Are you going to the seaside or some other long trip and you think there is no need to check your car in detail, since you drive it every day and are sure that it is in perfect working order? Don't forget that it is not the same if a problem occurs a kilometer from home or 600 kilometers away...
And if you are abroad, with your entire family, especially with small children, you have to wait for a towing service, find a service center and various other things, while the vacation is slowly coming to an end.
Of course, it goes without saying that the car must always be in good condition, but additional checks and preparations will certainly not hurt.
You can check many things yourself, for some it would be better to go to a trusted service center, while some you definitely have to leave to professionals.
Don't wait the day before departure!
Start checking your car a week or two before leaving on your trip. It can take a lot of time to fix even a trivial problem, especially now during the holidays (and service technicians go on vacation) and the heat, which causes crowds in air conditioning services.
1) Check your tires, look for damage - you will be driving at high speeds and covering a lot of mileage. Some tire damage that does not pose a significant risk in urban conditions can be very dangerous on the highway. Check for cuts (potholes, curbs), including the inside, whether any caps ("bubbles") have appeared, etc.
2) Check your tire pressure - check the pressure e.g. two weeks before, and then a day or two before setting off to see if any tires are slowly losing air.
Pressure is extremely important. If the tires are not inflated enough, it brings a whole series of negative things. The car will consume more fuel, the tires will wear out faster, the tread will not wear out evenly, the inner structure of the tire will suffer more stress and be more susceptible to damage later, there is a greater chance of damage to both the tire and the rim when hitting an obstacle or climbing a curb...
Not to mention safety - worse braking, worse cornering behavior...
Be sure to check the manufacturer's instructions or a sticker on the car that states the recommended pressure in different situations - when the car is loaded and how much. Don't take the word of a tire repairman or neighbor.
Also, various safety systems are calibrated according to the dimensions of the tires. If there is a large difference between the tire pressures, it can mislead some of the systems such as ASR, ESP or ABS, since they use, among other data, data sent by the ABS sensors (they measure the speed of the wheels).
3) Spare wheel - although the spare wheel is slowly but surely becoming a thing of the past, it's not a bad idea to have a full-size spare wheel in your trunk.
You may have run-flat tires, you may have a puncture repair kit, you may have paid for a roadside assistance package, but when you find yourself on a Sunday at 2:00 am in the middle of nowhere after seriously damaging your tire and maybe even your rim - both the run-flat and the repair kits are for nothing, and how long you'll have to wait for help and what kind of help you'll get - it all depends on where you are, what time it is, what day it is...
4) Check the pressure in the spare wheel - since the spare wheel is usually "hidden", drivers forget about it. Only when the tire gets punctured do they realize that the tire on the spare wheel has lost a lot of air over the years, and they have nothing to pump it up with. If you have a so-called "spare tire", i.e. a smaller spare wheel, check the prescribed pressure for it.
5) Check the production date of the spare tire - in older used cars, the spare tire, regardless of whether it is a "spare tire" or a full-size tire, can be 20 years old, which is definitely not acceptable.
6) Check the expiration date of the tire repair kit - if you do not have a spare tire, but a tire repair kit, check whether its expiration date has expired.
7) Learn how to use a tire repair kit - read the instructions for using this kit in detail in time, because if you use it incorrectly, you can waste it.
8) Check the suspension and brakes yourself - it is ideal if you find a road with as little traffic as possible and with a speed limit of 80 km/h. Drive at a speed of 80 km/h and very gently press the brake pedal - listen and try to feel any sounds or vibrations. If you hear or feel something that should not be, that is a reason to visit the service.
Perform this type of test with a harder press on the brake pedal and at lower speeds, so that you can explain the symptoms in more detail to the service center. Various vibrations, shaking, knocking, and the like - can indicate a whole range of problems with tires, rims, suspension and brakes.
It is often difficult to find the cause, so it is better to start checking as early as possible.
9) Wipers - at high speeds, a large number of insects stick to the windshield. That is why it is very useful to have good wipers. The windshield should be cleaned of insect remains whenever possible, because when they dry and burn, not only is it more difficult to remove no, they also damage the rubber on the wipers.
10) Bring spare wiper fluid - windscreen washer fluid can be used up very quickly if you frequently remove insects while driving, so it's a good idea to carry a spare.
