Welcome to CarCareTotal

Hi, I'm Joshua Thomas, the founder of CarCareTotal. I started this site back in 2017 after years of helping friends, family, and complete strangers sort out car problems in parking lots and driveways, sometimes for free, always because I love the work. I studied Mechanical Engineering at San Diego State, but most of what I know came from the hours I've spent under the hood.

CarCareTotal exists to help car owners learn how to actually maintain and repair their own vehicles. Every guide here is written in plain language, step by step, with the small details that usually get skipped. Whether you're topping off fluids for the first time, bleeding brakes, sorting out a flickering headlight, or deciding which 0W-20 oil is worth buying, you'll find a straight answer here.

As the site grew past what one person could cover well, I brought in a small team of specialists I trust. Each one owns the topics they know best:

• Diego Ramirez — maintenance and care. Fluid changes, preventive routines, paint protection, and the habits that stretch a car's life by a decade.
• Sarah Whitfield — diagnostics and troubleshooting. A former ASE-certified tech who handles OBD-II, electrical gremlins, and the intermittent problems most owners give up on.
• Marcus Chen — performance and tuning. Suspension setup, wheel and tire fitment, and getting more out of a stock platform without killing reliability.
• Liam O'Brien — tools and equipment. He buys, abuses, and reviews the gear so you know what actually survives real DIY garage use.
• Rachel Park — styling and customization. Head units, audio, lighting, interior refreshes, and exterior cosmetic work.

Before any product earns a recommendation on this site, it gets tested, compared, and judged the same way we'd judge gear going into our own garages. We don't run filler, and we don't recommend things we wouldn't use ourselves. If something is overpriced or overhyped, we'll say so. If a $15 tool beats a $60 one, you'll hear about that too.

Thanks for stopping by. Pick a category, dig in, and take better care of your ride, one job at a time.