Top 3 Common Car Myths

Top 3 Common Car Myths

Some drivers swear that they have the secret to make your car faster, more fuel efficient or to avoid certain mistakes.

But is it all just a myth?

Everyone has a friend of a friend, who will tell you the best way to do something with your car, and refuses to hear any other opinions.

Here are three common myths that we've come across at Motorama.

ADDING NITROGEN TO YOUR TYRES IS BETTER

High performance vehicles, like Formula One racing cars and large aircraft use nitrogen in their tyres because of its benefits as an inert gas, meaning that the particles move less and stay cooler than regular air when the tyre is spinning around at high speed.

On your everyday daily driver though, you aren’t going as fast as a Formula One racing car very often, so the benefits are minor.

And while it’s true that nitrogen leaks slower than air, so you can maintain a more precise air pressure in the tyre – but it still leaks, and you can’t top it up with regular air, because you’ll lose the benefits that nitrogen is supposed to give you. That means you have to take your car to refill the tyres especially, which usually costs more than the free air available at the petrol station.

PREMIUM FUEL WILL INCREASE THE PERFORMANCE

While it’s true that premium fuel is of a slightly higher quality, the performance benefits are minimal compared to regular fuel. Cars that specifically ask for 95RON or 98RON petrol usually have engines with a higher compression ratio, meaning they need a fuel that burns cleaner in the engine to get more performance out of the cylinders.

The most common myth is that your budget hatchback will suddenly turn into some hot rod if you fill up with a higher-grade fuel. Everyday cars that are rated to use 91RON petrol (which is commonly swapped with E10 blends at stations) are fine to run on that, and any benefit from 95 or 98 petrols will be limited to cleaning the engine, to let it run a little bit smoother; but it won’t suddenly add huge surge of power.

SERVICING OUTSIDE OF YOUR BRANDS DEALERSHIP WILL VOID YOUR WARRANTY

While it’s true that a dealership with your brand can offer specialised diagnostic information and genuine parts for any repairs, there’s no penalty for servicing your car somewhere else that might be more convenient for you.

If you do have a warranty claim, you’ll have a stronger claim if you have serviced at a brands dealership, simply because the manufacturer knows the training and procedures that one of their workshops should have followed when servicing your car. But, as long as you go to a reputable mechanic, with proper documentation of any repairs or servicing, there shouldn’t be that many reasons why a carmaker would deny your warranty claim.

Outside of warranty you can go to any mechanic you like, but returning to a dealership can give you peace of mind that you have expert technicians trained to know your car inside and out.

Motorama’s service teams can repair and service most major brands, with expert technicians qualified to fix up almost everything that might go wrong with your car.

You won’t void your warranty from another manufacturer by servicing with us, and we are always here to help – even after your new car warranty has expired. Our service technicians are on call six days a week to repair anything that might go wrong.

But if you do have a claim on your warranty, and it’s one of the brands that we have at the Motorama Group – give us a call. We do specialise in seven new car brands, after all!

If you’re unsure about anything on your car, the teams at Motorama can give you advice – with over 50 years of experience behind it! Remember to talk to the service advisors about anything that you’re curious about, or even worried about on your car.