How proper car care can extend the life and safety of your vehicle by Steve Temple

Your car doesn't have to be a classic to have a lot of miles. "Advances in vehicle quality and engine technology have allowed American car owners to keep their vehicles on the road longer," says Eric Papacek, analytic consultant at R. L. Polk, the longest standing curator of automotive records in the United States. According to Mike Gingell, vice president of Polk's aftermarket division, consumers are keeping their vehicles longer for the first time since the mid-1990s. The median car age recorded in 2002 was 8.4 years, "the highest median-age since we began tracking the statistic in 1970."

At an average of 12,000 miles driven each year by most Americans, according to Popular Mechanics an 8.4-year old vehicle could have an odometer reading of approximately 100,000 miles. Therefore, even though advanced technology and better quality make the prospect of keeping and driving your vehicle — long after it's paid for — a justifiable one, once your vehicle reaches the 75,000-mile mark, it's time to take a more diligent approach toward its maintenance.

What specifically happens to a car as it ages and accumulates mileage? And more important, what can you do to slow down that process or even rejuvenate your vehicle? A preventative maintenance program of consistent car care — and a little common sense — can go a long way toward keeping your vehicle running strong and looking good well beyond 75,000 miles.
Parts of the Equation

Normal wear and tear is naturally going to occur over time, but keeping the undercarriage clean can help slow the process. Rubber bushings, for example, in the suspension are susceptible to deterioration from road grime. The rubber can wear from the oil and other contaminants under your vehicle, and the suspension components such as the swaybar bushings start to bind. When this happens, your vehicle's performance suffers. Rubber bushings that are cracked or eaten away may break down before the suspension can respond to a bumpy road, allowing for play or wobble.

Ball joints on older vehicles, for example, require regular lubing with a grease gun. Even though the ball joints on later-model cars are normally sealed, they still should be inspected for damage. In addition, misaligned or unbalanced wheels are the biggest causes of suspension problems. By the time your odometer hits the 100,000-mile mark, shocks and struts usually begin to show signs of age by excessive bouncing or body sway. Unusual or uneven tire wear is another indicator of possible suspension problems.

Other undercarriage components that often wear out over time include the hangers for exhaust systems. While the high nickel content in modern exhaust components helps to resist corrosion far better than in times past, if you live in the rust belt you'll need to examine the exhaust system at least twice a year.
Inspect and Check

Stop Interior Leaks
Pat Goss

Water leaks to the inside of the car can be dangerous! You've got to remember that mold and mildew in a confined space like the inside of a car can be very dangerous.
So, how do you go about finding those leaks? Well, you'll probably need an electronic leak detector such as we have here. This is a transmitter (right) that goes inside the car, then we have a receiver (left) for the outside of the car. Now, a leak could be coming from just about anyplace, could be in the cowl area, around the windshield wipers, maybe even around the outside mirror.
But what you do to find it is turn on the transmitter, put it inside the car in the general area where the problem is, close the car up, turn on the receiver, and as it comes close to the leak, it will start to leak because the radio waves come out where the water goes in. Pretty simple device.
In addition to that, there is another problem that people are faced with and a lot of it is through confusion. Many people have the idea that doors are sealed against water getting inside them. They are not! Water can go into the door; it runs through the door, and it runs out of small drain holes down in the bottom of the door, and that's fine until those drain holes clog up. When they do, the water builds up in the door until it reaches one of these lower holes and spills out into the inside of the car.
You can fix this yourself. We have a cut-away section of a door right here, and we're going to shine a light through one of these holes. You can see right here, with the light shining through it, and there are several of those on the bottom of the door.
All you have to do to clean the drain holes is take a piece of coat hanger, like we have here, wrap some tape around it so it can't go up into the door too far and hit some wires or damage anything, and you simply push it up and down into the hole, work it around in there to dislodge any dirt that may have accumulated over time, but don't look straight up at it while you're doing it because if there's any water in there you're going to get water right into your face.
Now, it's a very simple thing, it will keep the carpets dry, it will also keep the bottoms of the doors from rusting.

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