A master's guide to maintaining a car

1. Choose a small street shop with reliable craftsmanship and make friends with the boss or repairman. He can solve most of the maintenance and repairs for you. The problem is that it does better than 4S stores, the price is cheaper, and the quality of spare parts can be guaranteed.

2. It is best not to touch the original car paint if it can be moved. If the scratches are not deep enough to reach the metal layer, try not to deal with them (don’t think it’s ugly, the car is just a tool placed and used in the open air, don’t treat it as a Ancestor antiques).

3. Use water to clean the dust on the car body, and never use a dry towel or duster to wipe it off.

4. Don’t park under a tree. The sap of the tree and the excrement of insects and birds will corrode the car paint.

5. Dry bird droppings cannot be wiped off. Rubbing hard will damage the paint surface. Use a paper towel dipped in water to cover the bird droppings. After a few minutes, wipe it off and it will fall off.

6. Try not to change brands of engine oil, antifreeze and cleaning fluid to avoid mixed deterioration, mainly antifreeze.

7. Try not to park it for a long time.

8. Try not to lend it to others.

9. No matter how tight the time is, as long as you can spare a minute, use this minute to clean the glass before driving. Use a towel to clean the glass, do not use wipers or glass water. Wipers and glass wipers are used to remove mud and water raised by the car in front of you on rainy days, not to clean the glass.

10. Before getting in the car, take a look around to see if the tires are inflated, to see if there are any foreign objects under the car, to see if the mailbox cover and trunk have been pried off, and to see if there are any children around. Playing.

11. Unless you are washing the car after snow, do not use a spray gun to hit the bottom of the car during normal car washing. It is no different from driving through water. When washing a car after snow, you need to dig the bottom of the car to remove the snow melting agent in the snow water. The corrosive effect of the snow melting agent is much more serious than the corrosion caused by water stains.

12. Afraid of damaging the car. According to the way ordinary people treat new cars (or even old cars), how can the car be damaged? Whether violent driving will damage the car is another question. How many violent drivers do ordinary people have? Especially for automatic transmissions, no matter how violently you step on it, the computer will still control it. The manual transmission may break down, but the automatic transmission will have no problem at all. Many people think that stepping on the accelerator is violent driving, and keeping the speed in the red zone is violent driving. According to this standard, few people can achieve it. On the contrary, driving at low speed will cause more damage to the car, high fuel consumption, incomplete combustion and carbon deposits.

13. There is a running-in period, but you really don’t have to worry about it. In my opinion, the running-in period mentioned in my Ford owner's manual means that my big Ford car does not need the troublesome running-in period you mentioned, and it can be driven normally. Please see if the running-in period written in the manual below is different from the running-in period we usually hear about. There is no such thing as a warm-up period. It is just that the characteristics of the tires will change from new to old. This is nonsense. Don't keep changing the vehicle speed and shifting gears. Regardless of whether it's the running-in period or not, normal people won't speed up and slow down at once, so just keep shifting gears. In my opinion, this is really just a matter of normal operation. This is true for American cars. Do other Japanese cars and German cars need to worry so much about running-in? In fact, it does not mean that there is no running-in, but that you can achieve the running-in effect by driving it normally. In the first 1,000 or 2,000 kilometers, don't step on the accelerator, keep the floor oil on the floor for a long time, don't brake suddenly, and just brake smoothly.

I dare say that most people who drive new cars really can’t injure their cars due to violent driving. Do you think that a big foot on the accelerator will injure the car? In fact, it is the high-speed red zone that will injure you, so it should not be long. Keep your foot on the accelerator to maintain high rpm. The most important thing in the running-in period is not the running-in of the car, but your running-in. Regardless of the running-in of the car or yours, as long as you drive the car fast and steady. Don't exaggerate the running-in, and don't build it to death.

14. Many people drive slowly on the road just because they are worried about running-in, and do not step on the accelerator when there is more than a dozen car bodies in front of them. Although it is said that you should be careful during the running-in period, you should not drive at a speed of more than 30 years. Many people think that it is safer to go slower, but in fact it is safer to go faster. Think about the time when you were first driving and were frightened on the road at 20 or 30. The car next to you kept passing you. You were so nervous.

Later, as an experienced driver, I drove faster and reached 50 or 60 in the city. There were not so many cars passing you around, so my concentration was not so tense. To put it bluntly, the driving speed was to follow the flow of traffic. If everyone drove 60, If you drive at 30, then you are the most dangerous, because everyone is trying to overtake your car. If the car behind you changes lanes after your car, if the car behind it does not react and changes lanes to overtake, it will hit you at 60. If everyone drives 30 and you drive 60, then your probability of crashing is very high. So don’t drive slowly during the running-in period. Don't worry about the car, just worry about your own skills.

To summarize, the running-in period is necessary, but don’t deify it. Just maintain good driving habits during the running-in period, and maintain good driving habits after the running-in period. Don't exaggerate the manual's instructions about accelerator and brake. Your normal accelerator and brake, or even the accelerator you think you use, are not considered the accelerator stated in the manual. Just keep up the good and smooth driving.

15. Fuel additives. Don't trust these XXX fuel treasures at gas stations. If you want to use them, just use the fuel additives provided by the brand's original manufacturer.

16. Come on. Just use fuel with the correct label. There is no need to drink higher grade oil.

17. Drive. It is good for the engine to give oil when it is time to give oil. It is good for the engine to increase the engine speed from time to time. Just like people exercise, the engine also needs to increase the speed and needs to learn.

18. Car wash. If there are things like resin or fruit, get rid of them as soon as possible. Go to the car wash if there is nothing to worry about, or wash the car if it is a little dusty. Nowadays, some car wash shops are really trying to make money in a fancy way. To wash the car, you have to disassemble the wheel hub and wash it. After washing, you have to make a movie and post it on WeChat. I don’t know what the point is. Of course, it doesn’t matter to car owners who are not short of money, even if they open their own car wash shop.

19. Park the car. ① Do not start the engine and park it for a long time, as it is easy to accumulate carbon. ② Do not listen to music or radio for a long time with the power on (not started), which may damage the battery. ③ When parking on a slope, remember to pull the handbrake, whether electronic or mechanical.

20. Turn. When moving or parking in a small area, try not to turn the steering wheel hard. The better the car, the less likely it is to do this. For example, some sports cars and supercars make abnormal noises after a long time.

21. The value of your car. Although love is priceless, the car has a price. If you maintain it at a suitable price, you will be relaxed and the car will not be flattered. For example, when it comes to engine oil, don't always think about increasing the grade of engine oil. It may not be suitable for your car. Of course, you must not add a mark lower than the one you set, otherwise it will definitely damage the car.

22. Daily maintenance. Routine maintenance is much better than going to the 4S store frequently and doing all kinds of troubles.

As for dry car washing, film sticking, and coating, you can do it if you want to, but if you just buy a vegetable cart, the cost of coating is not as cheap as repainting it every two years. Do not stick (hang) a bunch of things on the front desk of the car, the car windshield, or the rearview mirror, such as protective pads, perfume, glasses frames, navigation brackets, beads, and other miscellaneous things. Not to mention blocking the view, if something happens, they will be smashed. On your own face!