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12 Bonehead Basics of Car Maintenance
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You know, That Guy who thinks that the best way to keep a car from overheating is to roll down the window. That Guy who hires the neighborhood kid to wash his car 'cause he’s allergic to “going outside and doing things.” There are lots of ways to be That Guy, but only one way not

to be: by regaining your self-sufficiency and learning the basics about car care. Using STP® is a good first step. And while we can’t do the rest for you, we'll give you a few pointers. Check out the tutorials. Take a look at the videos. And get under your hood. Good luck, and Don't Be That Guy.

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  • Sep
    03
    1 Comment

    Teach Car Talk to Teens

    Posted in: This Guy Wisdom, Car Culture
    Shaq Diesel
    Ready to talk with the kids?

    Howdy, chief. Remember the time your dad tried to sit you down to talk about, um, well, ya’ know, girls and stuff? Only the discussion was even less articulate and more awkward than that previous sentence?

    Yep. Me too, amigo. Luckily there’s a rite of passage that doesn’t make fathers and sons cringe more than that time you watched Deliverance with Grandma. In fact, talking about cars is the perfect father-son moment — it brings them together to do guy stuff, like getting grease on your T-shirt, rolling your eyes at the mere mention of Oprah, answering detailed questions with a grunt, and most of all, learning how to become a This Guy who can fix stuff himself.

    Also, it’s refreshingly PG-rated, except for those times when pointing out the “dipstick” makes your teenager giggle like, well, a teenager. 

    From a parent’s perspective, there are three auto-related lessons that you’re legally required to teach your teen, or Child Protective Services will knock on your door in the dead of night.* They may be clichés, but clichés exist for a reason — they’re the only things that teens’ short attention spans will remember when they freeze up behind the wheel. So, here are some simple father-to-son mantras that will keep your son safe and sound on the road:

    “A car is not a toy.”— Kids play so many video games today that you half-expect them to respond to an auto accident by looking for the “Reset” button in the car. We’ll repeat: A car is not a toy — even when you blew six months of salary on a sports car on your 40th birthday. That’s not a toy, amigo. That’s just sad. Like, sadder than the time you asked me if a “tire iron” made waffles.

    “Slow down. … I said, slow down!”— A father’s mantra that every teen driver should repeat whenever he feels the urge to speed. You have to convey to your teen that getting somewhere fast is never worth risking getting a ticket and getting a lecture from your pop. Like that last drink before closing time, or flirting with the boss’ wife, or picking a fight with this lady, it’s just not worth the trouble. 

    “Nothing wrong with getting your hands dirty.”—Though you wouldn’t know it by the way some teenage That Guys react to engine grease like it’s Kryptonite that’s been dyed black. On the contrary, getting your hands dirty means you’re closer to fixing your car. More importantly, it means you’re halfway down the road to becoming This Guy.

    I’m glad we had this talk, amigo. And if at this age you still need to have the sex-ed talk, too, all I can say is, 1) Don’t look at me, call Dr. Ruth, and 2) No wonder you’re still single. 

    See you on the road, pardner.

    —CD, STP® Blogger

    *Really?! You believed that? Sorry, we just made that up. And just to be safe: There are no unicorns, either.

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  • Matt
    09.07.10

    So, it that a pre-war Plymouth in the photo?

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