6 car care myths and mistakes

In many cases, the car advice your dad gave you no longer applies to the modern era.

Mistake: I don't need a tire gauge
Mistake: I don't need a tire gauge
You should regularly check the air pressure in your tires using a tire gauge. That's especially true now, because you're more likely to find them low as winter approaches.

The air inside your tires is getting colder too, so it's shrinking. Even if air isn't leaving your tires, the pressure inside is going down because of contraction.

Your tires will lose about one to two pounds of pressure for every ten degrees of outside temperature, says Sinclair.

If you have a new car, it probably has a tire pressure monitoring system that turns on an amber dashboard warning light when the tire pressure falls too low. As with most "idiot lights," however, by the time that light comes on, your tires are already lower than you should ever let them get.

Likewise, don't wait until your tire "looks low." Tires often look low when they're not and vice-versa.

The air pressure in your tires should be checked in the morning before you've driven on them, advises Ibbotson, which is when they're at their coldest.

The recommended tire pressures in your owner's manual or stamped someplace in your car - usually inside the driver's door - are recommended for when the tire is cold, not after it's warmed up. (You should go by those numbers, not what it says on the tires, in case the car requires a certain pressure for proper ride and handling.)


Winterizing

Pressure

Warm-up

Coolant

Tread

Oil
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Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.