Tuesday 6 December 2016

Top 10 Bad Driving Habits That Damage Your Car

Even the best drivers are guilty of bad driving habits. Riding the brakes, not warming up the engine, and ignoring warning signs will damage your car.


Your vehicle is one of your most costly possessions, and it’s certainly one on which you heavily depend. So, you want it to last as long as possible. Even if you have the proper vehicle maintenance measures in place, there may be important day-to-day responsibilities you overlook that have a negative impact on the life of your car.

Here are the top 10 bad driving habits that can cause inadvertent but significant harm to your car:


  • Ignoring the Parking Brake: When you park on an incline, use the parking brake even if you don’t think it’s necessary (read: your car has an automatic transmission). If you don’t, you put pressure on your transmission, where there’s just a small little pin the size of your pinky finger, known as the parking pawl, keeping the whole weight of your car in place.


  • Shifting Into Drive or Reverse When Not Completely Stopped: In a car with an automatic transmission, making the shift into Drive or Reverse isn’t like switching from first gear to second in a manual. You force your transmission to do things it’s not intended to do, and that can cause damage to your drive shafts and suspension.


  • Riding the Clutch: In cars with manual transmissions, drivers sometimes keep the clutch engaged when it’s not time to brake or shift gears. This can wreak havoc with the hydraulic system where the pressure plates meet the flywheel. Riding the clutch causes those plates to graze the flywheel willy-nilly, wearing down the system in general and potentially setting you up for sudden clutch failure in the future.


  • Regularly Adding Small Amounts of Fuel to the Gas Tank: Although there may be times when you just can’t afford to fill the tank entirely or plan to wait for a better fuel deal, adding a few gallons of gas at a time and regularly running with low levels of fuel can actually hurt your car. That’s because it forces your car to take gas from the bottom of the tank, where there is sediment build-up. This can lead to a clogged fuel filter or debris passing into the engine.


  • Riding the Brakes Downhill: Despite feeling like you’re poised to stop in an emergency, riding the brakes while going down hills, or even in general, causes undue wear and tear on your braking system. Driving in this manner actually sets you up for a higher risk of brake failure, so try driving in a lower gear instead, if you have the option.


  • Sudden Stops and Take-Offs: Regularly slamming on the brake or gas pedal takes a large toll on your gas mileage and can even cause deterioration on parts like your brake pads and rotors.


  • Using the Shift Lever as a Hand Rest: Unless you’re a professional racecar driver, there’s really no reason to drive around with your hand resting on your car’s shifter. The weight of your hand actually puts load on the sliders within your transmission, causing unnecessary wear.


  • Carrying Heavy Loads You Don’t Need: It’s one thing to load your car down when helping a friend move or carrying tools to your job, but driving around with a bunch of extra weight for no reason decreases your gas mileage significantly and puts extra stress on all of your car’s components.


  • Improperly “Warming Up” Your Car: While there’s nothing wrong with starting your car and letting it idle for a few minutes before you leave the house on a cold morning, revving the engine right off the bat to “warm it up” is a bad idea. This causes sudden temperature changes that can actually harm your car and forces the engine to work under load before the oil has a chance to fully circulate.


  • Ignoring What Your Car Tries to “Tell” You: It’s not uncommon for your car to make unusual noises before mechanical issues make themselves known in more obvious (read: severe) ways. You know what your car should sound like, so putting off investigating a new rattle or hum only allows a problem to fester and get worse. When something starts to sound amiss, contact us to book a mechanic who can diagnose the issue and put things back in order.

22 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing such a great article and it's helpful for everyone. Great Post! visit here you also get relative information puncture repairs pune

    ReplyDelete
  2. The tutorial is very helpful for a first timer like me, by the way if you could have given a tutorial on creating a free website, it would have been very helpful for newbies like me.
    Thank you
    Cash for Unwanted Cars

    ReplyDelete
  3. Great post. I used to be checking constantly this weblog and I am inspired! Extremely useful information specially the ultimate part :) I maintain such info much. I used to be seeking this particular information for a very lengthy time.
    Thank yyou and good luck.
    Top Cash for Car Brisbane

    ReplyDelete
  4. I would like to thank you for the efforts you've put in writing this website. I am hoping to see the same high-grade blog posts from you in the future as well. In fact, your creative writing abilities has motivated me to get my own blog now ;).
    Car Removal Brisbane

    ReplyDelete
  5. Generally I don't learn post on blogs, but I would like to say that this write-up very pressured me to try and do it!
    Your writing style has been surprised me. Thanks, very great post.
    Cash for Cars Melbourne

    ReplyDelete
  6. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thank you so much for sharing this information with us, its very useful one, really appreciating the time you have put on this. here for some more new ideas, services in Quick Cash for Cars Perth. Have a great day

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thank you so much for sharing this information with us, its very useful one, really appreciating the time you have put on this. here for some more new ideas, services Cash For Cars Sydney Have a great week

    ReplyDelete
  9. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Thank you so much for sharing this information with us Your blog provided us with valuable information to work with. Each & every tips of your post are awesome. here for some more new ideas, services in Car Removals. Have a great week

    ReplyDelete
  11. I would like to thank you for the efforts you've put in writing this website. I am hoping to see the same high-grade blog posts from you in the future as well. In fact, your creative writing abilities have motivated me to get my own blog now :)
    Pool fencing Sydney

    ReplyDelete
  12. I would like to thank you for the efforts you've put in writing this website. I am hoping to see the same high-grade blog posts from you in the future as well. In fact, your creative writing abilities have motivated me to get my own blog now :)
    Home interior design

    ReplyDelete
  13. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Thank you so much for sharing this information with us Your blog provided us with valuable information to work with. Each & every tips of your post are awesome. here for some more new ideas, services in Car Removals Perth. Have a great week
    Car removals Perth

    ReplyDelete
  15. Hi Thanks for posting this! We would love to welcome you at Cars buyer, the only place where you can get top cash for cars.

    Car removal service

    ReplyDelete
  16. This is the remarkable article as well as it is valuable for the entire person and I want to say that I would like to write on this subject too. You have an interesting written on this topic. Visit to The Best Questions to Ask Before Selling Your Old Car to Wrecker In Sydney

    ReplyDelete
  17. Can't afford to buy a Ferrari? no problem, find the best Ferrari for rent in Miami Florida with mph club, the largest exotic car rental company. Ferrari for Rent

    ReplyDelete
  18. Great post. People out there who are looking for car recyclers can contact GDM Wrecking. GDM wrecking actively buys all types of cars and offer used car parts for all models such as Mitsubishi, Nissan, Holden, Toyota, Mazda, Ford, Hyundai etc.

    nissan wreckers Brisbane

    ReplyDelete
  19. Great Post, Visit us for better Towing Service. https://towingsydney.com.au/

    ReplyDelete
  20. Wow, this article really hits the nail on the head when it comes to highlighting the common bad driving habits that can wreak havoc on your car's longevity and performance. We often underestimate the impact of our actions behind the wheel on the overall health of our vehicles. It's amazing how something as seemingly harmless as speeding or abrupt stops can lead to serious wear and tear on our cars. Not to mention the added risk of accidents and the potential need for Sydney cash for cars removal services if things go really south.

    ReplyDelete