Taking care of the car

[WS]

Hi

I have recently experimented a little with "bold" positioning the car on the road, which eventually resulted in a tyre puncture . It was on a twisty stretch of road along which roadworks were being carried out. In such areas often various debris can be found on the road (at least in my country) and I happened to put one of my tyres on such debris. This made me conclude that sometimes it might make sense to follow the more traditional driving line in bends, as this line is more likely to be clear because of the majority of drivers using it. What do you think?

This leads me to a wider question - what do you do (or decide not to do) in order to make sure that the car is not damaged and its elements are not being worn out more than necessary? There are some obvious things, such as avoiding hitting things on the road but I am sure many of you have thought about more sophisticated things and could share it.

Rev matching during gearchanges is another obvious example. Any other ideas?

[Astraist]

Good advanced driving habits also do good by the mechanical parts of your car. Wear in the drivetrain, tyres and suspension can be dramatically reduced, oil consumption and pollution will also be reduced and you will consume less gasoline.

In my book, avoiding a hit from debries that might damage any part of the car - is just like avoid any other kind of hazard. The damage that can be bestowed by a bit of gravel on the road (putting aside significantly lower road holding) can be very surprising and I believe that if safety in other aspects allows it - than your positioning should allow to avoid these hazards as well.

Being slower and controling the timing of your approach to the bend can keep your safety margins unchanged even if your positioning is less than ideal due to the circumstances.

[Mr Cholmondeley-Warner]

Keep it clean, monitor fluid levels and pressures.

Drive gently until the oil is warm - if you have no gauge allow 10 minutes after the water reaches working temperature.