Looking to simplify your car maintenance? We've rounded up several handy car tips and tricks to make cleaning a breeze.
10 Handy Car Maintenance Tips
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Use Sawdust to Soak Up Spills
If you’re working on your car, oil spills are a hazard. Fortunately there’s a handy and free way to clean up this car maintenance hazard. You can pick up used oil spills on the driveway or in the garage using sawdust. The material is readily available in most home workshops—just open up the dust-collection bags on your orbital sander, miter saw, etc. Pour sawdust over the spill, let it soak up the liquid for about 20 minutes, and then sweep it up.
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Brush Out the Air Vents
Louvers are a real magnet for dust, and a vacuum with a brush attachment just won’t get it all. To get them as clean as possible, take an inexpensive artist’s paintbrush and give them a light shot of furniture polish. Work the brush into the crevices to collect the dust. Wipe the brush off with a rag and move on to the next one.
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Truck Bed Reach Stick
Your truck bed can hold a lot, which is fantastic. But that means that unloading items from the back can be quite the process. To make it easier, keep an extension handle with a paint roller on the end in your truck bed. Thanks to this handy car tip, you won’t have to climb in and out, saving you time and saving your back!
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Pipe Insulation in Crevices
Reader James Goldstein came up with a genius and handy solution for preventing items such as keys or cell phones from falling between the seats and the console in a car. Not only can they be hard to retrieve, it’s dangerous to try to if they fall while you’re driving. To solve this problem, Goldstein simply wedged pieces of foam pipe insulation in the gaps!
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Cardboard Drop Cloth
Looking for a way to reuse those large pieces of cardboard from boxes that you bring into your home? Store them along a wall in your garage or workshop so they’re at the ready when you’re working on a messy project such as refinishing furniture or changing the oil in your car. A large slab of cardboard makes a perfect disposable drop cloth.
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Lubricate Window Tracks
Freezing water can seep into the window tracks and create drag when you try to open the window. That drag can damage the window regulator cables, costing you quite a lot of money to repair. You can avoid the problem entirely by lubricating the window tracks with spray silicone or dry teflon spray lubricant.
Lower the window and shoot the spray right into the front and back window track. Apply enough lube so it drips all the way down the track. Then operate the window through several open and close cycles to spread the lube along the entire track. Use glass cleaner and a paper towel to remove any spray that lands on the glass.
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Compressor Creeper
Save your back by storing your air compressor on a mechanic’s creeper, so you can easily tote it around your workshop or garage. Depending on the size of your compressor, you may be able to store your hose on the creeper, too.
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Saltwater for your Car
If you’re running late and don’t have a windshield scraper in the car, you’ll be desperate for a fix. In a pinch like this, you can try a saltwater mix. Road salt mixed with some water will remove the thin layer of ice when the temperature dips below 32 degrees F. After applying it, use your wipers to push the slush away. A word of caution: since salt isn’t great for your car, use this method sparingly. It’s an emergency solution, but it shouldn’t be your go-to deicing method.
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Hands-Free Light
Make a hands-free light in a snap with a flashlight, a pair of pliers and a rubber band. Place the flashlight in the jaws of the pliers; then wrap a rubber band around the handles of the pliers. That’s it! Point the light wherever you need it.
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Use a Toothbrush for Detailing
A simple little household item that cost a couple of bucks can be a mighty tool for cleaning the crevices inside your car. Just like your toothbrush loosens stuff between your teeth, it does the same thing for your car. Once the gunk is loosened up and brought to the surface, it’s easy to vacuum it up or wipe it off. It can be used to clean the rims and headlights too.
