Keeping the car heathly during lock down

[Tonygw]

Hi All

So its a lock down so we all stay safe and well, So please all stay healthy for the good of everybody!!

However I have a bit of time in the evenings and weekends to do a few jobs now.
What do you guys recommend to do on the Mercs and how do we keep them healthy while they are not used for weeks

All comments welcome.

Mine is a 2012 S204 estate C250cdi, recently done and oil and filter change. Cleaned inside and out.
Anything else we can do while they are parked up??

Also I want to keep it running so am starting it every few days. How will this affect the dpf?? Cant be good for it can it?? Any advice for people here ??

Thanks

 

[KillerHERTZ]

No need to keep it running every couple of days, once a week/once every 10 days just start it up for a couple of mins.

Mine is garaged until I nip to Tescos every 2 weeks.

 

[55AMGCLK]

I have just purchased BH Atom MAC to keep the rust away from the discs. The discs seem to suffer quite badly on mines and not a spot of rust over the past few days since I used the Atom Mac. Another great product from BH.

In addition, I will check the air pressure on the tyre every two weeks or so.

 

[Tonygw]

Yeah was also wondering about tyres, if the car is sitting, I live in a small culdesac so I might just drive it around (less than 50m) just to rotate the wheels a bit.

 

[Tonygw]

I have just purchased BH Atom MAC to keep the rust away from the discs. The discs seem to suffer quite badly on mines and not a spot of rust over the past few days since I used the Atom Mac. Another great product from BH.

In addition, I will check the air pressure on the tyre every two weeks or so.

I have never heard of thats stuff, is it as good as it says it is? Do you know how long it stays on the cra before being washed off? I have used waxoyle on the under side of my cars for years and thats stuff is amazing, but obvisouly cant be used on brake discs.

 

[OneForTheRoad]

Luckily I get 2 use mine every morning still at 6am and the roads are very empty. Some fun can be had.

 

[55AMGCLK]

I have never heard of thats stuff, is it as good as it says it is? Do you know how long it stays on the cra before being washed off? I have used waxoyle on the under side of my cars for years and thats stuff is amazing, but obvisouly cant be used on brake discs.

I applied the product on Saturday, it has rained a good few times since. The discs would have been covered by rust by now. Usually, 30 mins after washing the car they are turning yellow.

I am very impressed by this. I applied some BH dynasty S50 last year. I checked and it is still looking great.

 

[55AMGCLK]

By the way, the alloys were cleaned using BH auto wheel for the first time. They came out like new!

 

[Tonygw]

wow pretty good,
Time to invest in a some me thinks, cheers

 

[55AMGCLK]

The other car got the same treatment too, the brake dust was baked on the alloys on this.

Done with auto wheel and atom mac:



Atom Mac only, started to rain so did not use auto wheel

 

[Chrishazle]

Those tyres in the last photo look to have really good rim protection, so how did that rim get so kerbed (would not dare to suggest it's wife's car...)

 

[190]

Unless you can drive far enough to get the engine up to temperature then running the engine can do more harm then good. Even then the oil temperature will lag coolant temperature which means realistically it needs 10 miles. I realise many will do less than that including me at 8 - 9 mile round trip to the supermarket so it's something of an ideal target.

 

[Chrishazle]

What do you do if you're both on 12 week lockdown and have thus SORN'd the toy? I have a battery condition monitor on the main ("her") car on the driveway, have already had to put the charger on it after a week of little use, as instead of a steady green 100% charged light, I got a couple of flashes of the amber 50% charged light. The SLK ("my car") is in my garage with a battery conditioner permanently connected but the driveway in front of the garage is no longer than the car!

 

[C240Sport97]

I have just purchased BH Atom MAC to keep the rust away from the discs. The discs seem to suffer quite badly on mines and not a spot of rust over the past few days since I used the Atom Mac. Another great product from BH.

In addition, I will check the air pressure on the tyre every two weeks or so.

any effect on braking performance?

 

[55AMGCLK]

any effect on braking performance?

Not had a chance to try the AMG but none on the B class.

 

[55AMGCLK]

Those tyres in the last photo look to have really good rim protection, so how did that rim get so kerbed (would not dare to suggest it's wife's car...)

I am just going to say it is not my car! But I do have a confession to make, I did scrape the curb on one side.

The tyres are the Michelin pilot sports, they are fairly new, previous tyres were conti sport contacts and they do not have the same amount of rim protection the Michelin’s have.

tbh, the down side of cleaning the wheels properly is that you see all the marks on them and both cars need wheel refurbs!

 

[219]

Yeah was also wondering about tyres, if the car is sitting, I live in a small culdesac so I might just drive it around (less than 50m) just to rotate the wheels a bit.

That , a couple of times a week , is also enough to stop brake discs getting rusty

 

[renault12ts]

So, ask yourself...what do you do to your car when you take a two week holiday out of the country? Nothing? Then that's what you do now.

 

[Mr. B]

What do you do if you're both on 12 week lockdown and have thus SORN'd the toy? I have a battery condition monitor on the main ("her") car on the driveway, have already had to put the charger on it after a week of little use, as instead of a steady green 100% charged light, I got a couple of flashes of the amber 50% charged light. The SLK ("my car") is in my garage with a battery conditioner permanently connected but the driveway in front of the garage is no longer than the car!

Mines been sorn’d since last Oct. Once a month I start it and drive it down to the main road and back a couple of times. I then park it up and put the trickle charger back on. I also make sure there is little fuel in it during hibernation because I understand petrol goes off after a period of time.

 

[BlackC55]

My advice is to keep the battery on trickle charge, run the engine to operating temp every 10 days or so and keep the revs up a bit to 1500 or so so it warms up a little faster. Put it in D for a few mins to get that ATF moving around (helps condensation not to form too much). Roll the car back and forth and try not to sit the tyres in the same place. Leave the parking brake off if your's is a manual one or put the parking brake in service mode. Do operate the parking brake when you are sat in the car a few times to keep the shackles from seizing.