General maintenance review: what do you all do?

I do a bunch of stuff that has kept my car looking like new after 3 years.

At every oil change I lubricate all hinges and locks, including ignition lock, door lock, latches and hinges, hood hinges and latch, and the trunk hinge and latch. Many people have had problems with the ignition locks, and a little bit of grease could prevent that. Check the owner's manual for the type of lubricant to use for each location.

Several times per year I coat all of the rubber trim and weatherstrips with dielectric grease (or Krytox GPL105 - same as GM's weatherstrip lubricant). I also put dielectric grease on the windshield trim (it is rubber), door window trims (also rubber), and the roof rails (aluminum with a rubber coating). Properly protecting these rubber trims will make the car look great much longer. Without some sort of protection the rubber will look ugly in a very short time due to sun rot and acid rain.

I apply protectant to the plastic trim a few times per year. I also put protectant on the tires. I use Mother's Protectant.

I clean and lubricate the sunroof tracks a couple times per year (I use white lithium grease) and remove any debris from the sunroof area so that it doesn't get into the drain tubes. I also, lubricate the seals with dielectric grease. Last year I noticed a little squeak when closing the sunroof. I found out that there are small rubber bumpers near the rear of the glass, and a little dielectric grease on those stopped the squeak. I also remove and clean the inside accordion air deflectors to make them look better and last longer.

I clean, clay bar and wax my rims at least once a year. Rims are often neglected, and they make a big difference in the looks of the car. Also, I clean inside the rims, not just the outside. This helps the rims look great much longer and will reduce the chance of corrosion. Alloy or aluminum rims with a lot of dust inside make the car look old and neglected in my opinion. It is super easy to wipe the inside of the rims every time I wash the car.

I put a little bit of grease on the battery terminals so they won't corrode. I clean and re-grease about once a year. I use high temp wheel bearing grease. Recently I noticed that the terminals were neglected and had some oxidation on them. I used some sand paper to clean off the oxidation and reapplied the grease. I also checked the ground points inside the engine bay to make sure they were clean and had good contact. This car seems to be pretty sensitive to ground problems due to all of the computers.

I have rear drum brakes, and I just opened and cleaned them for the first time recently. They were about 1/4 full of dust. Cleaning them out made them perform better, and should reduce the chance of corrosion and reduce wear. I checked the brake adjustment at this time, but they were good. The drum brakes on the Cruze are automatically adjusted every time you apply the hand brake.

Every time I remove the wheels, I put some wheel bearing grease on the center hubs. It is important not to get it on the mating surface between the wheel and hub. Grease will keep them from rusting. I have seen some hubs on the forum that are almost completely rusted out.

Once a year, I lift the car and look for any rust. I clean and paint any rust I find. I don't get much rust here in California, but it's still good to check. Also, I spray off the undercarriage a couple times a year to remove any crud.

I keep the engine bay clean. This will help me notice any leaks while they are still small.

I haven't bled the brakes yet. I plan on doing this sometime soon since it is about 3 years old now. I don't plan to change the coolant until I reach 5 years.

I also put a little wax on my license plates when I wax the car. No reason not to keep them looking nice as long as possible.

I don't think I've ever lubricated a door on anything I've owned. The door checks broke constantly on my Volvo because the doors were practically made of tank armor with a piece of flimsy metal to hold it open on the check, but haven't seen that on too many other cars.

I generally keep up with tire rotations, fluid changes (don't forget transmission (45k), brake + clutch fluid (3 yr/50k), and coolant (5 yr/100k), filter changes, and things like spark plugs. I changed the serpentine belt and tensioner on the 2012 @ 40k when the thing was chirping with AC on - tensioner's fault, but may as well do the belt. Preventative maintenance if you live in a salty/rusty area of things like brake caliper slides and parking brake mechanism is probably a good idea. If you've changed spark plugs, re-gapping and checking coil pack boots may be a 2-6 month interval based on how much you drive and what plugs you're running.

I should be better about detailing, waxing, and keeping cars paint in better shape. I just don't have the time to spend all day on a car.

My maintenance is easy. I'm half retarded so I keep things easy.


I do an oil change when the display says to (7500mi?).
When I do an oil change, I also schedule a tire rotation.


every 3-4 oil changes I drain/fill tranny fluid. I also flush the radiator and bleed the brakes at this time (notice a pattern yet? lol)


I recently started adding plugs to the tranny fluid line-up. Since I switched to coppers, they need replacing more often than the platinum/unobtanium ones.


I'm coming up on the timing belt interval. Still deciding on whether I want GM to do it (for warranty purposes) or just buy the parts and have a mechanic do it. Definately won't be me, I don't do timing belts or clutches anymore. lol

Not really too much to add, keeping those disc brakes well lubricated is one, silicone in the caliper guides and under the piston boots, anti-seize every where else.

With silicon spray. all those rubber suspension bushings. Could add a zerk fitting to my 04 Cavalier ball joints, shot of grease every once in awhile sure helps, never had to replace them. Couldn't do this on the Cruze, joints were welded on.

Most important body thing to lubricate is the hood release, if that rusts up, major problems, only problem with doors is an ice rain.

Keeping that center electrode insulator white had to be done every 15K miles, carbon shunts out the spark. Also pouring in some kind of fuel system cleaner about every 3-4K miles, been using Seafoam for years, your choice. Carbon builds up on the face of the fuel injectors and under the intake valves.

Only way I was sure that hidden oil filter was replaced and dexos approved oil was only used was to do it myself, and the oil is right up to the full mark after the engine was started and given several minutes to settle.

Haven't learned how to keep my tires at the correct pressure by looking at that TPMS gauge on the dash, seem to have a problem in being in two different places at the same time. So rely on my very accurate tracible to NTIS standards tire pressure gauge.

Silicone on the weather stripping does help, especially down south, but not up here, with road salt, body is all rusted away with road salt before we have weather strip problems.