When you think of everyday maintenance on a vehicle you have to think about everything that you can prevent so that you do not end up alongside the road stuck there. The best thing you can do when you’ll are trying to make sure that the car is in perfect running order is to do a visual inspection of your vehicle. This means you might have to get a bit during but it will be well worth it when you’re not sitting alongside the road broke down and having to call a tow truck. Here are some things that you want to look for when you’re doing a visual inspection of your vehicle to make sure that you can prevent any possible damage that could happen when you’re on a long trip or just driving a back and forth to work.

The first thing they need to look at is the belts and hoses of your vehicle. If any of these up cracked or stressed out because of the constant heat that your vehicle puts off when your engine is running you need to replace them. Most vehicles have a serpentine belt that runs everything including the alternator an air conditioning unit. If you’re serpentine belt goes out you lose all power so you want to make sure that you pay close attention to see if there are any cracks or stress marks on the belt. The same goes for any radiator hoses and heater core hoses because if they looked damaged or stressed you could be leaking antifreeze causing your engine to overheat.

The next thing you want to look for is any cracking or tire separation on your vehicle. If having a bad tire on your vehicle could lead to a lot of things like going into the ditch or just plain losing control of your vehicle. Do a visual inspection of your tires to see if there is any uneven wear across that tread. You’ll be able to determine if your tires will make it another year depending on the tread life as well as if there are any deformities or loss of air pressure in your tires.

You also want to do a visual inspection of the brakes. All you have to do is check the rotors and brake pads. You’ll be able to tell if you need to replace your brake pads if you hear on a simple squealing or shriek coming from the front end of your car.