Many drivers think that an all-wheel drive (AWD) system is better but few can say why or how. Manufacturers have often emphasized when their vehicles are AWD while front-wheel drive or rear-wheel drive rarely gets mentioned. Subaru, long known for its AWD system, was a niche in the industry when AWD wasn’t common with other manufacturers. Nowadays, most manufacturers have some vehicles in their fleet with AWD technology.
Modern vehicles’ emissions are quite low and vehicles are designed today to be quite ‘clean,’ environmentally-speaking. In fact, the main reason why vehicles become a concern for the environment is due to lack of maintenance by owners! Not only that, the footprint to build a new vehicle is quite large – so for those of you switching into new cars every few years, you’re not exactly helping the environment.
You’ve got a nail or screw in your tire – what are your options? There are a few things you need to know when it comes to repairing a tire. First, is the tire repairable? The punctured area cannot overlap with a previous repair. The punctured area also has to be within the tread of the tire and not on the shoulder or sidewall of the tire (photo courtesy of Rubber Manufacturers Association).
I'm never one to be like Chicken Little – the sky is falling, etc. I'm also not the type to fear the worst in every situation, preparing for doomsday. We are not the kind of auto repair shop to use scare tactics, or the typical “would you put your wife/kids in that car” line. But we do come across clients every now and again who leave our shop, fully acknowledging that they are driving an unsafe vehicle and not wanting any repairs done.
Everyone loves personalizing their vehicles; we spend so much time in our cars commuting, running errands... stuck in traffic! Why wouldn’t we want to make our vehicles represent ourselves as much as possible? Unless you take it too far! We’ve found some of the craziest, weirdest, and just plain awful accessories you could find for your vehicle. My service advisor and I looked into some accessories - these are definitely ones that we don't approve of!
As I write this blog post, I’m anticipating a lot of people will disagree with me… I’m going to be writing about something that a lot of you don’t want to hear. In fact, I’ve avoided writing about this for a while now because many will disagree with me. Alas, I feel convicted to say it like it is. Whether you agree with me or not – this is based on my experience in the automotive industry.
Quite often we get calls from clients asking for a tune-up on their car. What many of them think they're asking for is an overall maintenance check, making sure that their engine is running well, etc. What a tune-up means for technicians today is different than what it meant many years ago.
As recently as 2008 and 2010 in Toronto, several cars had their brake lines cut. Your car has the emergency brake (also known as parking brake) feature specifically for situations like these. Brake fluid can also be lost when a brake line bursts, usually due to rust or an improper repair.
Summertime is here and many people sitting in the front passenger seat want to put their feet up on the dash or out the window while they're cruising. To be honest, as a driver I can't stand staring at other people's feet.
Every now and again at my auto repair shop, we see a car that has numerous scratches in the door behind the handle. Most often, it’s because the client has longer fingernails or big rings. That manicured and accessorized hand looks great, but the client unknowingly scratches the door every time they grab the door handle and pull to open the door. For me, it would be something I wouldn’t even think of or notice, because opening the car door only takes a split second, then I’m in the driver’s seat and gone.
