Selling Services: Reading Tires to Diagnose Suspension Problems
As a rule, all tires should wear evenly across the full face of the tread as long as wheel alignment is correct, the tires are maintained at the recommended inflation pressure, and the vehicle is driven sensibly. Any kind of tire wear that deviates from the norm, therefore, usually indicates trouble. SHOULDER WEAR Take heavy
Tire Pressure Monitoring Systems Present a New Service Opportunity
Changing technology always brings with it a need for new tools, and today’s new Tire Pressure Monitoring Systems (TPMS) are no exception. In 2000, Congress passed legislation called the TREAD (Transportation Recall Enhancement, Accountability and Documentation) Act in response to tire failures that were causing SUV rollovers. Many of these tire failures were blamed on
Wheel Balancing: Making a Smart Investment in a Wheel Balancer
When you consider that only 1/4-ounce of wheel imbalance can produce a noticeable vibration on a vehicle, it’s easy to understand why it’s so important to have a wheel balancer that is both accurate and easy to use. Many balancers in today’s marketplace are capable of balancing a wheel to within a few hundredths of
Tire Tech
Coupled Forces Why using less weight is not a shortcut In our July issue on page 26, the article titled “Less Weight, Great Balance” (or at www.brakeandfrontend.com) answered a lot of questions, but it also brought up some new ones. The article was on the new technology that many new balancers are featuring that can
High-Performance Brake Pads
Friction and Fiction “I would like a more aggressive or high-performance brake pad.” If you work at a typical shop you will hear this statement at least once a week. It is a complex request that requires a line of questioning to flush out what the customer wants, needs and expects. “Aggressive”, “high performance” and
Diagnostics Through CAN Networks
Since model year 2003, a growing number of domestic and import vehicles have been built with a new onboard communications protocol called CAN (Controller Area Network). CAN is essentially an engineering standard for how computers and modules talk to one another via the serial data bus in a vehicle’s wiring system. It’s a high speed
Selling Services: Anti-Seize & Studs
Last month I received a great letter from one of our readers. He was absolutely livid about the story “Double Hit” in our February issue. Ed from the Cherokee Garage in Beckwourth, CA, pointed out several incorrect items in the article. In the article, it was advised that a light coating of anti-seize could be
Slotted and Drilled Rotors: Show or Slow?
You’ve seen them on the race track. You’ve seen them on the street. You’ve seen them in speed shops, in magazine ads, online and probably on eBay, too. The product we’re talking about is slotted and/or cross-drilled high performance brake rotors. They look great, no doubt about it. Performance rotors are an excellent upgrade for
Double Hit
It’s not difficult to torque wheel fasteners properly, but it’s not difficult to foul up the job, either. We’re not using double talk here; we’re shootin’ straight from the hip. The easy part of proper wheel fastener torquing is knowing the vehicle manufacturer torque specifications for a particular passenger car, light truck or medium truck,
Suspension Vibration Diagnosis
Vibrations are annoying and may be a warning signal that something is amiss. So don’t ignore such symptoms.
How Much Maintenance
How much maintenance is really necessary to keep a vehicle in good, running condition, safe and reliable? It’s a controversial subject for which there is no simple answer. Maintenance recommendations and requirements vary depending on the year, make and model of the vehicle, the type of driving it undergoes, the environment in which it operates,
Looming Mandate: Without Help, Shops Face Dark Future
…How Will You Cope?