Simple car care maintenance tips for 18 year old teenagers who have cars

So, you’ve turned 18 and as all men do (and women of course), you want your own damn car!

Being a car owner is much more better than having to be driven around town by your parents and since you’ve managed to buy yourself a car after getting that low paid job, or if you received a car as a gift, you must start searching for that care of cars instinct of yours! Why? Well because the way in which you take care of it, will reflect the person that you really are and remember: “a happy car makes you feel good while driving it” 😀

There are lots of car care procedures in this auto world but you must know the basics when it comes to auto detailing, car maintenance and other car related stuff;

Showing your car care for that “special one on wheels” can be confusing for a teenager but here are some simple top tips that will help you make sense about care of cars:

First of all, it’s important to know how to maintain a car in tip top shape and that’s why you should keep the owner’s manual in the glove box (you can get it online too).

If you’re 18 years old and just acquired a car, in order to keep it reliable you should consider learning how to do some simple and basic car care stuff:

• check your tire pressure and if they’re wearing properly every week to avoid spending money on new tires – if a tire is overinflated, then the tire tread will wear more on the middle part and if it’s underinflated, the tire tread wears more on both of the edges; When you have more wear on only an edge of the tire, then you should check the wheel alignment at a car shop near you (always do a tire pressure check up when they’re “cold”)
• check the car’s bumpers and/or other body damages – I’m guessing you don’t need surprises with your car’s insurance price tag. You already pay a lot on the auto insurance for teenagers.
• check the oil level and if there’s leakage of any kind under the car (visual check)– check the important fluids like oil, power, transmission and brake fluid.
• look at the car’s exhaust smoke – this is simple science, if there’s black smoke, you can have a faulty fuel injector which “spits” too much fuel in the car engine; if there’s a blue gray smoke, then you might have oil that’s burning in the combustion chamber; white gray smoke, if it’s dense and smelly, then it might be a problem with the coolant which is burning in the combustion chamber too, let’s hope that it’s not a damaged head gasket
• check those engine or fluid warning lights – if you drive your car even if it constantly shows those warning lights, then you will accentuate the problem and you might risk getting a totaled engine
• do a regular oil change, air, oil filters and important engine or other auto parts which need a regular check up and changing – Don’t forget to check the headlights, tail lights, spark plugs, the engine’s timing belt and the windshield wipers. When it comes to the oil change, the auto experts give different info… but you can safely change the fluid and oil filter at 5000 miles!

I know that there are a lot of things to digest for a teenager who just got his first car but in time, you’ll get the hang of car care techniques and more importantly, the hang of making money which you need to invest in that car! For other auto detailing techniques like cleaning leather seats or removing light scratches from the paint job, you can always search some youtube video tutorials that’ll show you everything!