Is It Safe to Drive on a Tire with a Bubble?

Bubbles in your tires are generally caused by impacts on the road. Hitting the edges of potholes, small collisions, hitting a curb and speed bumps can all cause the sidewall to bulge in your tires. Your tires should always be smooth and round, so if you notice a bubble on the sidewall or see a section of tread bulging, it’s a sign that something is very wrong, and you should stop driving immediately. Tires that have a bubble are not safe to drive. When your tire has a bubble, the fabric of the inner tire can no longer protect your tire from bursting when pressure develops from contact with the road.

The most common place to see a bubble in the tire is the sidewall. Tire bubbles can also form in areas where the rubber has worn very thin. Driving on a tire that has a bubble is very dangerous and ...[more]

How Does a Car’s Muffler Work?

Your vehicle’s engine produces small explosions of harmful emissions which come from the combustion chamber. These explosions produce dangerous gases such as carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides. For safety, these dangerous gases are dispersed away from your vehicle’s cabin using an exhaust system, which the muffler is a key component of. To explain how the muffler works, we need to know the different components of the muffler.

There are four sections in an automobile’s muffler:

• Inlet — The inlet attaches from the exhaust system. Exhaust gases and sound enters the inlet from the exhaust system.
• Resonator — The resonator acts as an echo chamber by reducing the overall noise volume of ...[more]

What to Do About a Cracked Windshield

Damage to your windshield happens unexpectedly. The windshield is an important safety device of your vehicle, with its main function being to protect passengers as well as ensure the airbags properly do their job of protecting the vehicle occupants. A small chip on your windshield can turn into a crack across the entire length of the surface and require windshield replacement if not repaired quickly. Your windshield is there to help protect you from outside elements coming into the vehicle and also provides up to 60% of structural support to your vehicle.

When your windshield is damaged, it compromises your vision when driving and can cause an accident. Not only is having a cracked windshield dangerous, it is also against the law in most states. The laws in different states are differen ...[more]

The Importance of Tire Rotations

A crucial factor in your vehicle’s health, efficiency and performance is getting regular tire rotations. A tire rotation is when the tires of your vehicle are moved from one position on the vehicle to another. The front tires will move to the rear and the rear tires will move to the front, typically in a cross-diagonal direction, meaning they will also change sides. Your vehicle carries more weight at the front, so front tires will typically wear out faster. Tire rotation is done to prevent the uneven wear this can cause and to prolong the life of your tires.

Your tires should be rotated at the same interval you get an oil change. The guidelines in your vehicle’s owner manual offer timing as well as the best rotation pattern for your vehicle and type of tires. The tires are the only ...[more]

What to Know About Nitrogen-Filled Tires

Keeping your tires properly inflated is a key to getting the maximum fuel efficiency from your vehicle. Properly inflated tires also reduce tread wear, improve your car’s stopping distance, and decrease the chances of a blowout. Nitrogen-filled tires are said to have the benefit of keeping your tires inflated longer than the standard compressed air tires. The air in your tires eventually escape through the tire’s inner liner, but nitrogen-filled tires take a longer time.

Routine maintenance is critical to long tire life, and proper tire pressure will ensure the good health of your tires. The greatest benefit that nitrogen-filled tires are said to provide is keeping your vehicle’s tires inflated longer, which saves you money at the pump. Even so, researchers have conclu ...[more]

How to Know You Need a Wheel Alignment

Wheel alignment is the process of adjusting the angles of the wheels on your vehicle to the specifications of your vehicle manufacturer. When your vehicle was built, the wheels were perfectly positioned to the manufacturer’s ideal specifications, but over time your vehicle loses its alignment. Misalignment issues can lead to serious safety and performance issues and costly repairs. A wheel alignment service will optimize the various angles of your wheels to each other, and to the road.

Aligning your wheels requires the vehicle to be placed on a wheel alignment machine. This machine uses specific measurements to allow the technician to set and adjust the suspension components back to the factory specifications. The common alignment angles are camber, caster, and toe. These angles become misal ...[more]

Benefits of a Clean Auto Air Filter

Did you know that changing your air filter can increase your car's fuel efficiency and prolong its engine life? The air filter's job is to deliver 10,000 gallons of clean air to the engine for every gallon of gas burned to enter the engine. Though it's only one small component among the many that make your car run, the air filter plays a big role in how your car runs and how long it runs.

Car engines need an equal amount of fuel and clean air in order to run efficiently and smoothly. To make sure that your engine receives only the cleanest air and prevents damage from small dirt and particles, air filters for cars are installed.

The major benefits of keeping your auto air filter clean are:

Better Fuel Economy &mda ...[more]

Why You Should Store Your Winter Tires

Tire storage is an important factor in maximizing the life of your tires. While swapping out one set of tires for another is a challenge in itself, once your winter tires are removed, you still need to store them properly for the warm months ahead.

It’s important that your tires be properly stored when they’re not in use in order to make sure they’re ready to go when the temperature drops. Storing your winter tires is beneficial because:

• Improper storage can result in reduced life for your tires or end up making them unusable.
• If your tires are not stored properly heat, UV light, or direct sunlight can break down the rubber and cause them to become damaged.
• Tires become unstable an ...[more]

How to Protect Your Tires Against Common Road Debris

Good tires are not cheap, so it is important that you do everything you can to extend the life of your tires. Because a vehicle’s tires are the first point of contact, road hazards such as small rocks, trash, debris, and salt and chemicals can be hazardous while driving. Attempting to avoid the debris is dangerous when driving because — both visually and mentally — it is hard to process the hazard level of an object in the few seconds a driver has to react. Drivers who encounter road debris, often don't have the time or space to avoid a collision, and these accidents can be quite serious.

Encountering several unfriendly obstacles on the road such as potholes, steel plates, uneven seams, branches, roadkill, gravel, glass, and more are common. Even if this debris does not puncture y ...[more]

What to Do After a Car Accident

Staying safe on the road is every driver’s priority. This is why we get our cars repaired the moment we think that a problem exists. It's for the safety of everyone that there are so many laws in place that drivers need to follow. We all love the ability to drive to get where we want to. But we also need to take care of ourselves and other people on the road.

While you may be the most careful driver out there, mistakes happen, and bad drivers can happen too. Automotive accidents are extremely unexpected and can happen to anyone, no matter how careful they are. Car crashes are violent and scary, and if you’re ever in one, you might not know what exactly to do. This is why we’ve prepared an auto accident checklist to help you get through those ...[more]