Tag Archives: Vehicle maintance
What makes tires so important
Obviously, you wouldn’t get far without tires on your vehicle, but having the right tires can improve fuel economy and handling.
Why having the right tires matter?
We’re going to talk about three things that play a role in tire safety: Tire size, tire pressure, and tread depth.
Tire Size
Having the right size tire is crucial. If they are too big, they can rub on parts of the vehicle which in turn can lead to serious damage. This is considered a safety hazard as they can suddenly burst when cornering at high speeds!
Tire Pressure
Tire pressure also plays a big part in keeping your vehicle safe and efficient. Low tire pressure increases braking distance, makes steering less responsive, and causes the tire to wear out faster. They also won’t roll as efficiently as a properly inflated tire, meaning that they will cause you to get reduced fuel economy.
Tread Depth
The tread on the tire grips the road as you drive. Not having enough tread causes your vehicle to lose traction, which leads to longer braking times and making it harder to control in slippery weather. The legal minimum tread depth is 1.6mm (2/32 in) for summer tires, but we highly recommend getting new ones before getting that low.
Keep tires in good shape
It’s always a good idea to keep an eye on your tires for early signs of damage, as this can help prevent problems down the road. If you are unsure of whether your tires are safe to drive on, or need to be changed, you can bring your vehicle to our service department for a free inspection until the end of April.
The Braking System
The most important safety system in our vehicles is the braking system. We rely on our brakes every day to ensure that our vehicles can slow down and come to a stop in a safe manner.
The braking system is made up of many components, but the parts that wear out the most are the brake pads and rotors (brake shoes and drums for some vehicles).
Knowing how much life your brakes have left is important to know, as wearing them out completely can damage other parts of the braking system.
Overlooking regular check-ups and maintenance can lead to a complete failure of the braking system, which in turn can lead to accidents on the road.
Types of Brakes
There are typically two types of brakes in a vehicle: disk brakes and drum brakes. Vehicles can have only disk brakes, only drum brakes, or a mix of both.
Disk Brakes:
Most commonly seen of the two, the disk brakes consist of pads and a rotor. They are easier to maintain and inspect than drum brakes. Most brake pads have a wear indicator that will make a squealing sound once the brake material is running low. This is one way to tell if it’s time to get your brakes changed. The rotors have a specified minimum thickness, which can be found in the shop manual for each vehicle.
Drum Brakes:
The drum brakes consist of the brake drum and brake shoes. These are more difficult to maintain, and typically don’t have any wear indicators like brake pads. Drum brakes are also not as effective as disk brakes.
Changing Your Brakes
The frequency at which brakes need to be changed depends on many variables: the quality of the parts (cheap pads vs expensive pads), towing vs not towing, the types of brakes, type of vehicle, etc.
We recommend getting your brakes checked every time you come in for an oil change, that way you will get an idea of how fast they’re wearing out for your vehicle.
If your brakes are making noise, we recommend getting them checked as soon as possible.