sydney.
