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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2006-10-26, Page 17MARKS BROTHERS AUTO BODY LTD. Wingham Fax: 519-357-4314 Phone: 519-357-2280 Bill's Auto & Salvage Towing & Repairs 43579 St. Michaels Rd. R.R. #2 Brussels Phone: 519-887-6510 Fax: 519-887-6527 ALIGNMENT SERVICE ALIGNMENT - SUSPENSION SERVICE & TIRES 519-357-1230 86 West, R.R. 3 Wingham, Ont. NOG 2W0 Collision Service, Auto Wrecking & Towing It's that time of year to book your Dripless Oil Undercoating BRUSSELS AUTO COLLISION it RESTORATION COMPLETE AUTO BODY REPAIR AND REFINISHING Booking now for DRIPLESS OIL COATING Reasonable rates SPECIALIZING IN QUALITY WORK AT AFFORDABLE PRICES 590 Turnberry, St., Brussels Tel: 519-887-8000 Fax: 519-887-8001 Pm a feteat veal. isw,tti, k go, Igo iy Where Service Is A Habit AUTOMOTIVE • ELECTRICAL • INDUSTRIAL * MACHINE SHOP SERVICES • DATA COMM MEI INAPAI 208 Suncoast Dr. E., ® AIWO PARS. Domestic and Import Goderich 519-524-8389 Celebrating our 80th Year p'3 P4D P43 P*6) 519-482-9363 Iii or if busy 93 519-482-3534 geOt all velt4 azinte* ea* needed 43 Carter's West End Garage & Body Shop 215 Huron St., Clinton THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2006. PAGE 17. GET ON THE ROAD! Keeping your car in it for the long haul (MS) - Maintaining a vehicle can be akin to maintaining one's body. If you keep up with an exercise routine for yourself, those sessions at the gym get easier with each day. However, if you lag behind in your workouts or don't work out at all, the sessions get harder and your body is worse for the wear. Such is the case with your car as well. Keeping up with regular maintenance of your vehicle can add years to its life, not to mention dollars to its resale value. Ignoring the little things, however, can prove both damaging and expensive. Fortunately, the small tasks you need to do for your car won't leave you feeling as taxed as the sit-ups and push-ups you need to do to keep your body running smoothly. • Replace your air filter. This is one of the more commonly overlooked maintenance tips for keeping a vehicle running smoothly. Replacing the air filter is both easy and very beneficial to your car. The air filter's job is to stop contaminants from getting into the engine. This can include dust and leaves. If enough debris gets into your air filter, the engine won't be able to suck enough air into its combustion chambers, causing the car to run roughly and frequently lose power. In highly neglected cases, cars will stop running entirely. Most vehicle manuals- will recommend changing the air filter at certain designated mileage intervals. For people who drive in heavy stop- and-go traffic or frequent dirt roads, it's a good idea to cut those mileage recommendations in half. • Stick to your oil-change schedule: Routinely going past the (MS) - For those who experience a winter season, this time of year can be beautiful. But while a snow- covered landscape makes for some terrific photo opportunities, it can be one of the most treacherous times of year for drivers. Ice, snow, sleet, and wind are just some of the weather variables present throughout the winter - leaving many drivers unsure of how mileage recommendations for oil changes will eventually and inevitably lead you down a road no one wants to go down: the major repair road. Oil changes are inexpensive and typically take less than 30 minutes to do (if you don't do them yourself). Over the years, the mileage recommendations for oil changes have fluctuated. The standard used to be every 3,000 miles. However, newer cars can often add a couple thousand miles onto that number. Factors such as age, how the car is used, how the driver drives and other arbitrary factors can greatly influence how badly your car needs an oil change. Vehicle manuals may recommend a change as few as every 3,000 miles or as many as every 10,000 miles. In general, if your car is newer, every 5,000 miles should be safe and good for your car. Whatever schedule you go by, keeping up with it is imperative. Thanks to the high operating temperature of a car's engine, oil's effectiveness as a lubricant lessens as the miles go by. If you continually neglect changing your oil, your engine's parts will rub against one another, leaving you with costly repairs and possibly in need of a new engine. • Rotate your tires. For new-car buyers, a tire rotation is often a perk of buying a vehicle from a dealership. Most dealers will provide free tire rotations (in addition to other services such as oi 1 changes) whenever necessary. For those who don't have such deals or prefer to go to their private mechanics, rotating your tires should to navigate wintery roads. To stay safe, it's important to heed some winter-driving tips. 1. Slow down - This is one of the most important pieces of advice you can get. Keep in mind that the speed limits posted are advisories for dry road conditions, and you should knock off a couple MPH when on treacherous roads, or when be on the docket just like oil changes and changing the air filter. Some in the auto industry debate the overall effectiveness of tire rotations, which are designed to add more life to your tires. However, regular rotations that cost money can negate any savings you might get by squeezing an extra few miles out of your tires. • An insider's tip that could save you the cost of a rotation and add some extra life to your tires is to ask your mechanic to do it when you're getting other work done that requires the tires to be off the car anyway (i.e., a brake job). A mechanic you go to. regularly likely won't charge for the rotation, and you'll have the best of both worlds: rotated tires and no bill for the service. • Change your transmission fluid. This 'is another commonly overlooked maintenance tip. Since the mileage recommendations for changing your transmission fluid can be up to every 100,000 miles (for automatic transmissions), it's no wonder this is overlooked. However, that doesn't mean it should be forgotten. Transmission fluid needs to be replaced for much the same reason oil needs to be changed. Since it's a lubricant, transmission fluid gradually breaks down over time in an automatic transmission (which generates more heat in operation than a manual transmission). As the transmission then begins to wear down, worn down bits of the transmission get into the fluid, shortening the transmission's life span.. The same contamination occurs in a manual transmission, though more visibility is impaired. 2. Know road conditions - Keep abreast of the weather by tuning into weather reports. Also, some areas post advisories on digital signs along the roadway, often telling drivers to tune into a specific AM radio station for more information. Knowing what you're up against on Continued on page 18 quickly, which is why it's often transmission fluid every 30,000 to recommended drivers with a manual 60,000 miles. transmission replace their 6 essential winter driving tips