A well-planned garage for car maintenance

Park without pain 

Save your car and the garage wall from damage by installing a simple parking guide. A tennis ball hanging from the ceiling will do the trick. First, run a length of string through the tennis ball. Next, park the car in the ideal position. Now, hang the string so that the tennis ball is just touching the centre of the windscreen.

 

Centring a car in a narrow garage to allow for adequate door room on both sides can be a challenge. One way to make the task easier is to use a strip of refl ective tape as a guide. Cut the tape to match the width of your car and fix it to the back wall of the garage in the perfect position. Line your car up with the strip as you drive in and you’ll have a perfectly centred park, every time.

 

If you’re doing fi ne detailing work on your car, you’ll want good lighting. A couple of portable halogen or fluorescent floodlights, either on stands or hooked onto the rafters, are a good option.

 

For your safety you should be certain that your front and rear lights are always in good working order. Fix one mirror to one of the inside front corners of your garage and another to an inside back corner and set them so that you can see a pair of lights in each mirror. That way you can see at a glance whether your lights are working.

 

To check for engine problems, line the garage floor with newspaper and park the car on top. Later, when you drive the car out, check the newspaper for drips and stains. Dark greasy droplets could mean an oil leak. Clear oily stains could be caused by leaking brake fluid. Red drips could indicate a loss of transmission fluid. Greenish puddles are likely to be escaped coolant.

 

Until a leaking car can be fixed, protect the garage floor with a homemade drip pan. Lay a sheet of corrugated cardboard on a large baking tray and slide the tray under the site of the leak.