Lockdown 5 Pointer – How To Keep Your Car & Bike In Good Health

The COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown that has followed has all of us sitting at home, now even if you love driving cars or riding bikes, this is the time to follow the guidelines of lockdown by staying home and avoiding driving or riding at all. The question is how to keep your car or bike in running condition when not being used for long periods of time. 

Cover it up !! – Keeping your beloved Car or Bike Covered adds longevity to your prized possession. A car or bike cover will also keep it up safe from dust, moisture and the sun which are detrimental to the paint, rubber, plastics and leather inside. Bird Droppings are also bad for the paint job of your car and the cleaning afterwards would also result in swirl marks to appear on the paint.

Battery Maintenance

When a car or bike is left unused for a long period of time, the first thing that gets hit is the battery. The battery will get discharged and the car or bike will not crank up. This can be easily avoided by - 

• External Battery Charging (trickle charging) – There are devices available in the market that can charge your battery from 0-100% and keep the charge up by trickle charging. These devices are best if you have multiple cars and you plan not to drive for a long time. 
• Starting up twice a week. – Best and cheapest way to keep your car or bike’s battery up and running is by starting the vehicle twice a week and keep it running for 15mins or so. This also gets all the fluids circulating inside the engine and is safe. 

Hand brake/ parking brake - 

Handbrake or Parking Brake when left engaged for long periods of time can damage the brake pads leading to jamming of the discs or drums. Parking the vehicle in-gear and keeping a rock behind the tyres is the way to go here. 

Tire Pressure

When parked for long, the tyres develop flat spots from the contact patches. You need to drive your car forward and back every few weeks to rotate the tires. It also helps to pump the air pressure to the prescribed maximum. 

Avoid getting the car washed daily – Washing the car daily with water and soap and then being left unused will lead to accumulation of rust and early wearing out of rubber parts. Ideally, cover your vehicle or park it inside or under a shade.