Car maintenance is no easy game to play. Once you’ve sold your soul to the contraption that will get you from point A to point B, you also sell your soul over to all of the maintenance and upkeep the car will require from that point on. However, not all maintenance needs to be a headache and it also doesn’t need to cost tons of money either.
There are some pretty simple car maintenance hacks that you will wish you had known sooner. Just a few of these simple items you’ll need for basic maintenance are toothpaste, nail polish, and a toilet plunger. No joke. Here are 20 car maintenance hacks every driver needs to know in order to make their lives way easier (and cheaper)!
1. Cleaning headlights with toothpaste
Use good ole’ toothpaste to clean the headlights of your car! It’ll clean your headlights arguably better than it cleans your teeth (those damn cavities).
2. Defog your car with the AC
First, turn on the heat full blast to eliminate moisture in the air. Then, turn on the AC to make a dry environment. Next, switch back to the heat and switch off the air recirculation button, and finally, crack open the windows. This works a lot quicker than the typical defrost.
3. Cover the windshield during winter
A lot of people use a sunshade in the summer to prevent the hot sun from boiling up your car. Well, the same thing can be done during the winter with a blanket or tarp on the outside of your windshield to protect it from snow and ice.
4. A more efficient way to cool down
Instead of blasting the AC and waiting 5-10 minutes for it to cool down, try rolling down the driver’s side window, then opening and closing the passenger side door a few times. This will force the hot air out of the car faster than simply just relying on AC.
5. Nail polish to repair windshield cracks
As soon as you notice a small fracture in your windshield, put some clear nail polish on that bad boy.
Read on to the NEXT page for more car maintenance hacks…