Preventative Maintenance: Extending the Life of Your Vehicle

Wow! What a great weekend. At Rockynats 05, 64,000 people joined over the weekend to explore the 1,800 entries of cars, bikes, and trucks, indulge in the burnouts, and experience the excitement of another top-notch event held in our great city of Rockhampton. With another five years locked in, this event is only set to get better and better.

Now that the excitement has subsided and the school holidays have arrived, let’s discuss the service you recently received, and the defects noted during that appointment. I like to think that your mechanic or service advisor has had a thorough conversation about the list (if you have one), covering which repairs are a priority, how soon they should be completed, or whether they simply need to be monitored and noted at each service.

Preventative Maintenance – This is a proactive approach to ensuring that equipment remains in good condition and fit for purpose, ultimately preventing unexpected breakdowns and costly repairs.

Regular servicing ensures that your technician monitors critical components so that when they reach their wear limit, they can be replaced. This, in turn, extends the life and value of your vehicle. Completing repairs in a planned environment is often cheaper than addressing them during an unexpected breakdown. It’s the old chestnut: something always seems to break when you need it most—typically when you’re on your way to something important. And if you find yourself away from home, having to secure accommodation and a mechanic who can fit you in for repairs only adds to the stress.

Collaborating with your local service agent to address these issues is an excellent way to ensure preventative maintenance. Even if the components aren’t fully worn out or making noticeable noises, it’s wise to tackle the issue before it escalates into a bigger problem.

We all know someone who squeezes every millimetre of tread from their tyres, right? Unfortunately, that’s not a good idea. Tyres have a minimum tread wear requirement of 1.5 mm across the entire tyre. For instance, if you have 2 mm in the centre but only 1.5 mm on the edges, it’s time to replace your tyres.

The Australian Design Rules for Tyres state, “ADR 23.2.2.1.2: It shall incorporate at least four Treadwear Indicators, approximately equally spaced, each of which provides a visual indication when the tread in the vicinity of the indicator has a groove depth of 1.6 (+0.40, -0.25) mm.”

These indicators are valuable tools for visually inspecting the condition of your tyres. While you might not know exactly how many kilometres you have left, you can monitor them as they approach these limits. To locate your Treadwear Indicator, examine the sidewall of the tyre nearest the tread; you’ll typically find a small arrow or TWI symbol indicating its position within the group of lugs in the tread section.

When inspecting suspension bushings, you may notice cracks or splits caused by fatigue or age. Although these bushings might not exhibit excessive movement, they should be checked during every service to ensure they are not deteriorating further. Remember, these components invariably worsen with age rather than improve. Proactively replacing them during scheduled maintenance is highly recommended.

Don’t postpone your repairs—even minor defects. Plan to address them promptly to prevent them from ruining your day.