Top 10 essentials for maintaining your car at home

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Sun 31 Dec 2017 14:20
- CaptainT
I bought one and promptly creased up the longitudinal frame on my 1975 BMW 2002tii. The "pad" is small enough (like the one in your picture) to neatly fit between the vertical side pieces. Why don't these come with decent "soft" pads? I found the same or similar problem with the axle stands. They all curve up at the edges making for a good high pressure on a flat part of the car. It seems a bit of a "faff" placing wood pads on the things and hoping nothing slips!
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Sun 31 Dec 2017 16:53
- Contax139
I understood bleeding brakes and changing brake fluid needed diagnostics computer connected on modern cars with ABS. Before buying an oil filter remover check if you can use one, Peugeot & others with 1.4HDi are not a cartridge filter. I think the Clarke toolkit is an overkill for most people with modern cars as many jobs are better done by a garage, I prefer to get a good basic setup and add things as needed for each car I own, some jobs that used to be simple on older vehicles can easily go wrong on these stupid modern cars and then can be very expensive to fix, garages are used to doing some of those tasks and are aware of what can go wrong. When I get a new care first thing I access every bulb so I know how to do it at side of road and make a kit of all required bulbs and fuses required also spare wiper blades, only bulb could not change was front flashers on Peugeot Bipper Tepee as requires removing front bumber assembly to release headlights for access. Get all topup fluids so they are there when required. I have built a new Triumph Vitesse from scratch in the eighties, bought new chassis, body panels and any bits I could get new, completely rebuilt 2 engines for it and rebuilt gearbox with all new bearings but too old and ill now and would not attempt it on a modern car. Most people with interest should be able to change oil and filters, fit new brake discs, pads, shoes, wheel bearings, battery, spark plugs, radiator and such parts but remember you won't get service history stamped. Dealers will reduce trade in value without it but go back with all records stamped and won't increase value, I found that out.
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Sun 31 Dec 2017 21:40
- Harrovian
I would suggest using better quality items, for example Melco axle stands by Thomas Meldrum, made in Sheffield, England, not China. King Dick, another old British company make much better tools than Clarke, yes more expensive, but much better quality, so just buy what you need and they will last a lifetime.
I would echo the comments above about care when working on new cars, they do not lend themselves to DIY, but one can do some jobs if you take care.
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