Most of us think we know our car very well, and some of us even brag about taking care of our car in the best way. Well, in this article, we’re here to show you that you may not be good as you think. Here are a few things you could be doing right now that could be shortening your car's lifespan.

1. Making a full turn of your steering wheel until you hear a slam

Look, your steering wheel has got nothing against you. You just need to treat it a little more gently. We often make huge turns and BAM, the steering wheel is maxed out at its turn and you get that huge sound. Constantly banging your wheel to either side will mess up your steering rack and wheel alignment over time, which equates to more repairs and higher costs in the long run. So be gentle!

2. Shifting into the wrong gear

How many times have you watched movies like Fast and Furious or Initial D and see how they shift gears to go faster? Yes, while “downshifting” is a totally real thing to pick up speed, doing it incorrectly will place a lot of stress on your engine and may just end up with a seized engine. So do it properly and drop one or two gears instead of going for a four gear switch. Any more than that is not going to help you go any faster and may set you up for engine detonation. But also remember that upshifting too early with insufficient speed will also place unnecessary load on the engine and cause your car to go bye bye.

3. Driving with the handbrake engaged

This has surely happened to many of us before. You’re in a hurry to get somewhere and you forget to put down your handbrake. Only when you’ve driven for a distance do you notice that your handbrake is still up. Doing this often will definitely wear out your brake pads relatively quickly. So take some time to check before driving off.

4. Shifting to Neutral when you’re at the traffic lights

There is a common misconception that leaving your car in Neutral when you’re at the traffic lights helps you save petrol. Logically speaking, this makes sense, but in fact it doesn't do much to help the fuel economy of your car. Your RPM actually fluctuates when you shift from Drive to Neutral. The fluctuation in RPM also stresses the bands and clutch plates in your gearbox, which, over time, will wear them out.

5. Only refueling when you’re out of petrol

Some people are a bit kiasu. They want to make the most out of their petrol tank, so they wait until the last minute after the red lights come on. In fact, it will cause more problems for you than you expected. Waiting until the last minute will not only stress you out, but it will also force you fuel pump to overwork and cause wear and tear. Petrol also leaves behind residue and contaminants in your tank, which will circulate your engine and deteriorate other parts of your car.

6. Launching your auto car forward

All youngsters at the arcade have done this before, and replicate the ‘hack’ on their real cars. They launch their auto car forward by leaving the transmission in Neutral, holding the accelerator down, then shifting to Drive. Although this achieves that well needed boost, the clutches and bands in your cars' transmissions are placed under huge amounts of mechanical stress due to the abrupt mashing of a stationary clutch plate with a high-revving engine. So if you want to mess up your automatic transmission, by all means, launch your car!

At the end of the day, it’s better to study up on how to take good care of your car because you’ll never know what you’re doing wrong. Which of these are you guilty of doing?

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6 Things To Avoid Doing To Your Car