Selecting the Right Friction Material
How do you select the right brake pad for a vehicle? And, how do you select the right friction line to stock at your shop or have as your first call? These are difficult questions to answer. Every time your shop installs a set of brake pads on a vehicle you are taking a gamble
Mitch’s World: Got a Minute?
Time is an interesting construct. If you look at its history, you begin to realize that there is no real reason for a minute to have 60 seconds, an hour to have 60 minutes or a day to have 24 hours, or for us to divide those 24 hours into 12 hours of daylight and
Up in Vapor
Gasp! It’s the “Gas Cap Code”! Oh no, you just pulled a code P0422, evaporative purge small leak detected… Here goes the needle in the haystack syndrome. So what do you do? Recommend a new gas cap and ship it? Well you could do that, but would that be in your or your customer’s best
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
Top Five Tools
Gary Farber, president Debra Farber, vice president All Brand Auto Service Kensington, MD Snap-on MODIS — A powerful tool for a broad range of diagnostics and applications. Identifix — A world of information on one website. By checking www.identifix.com before starting a technical job, diagnostic time is saved because the answer is usually right there.
RTI Offers Service Tips to Get Your Coolant Exchange Machines Ready for Fall Weather
Now is a good time to take a few minutes to check your MCX Coolant Exchange Machine to ensure that it’s in good shape and ready for the upcoming peak coolant service season.
Tech Tip: Knocking Sound from Cadillac Catera’s A/C Compressor
Some customers may comment on a knocking sound from the air conditioning compressor. This condition may be caused by an internal tolerance stack-up in the compressor.
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
KYB Offers Shock and Strut Selling Pointers
Statistics show that you’re probably not selling as many shocks and struts as you could. Maybe it’s because you haven’t considered the possible opportunities?
Tech Tip: Diagnosing Ignition Misfires
A flashing Check Engine light and a P0301 to P0312 diagnostic trouble code is a sure-fire indication that one or more cylinders are misfiring. Occasional misfires may pass unnoticed, but a steady misfire is hard to miss. The engine usually feels rough, lacks power and uses more gas than usual.