Nine Bad Driving Habits That Will Ruin Your Car
If you’ve never driven a car before, you probably believe that pressing both the accelerator and clutch consecutively will make your car move faster. After all, Vin Diesel does that repeatedly in the Fast and the Furious movies. However, this mistake ranks top on the list of Bad Driving Habits That Will Ruin Your Car fast.
If you don’t want to end up broke because you made some costly driving or maintenance expenses, always drive safely. Bad driving habits that are damaging your car can convert your current auto loan into an upside down credit. This is whereby a loan costs almost twice the value of the car.
1. Pay attention to these Bad Driving Habits That Will Ruin Your Car
1. Stomping the brake pedal
In movies, we often see characters slamming their feet on brake pedals when either stopping at a red light or parking. This is very misleading because a brake pedal responds to gentle pressure. Why? Because the brake pads have a close proximity to the front and rear rotors.
Stomping your brakes frequently causes excess friction between your brake pads and rotors. This excess friction wears out your brake pads at a high rate. Brake pads require a hard abrasive surface to work efficiently. When you subject your brake pads to very high friction, they lose grip. After a few months, you’ll notice your brakes don’t work unless you apply excessive force.
2. Resting your hand on the gear shifter
In driving school, we learned that our hands should always remain on the steering wheel when driving. However, after purchasing a car and gaining some driving experience, some people find comfort driving with one hand while the other rests on the shifter’s knob.
The problem with this resting posture is that it exerts unwanted force on your transmission levers. Your resting hand brings about uneven weight distribution that causes a faster rate of wear-and-tear on the rotating collar.
3. Ignoring your oil pressure light
You’re driving to work one morning and suddenly, your oil pressure light starts blinking. Since you’re heading to work, you decide to visit your mechanic in the evening. After work, you decide to ignore the problem because the engine sounds fine.
Oil pressure lights blink when oil decreases in your car’s engine. A car running on insufficient oil can overheat at any moment because friction builds up rapidly between rapidly moving engine parts. Car engines require oil to lubricate moving parts. When you see your oil pressure light blinking, do a fluid leak test immediately.
4. Driving on an empty gas tank
It’s possible for you to drive for a couple of miles when the low fuel light starts blinking. But, is there a problem with doing this repeatedly? Yes, there is. A running engine draws in air and mixes it with fuel in order to produce consistent energy to keep the car moving. During this process, dust and other impurities get inside the fuel tank.
A full tank enables these impurities to settle at the bottom of your gas tank. When you ignore your low fuel light, your engine reaches for the layer of gas mixed with impurities at the bottom of your fuel tank. Later on, your car develops further problems because the entire engine is clogged with dust and other impurities.
5. Driving your car immediately after an overnight parking
Driving requires consistent and rapid movement inside the engine. Car oil lubricates moving parts while a coolant regulates the engine temperature. A car that’s parked for eight hours or more requires warming up for the oil to circulate fully.
Driving your car immediately rather than warming it up for a couple of minutes is a costly mistake. You worsen the rate of wear and tear because some moving engine parts lack enough lubrication.
6. Stepping the brake pedal when driving down a slope
Perhaps as a cautionary measure, some drivers tend to rest one foot on the brake pedal when driving down a slope. This is unnecessary because if you stay alert while driving, you’ll apply your brakes only when it’s necessary.
This mistake is also costly because it subjects your brake pads to unnecessary friction. Within no time, you realize that your car cannot halt abruptly at short distances. That’s because the brake pads have lost too much grip.
7. Ignoring the service indicator on your dashboard
Doctors recommend going for a full body medical check-up annually. This enables you to keep track of your health and enable early detection of illnesses. Similarly, auto mechanics recommend that you take your car for full servicing at least annually.
You might assume that’s everything okay despite your service indicator’s incessant blinking because your engine sounds okay. However, perhaps your engine is performing inefficiently due to clogged gas and oil pipes.
8. Ignoring noisy shock absorbers
Shock absorbers minimize various impacts while driving. Without these important car parts, you’d spend all your money fixing your car engine due to recurring impact when driving over bumps. Your tire rotors would break because they would absorb full impact whenever you drive into a pothole.
If you recently bought a used car, make sure you purchase new shock absorbers.
Are you planning to buy a used car? Read The 2018 Used Car Buying Guide
9. Driving with your foot resting on the clutch
You should use your clutch when switching gears or while driving slowly in a traffic jam. If you like resting your foot on the clutch, you accelerate wear and tear. The clutch plate loses grip and it affects gear transitions. That’s why you realize that some people apply great force on their clutches in order to switch gears.
Imagine how difficult it would be trying to park your car in reverse when you have a faulty clutch.
Avoid These Nine Bad driving habits that can secretly kill your car!
Nobody likes driving a faulty motor vehicle. However, it all depends on your adherence to safe driving habits. A responsible driver hardly experiences mechanical breakdowns because they respond correctly whenever they notice their dashboard lights blinking. If you think car servicing is expensive, try negligence.