Give Your Car a Checkup

Summer is a busy time for your car.  Lots of family vacations and road trips.  Is your car in good condition?  You put some pretty precious cargo in your car, so it's pretty important to know what to look for in your car, and what to do if you do run in to a problem.

I was fortunate to be able to attend a Sailun Tire event at my local Coast Tire.  I learned some great tips that I would like to share with you.

Do you change your own oil?  If you do, that's awesome!  I usually take mine in to have the oil changed.  Many garages do an inspection of other elements like the filter of your car when they do an oil change - be sure to check with your garage to see what's included in your oil change.  It may not seem important, but a clean filter helps your car run better, so it's worth your while.

I also learned that inside the driver's side door of your car is a little plaque that has some pretty important information about your car.

A few years ago, I had the unfortunate opportunity to blow out a tire after driving over a pothole on a remote highway.  I had never changed a tire, so I had to learn on the spot.  Sailun tires shared some great information so you won't have to learn the way I did.  Did you know that your car has a specific spot where the car jack will attach so you can raise your car?  Have a look underneath and see what you can see.  Looks simple enough from above when someone else is doing it:

Sounds intimidating, but I've put my own car up on a jack, and as long as you put the jack where it needs to be (have a look under your car), it's not as difficult as you might think.

Does your car have a locknut?  Have a look at your tire, if there's a nut that looks different than others, that could be a locknut.  A locknut is one that needs a key to take it off.  Make sure you keep that key in your car, so you can get your tire off.  The tire below has a locknut - on the right hand side, near the bottom:

It's also important to pay attention to your treads and tire pressure, they help ensure your tires work properly and can stop when you need to, keep a grip on the road, and deal with any weather you may run in to.  I received two handy tools to help me monitor these two aspects.  First is a tire depth card to see whether your tires are too worn.  Have a look at the card below:

You put the corner of the card in your tire treat.  If your treat is in the green, it's in great condition for optimum performance.  If it is in the yellow zone, it performs less than optimally in the rain and snow.  And if it is in the red, it is unsafe.  There are other tire depth tools that you can find at many vendors, be sure to ask at your local garage where you can get one.

The other aspect I got to try was testing the tire pressure.  Here's a picture of me giving it a try:

And my friend Jill:

You take a little tire pressure tool like this:

Which can be found at various garages and stores.  You put it on the valve where you put air in your tire, and a small gauge on the end will pop out to tell you your tire pressure.  Remember the little plaque on your door I told you about earlier?  Information about your require tire pressure is on that plaque, and some cars actually have sensors that will alert you if your tire pressure is low.

Tires are essential pieces to your cars safety.  Make sure you check your car for the required size before you purchase.  Check the plaque on your drivers door to ensure you're buying the correct size, and make sure you're buying from a reputable dealer.  

Sailun tires offers great quality tires at a reasonable price.  They're offered at many great garages such as Coast Tire.  Check out their website for more information about their tires and find out where you can get your own Sailun Tires:  www.sailuntires.ca

I want to thank Sailun tires for putting on this information session as I got so much valuable information.  

Before you head on the road this summer for the perfect summer road trip, make sure you give your car a checkup!

And as a bonus - check out this awesome giveaway below - you could win some free tires!

Free Set of Sailun Tires