Best magazines to learn about car maintenance

[Dopo]

I joined a car forum and for my model they have a "sticky" section of "Information DIY" that was extremely good.
They had links to informative stuff for brakes, A/C, etc, etc with excellent pictures.

[whiteboyslo]

Originally Posted by Gimme3steps

Here's a couple of online magazines you can learn a lot from

MOTOR Magazine Articles | MOTOR Information Systems


Brake & Front End: The Complete Undercar Service Magazine look under tech

Never heard of those. The 'MOTOR' one looks promising. Is it an over-the-counter magazine? Looks like one that's made for the auto repair industry and might not be available to Joe Six Pack.

Originally Posted by Gimme3steps

whiteboy, you looked inside an owner's manual lately?

Uhm, yeah?

My 09 xB came with multiple manuals, even one that is allegedly devoted to maintenance. It DOES tell you what maintenance to have done and even what kind of fluid to use, but there's no step-by-step for basic preventive maintenance items like an oil change or a brake job. That I can recall, I have never seen an owner's manual go through things like that.

Originally Posted by ranger17

seems Popular Mechanics use to include how-to articles; i'll admit i havent read one of those mags in years though

Good one. Forgot about them.

Mike

[greg42]

I don't know about MOTOR although I believe that name has been around for years in repair information for shops. The site has a few references to ALLDATA though, which is another such repair info system for shops. ALLDATA has a DIY subscription service that can give you repair info specific to your car:

ALLDATAdiy.com Leading Source of Factory Automotive Repair Information

It's not perfect, in my experience, but it has helped me. It's as adequate as some other repair manuals I've seen, although I haven't bought a paper repair manual specific to my own car.

I've also found good tips by just googling and finding results that were in brand and sometimes model-specific online forums. Some people post really good detailed how-tos with pics and everything. I was able to better understand the power antenna mast replacement and the hatch actuator replacement on my Integra thanks to helpful folks who shared their own experiences online.

None of this lends itself to general reading about generic auto maintenance though. These are things to go to when you have a specific repair you're trying to complete.

[Me007gold]

Motor is a trade magazine not (usually)available for sale, you can usually get it for free from freebizmag if you tell them a lie about your profession