It's cold outside, your car is buried in snow. A quick way to get that snow off your windshield is to wipe them off with your wiper blades, right? Well, it may be quicker, but it's NOT a good idea.

Before I get too far into this post, let me assure you that before my days in the shop, I was totally guilty of doing exactly what I'm writing about!

To be brief, your wiper blades are attached to the wiper arm, which is then attached to the wiper motor through a series of linkages. These linkages are also known as a wiper transmission.

In Cosmopolitan's "8 Words That Give A Liar Away" article, they asked lie detection expert Janine Driver which words are commonly used by liars. In the article, the context is how to tell if your guy is lying to you.

Have you ever been to an event and as soon as someone finds out what occupation you're in, they ask you for your advice on related things? Doctors get asked questions about ailments, IT techs answer questions about computer problems, etc. It's no different for us as technicians. Usually they're questions about a noise or problem with the car. 

I stumbled across GM Education, a website by General Motors that educates kids (and grown-ups) about different aspects of cars. It’s pretty cool and is easily laid out. Why not teach your kids a few things about cars over the holiday break? Here are some of my favourite things from the site:

I recently spoke with two of my clients whose teenagers didn't seem interested in getting their driver's licenses. Really? When I was 15, I couldn't wait to get my driver's license. I wrote my driver's test the day I turned 16. For these two separate clients, the concern was that their teenagers were limited in getting jobs. Both of these clients had driven their teens to job interviews because the commute by transit was incredibly long. 

“What would you do if this was your car?” That's a question we get asked a lot and to be honest, it's not really a fair question. 

A study released by the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI) and Toyota Motor Sales USA Inc. found that parents who engaged in distracted driving behaviours had teenagers who modeled the same behaviour. Dr. Ray Bingham, head of UMTRI's Young Driver Behaviour and Injury Prevention Group says, “[p]arents should know that every time they get behind the wheel with their child in the car they are providing a visible example that their child is likely to follow.”

Tired of me writing about tires? Allow me one more post for the year...well, for now.

First thing's first—some clarification:

• Tires: Google defines it this way: "a rubber covering . . . placed around a wheel to form a soft contact with the road."

Shopping around for winter tires? Tires in general are a subjective purchase and there are so many options to choose from, like buying 'white' wedding invitations—pearl white, cloud white, bright white, super-clean-teeth white. You get the idea.

The cold weather is upon us and we’ve got TIRES on the brain! Winter driving season is here and you may be considering the same question you ask yourself every year: Should I store my all-season tires and invest in winter tires?

In my search for tire pictures, I came across this calendar on the Pirelli Tire website. The project is affectionately called 'The Cal' (they've trademarked that name, by the way) and 2012 marked its 39th year in publication. The calendar's theme this year is “swoon: ecstasy captured in images.”

Earlier this year, Reader's Digest completed their Trust Survey. They asked about various topics including most trusted Canadians, professions, and industries. On the flip side, they polled in 'most distrusted' categories and here's the list for Canada's Top 10 Most Distrusted Professionals:

This is the stuff that makes my blood boil. The recklessness and carnage that happens as a result of careless driving is completely preventable and unnecessary.

I've always associated Chevrolet with driving freedom. My first car was a Chevy Cavalier and I have so many fun memories of that car. It was my ticket out of my parents' house. And yummy mummies, you know how the rest of the story goes! So when I got the invitation to hit the open road with Chevrolet, of course I said yes. Then I found out it was for a Malibu – the 8th generation, all-new 2013 Malibu.

Our clients (male and female) often tell us is that they don't know their way around cars. Generally-speaking, fewer families are spending their weekends in the driveway tinkering with cars together. 

The purpose of rustproofing your car is to slow down or inhibit corrosion. Did you know that not all rustproofing services are alike? In some cases you're really throwing your money away.

October's issue of Consumer Reports features common scams that are out there to get you. Here's one about auto repair:

Good ol' Google defines trust as the 'the firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something.' One way to know if your technician's reliable and truthful is to follow up on the work that they did. I mean, if you want to know if he really replaced your water pump you're going to have to visually check and see if you've got a new water pump. Of course, that seems a little extreme seeing as how you'd need to take the engine apart. Stay with me here... why not follow up with them on something small? Like an oil change or tire change?

I recently took my client's car to our local Chevrolet dealership to have the PCM flashed as they have manufacturer-specific software. This car had symptoms that GM released two technical service bulletins for, noting clearly that the car needed to be flashed.