Discover the best ways to approach repairing and maintaining your pride and joy with these sports car tips and tricks
Owning a sports car is a rare and expensive privilege, afforded to a lucky, committed or sometimes foolhardy few. Every petrolhead has a dream car they’d love to own, and eventually getting your hands on your own dream car can be a cause for extreme celebration as a result. But with purchasing the sports car of your dreams, the journey as only just begun.
As with any vehicle, sports cars need maintaining. Sports cars, though, can be more expensive to maintain, on account of the rarity of their parts and the complexity of their design. Further, if you’ve gotten a good deal on your sports car, chances are there’s something wrong with it that needs addressing. What, then, is the best way to approach repairing and maintaining your very own pride and joy?
Routine Maintenance
Your sports car is no more immune to the need for routine maintenance than your daily driver – and this is a good place to start. Routine maintenance tasks include checking the pressure and tread condition of your tyres, checking the levels and condition of your fluids, and checking your brakes and suspension.
Each of these tasks can reveal deeper issues on your first run-around with the car, or otherwise alert you to potential issues before they are exacerbated by use of the car. As such, they should be incorporated as part of a schedule, in order to reduce any chance that you inadvertently worsen your new pride and joy’s condition.
Handling Common Issues
If you do encounter an issue, mechanical or otherwise, as part of these routine checks, you may not need to involve the big guns just yet. Something like a flat or worn tyre can be easily and inexpensively handled in your garage at home. Buying a reputable brand of replacement, i.e. Bridgestone tyres, can extend the time that passes before a future replacement is necessary.
Fluids, meanwhile, can be easily topped-up and replaced at home – something made far easier by the mechanic-friendly design of older and vintage sports cars. If you’ve plumped for something post-millennium, you might struggle – and might benefit from starting a serious professional relationship with your nearest specialist mechanic.
Upgrading Your Car
Unless you’re the most die-hard of at-home car mechanics, a professional relationship with a specialist mechanic will be a shrewd move for future-proofing your new investment. Beyond basic and routine maintenance, you may want to perform preventive maintenance or even mechanical upgrades in order to extend the life of your car and improve its performance.
Performance upgrades can be achieved in numerous different ways, but generally start with improving airflow through the engine. This can increase the power your engine produces, and also positively impact your radiator system. Another upgrade might be to address the fuel system, for better control over the function of your engine overall.
