Tips in keeping your car in tip-top shape

Tips in keeping your car in tip-top shape

Use the following tips pages to help you keep your car or truck in the best shape possible. These are not necessarily in order of the way I like to detail a vehicle.
NOTE: These tips, products and methods are good for ANY vehicle, of ANY year. Feel free to write if you have specific questions.

Sometimes it's nice to get an "attaboy" from a noted source. If you take Road & Track magazine, check out the June, 1999 issue on page 189 in the Technical Correspondence article. I take the magazine to task for recommending, in a previous issue, that people store vehicles and start them on a regular basis just to keep the valve springs from deteriorating. No less an authority than David Roth of Daimler-Chrysler's Advanced Engine Technology department agreed with me that valve spring deterioration is not a concern. I also made the point that running a car for just a few minutes will create condensation in the crankcase and exhaust system that does much more damage than just letting the car sit till it can be driven for a nice drive of at least 10 minutes! Check out my car storage tips below:
I prefer a detail order like this:
Interior including inside windows (start inside while you are still dry and clean yourself!) Trunk (or luggage compartment for wagons/SUV's) Engine compartment (be sure to rinse off the paint nearby afterwards!) Body wash Wheels/Tires (dress out tires at this time too) Polish and wax the body Detail exterior parts like rubber trim, black plastic, headlights/taillights and chrome Exterior windows
Where to put the undercarriage in the above list? I would either do it first or last, and on a different day! The undercarriage is an entire project of it's own and can blow your energy and mood depending on how nice it was to start! Of course not every car will need or get undercarriage attention, more on that later.