You may think that what you're doing is normal and harmless, but unless you want to pay a high price later, we reckon you should be mindful about how your behaviour can influence your car's wellbeing in the long run.
In no specific order, here are the top 10 worst driving habits that will damage your car in the short- and longterm:
1. Shifting into Drive or Reverse when your car is still moving
Do you drive an automatic? It's all too easy to shift into Reverse or Drive when the car hasn't completely stopped yet, especially if you're in a hurry to be somewhere. You should always wait until your car's in a stationary position before changing into P or D in order to preserve your car's suspension and drive shaft.
2. Not engaging the parking brake
Many owners of automatic cars fail to use their parking brake when parked at an incline. Did you know that it puts copious amounts of pressure on your car's transmission? If you don't use the parking brake, the only thing that is supporting the entire weight of the car, is a small pin called a parking pawl. We urge you to use the parking brake at all times.
3. Riding the clutch
Unless you want to spend megabucks on replacing the clutch in the near future, we advise you to stop riding it. This means keeping your foot off the clutch completely so it's not semi-engaged while you're not using it. An unnecessary foot on the clutch causes the clutch plates to graze the flywheel, which will wear down the system and possibly lead to clutch failure later on.
4. Riding the brakes when you drive downhill
Rather switch to a lower gear instead of relying on the brakes all the way down the mountain pass or hill. Unless you want to cause wear and tear on your braking system and set yourself up for brake failure in the future, of course.
5. Resting your hand on the shift leaver
You may think that this is a comfortable and harmless exercise, but it's not. It actually puts load on the sliders within the gearbox, causing wear and tear.
6. Accelerating hard and braking hard for no good reason
We all know those drivers who feel like they have something to prove. They speed off in their pimped-out ride, just to have to slam on the brakes at the next red robot. What they're doing is effectively causing deterioration to different components of their car, such as brake pads, rotors, tyres and so forth. Shame.
7. Driving around with heavy objects in your car
Apart from negatively impacting your car's fuel economy, driving around with heavy objects will also put extra load and stress on your car's innards. We're not saying you should never help a friend move, what we're saying is, remember take those six large bags of potting soil out of the boot when you get home from the nursery - don't drive around with anything heavy unnecessarily.
8. Letting your car run on empty too often
We know that times are tough, but when your car's always running with very low levels of fuel, it's harmful to your car, potentially causing the fuel filter to become clogged or debris going into the engine. That's because the fuel at the bottom of the tank isn't clean, due to sediment-build up, especially in older cars.
9. Not paying attention to warning lights and/or strange noises
If you hear strange noises like knocks, hums or rattles, have it checked out by a professional. In most cases, the problem won't just go away, and driving around with these symptoms will probably cause the issue to become worse. It's the same with warning lights. Check your car's instruction manual if you don't know what it means, and try to get it sorted ASAP. Always make sure that services and oil changes are done as your plan stipulates. This also has an effect on the future value of your vehicle.
10. Revving the engine when it's cold
Now that we're approaching winter, a point to remember is that you won't warm up your car's engine effectively by revving it. In fact, subjecting your poor car to this abuse causes sudden temperature changes that are harmful to your car, forcing the engine to work harder before the oil has had a chance to warm up and to circulate around the engine. The result? Even more wear and tear that will shorten your vehicle's lifespan and have a negative impact on its general health.
