Hot out, isn’t it? Days like this make us appreciate the wonders of modern conveniences, such as air conditioning. Speaking of air conditioning, that’s also comfort creating equipment for a car, isn’t it?

Just imagine, it’s 1936 and the family is on its way to Aunt Betty’s. The windows are down in the hopes the breeze will offer some relief from the 100-plus heat outside. As heat waves radiate from the pavement, you realize it’s not a helpful breeze but a touch of a blast furnace coming in the windows.

Yes, air conditioning is a wonderful thing. These days, the only way you’d have to worry about reliving the misery of pre-AC travel is if the equipment in your car broke. If such was the case, a day like this would probably have you rushing the car over to a trusted repair shop. Even if your air conditioning is working, there’s always the possibility that it’s not working up to snuff.

“If your AC isn’t quite doing the job the way it used to, on a really hot day, you’ll notice the difference,” said Denny Norton, owner of Ringwood based Performance Unlimited. “It’s possible your Freon is simply low, in which case you’ll want to have the system checked and the Freon recharged.”

Norton said that maintaining the AC in a car is also a good way to ensure more costly repairs aren’t required.

“If you take care of your AC, it should take care of you,” he said. “But, if it breaks down, repairs can be costly.”

Just like the air conditioner cooling your home, the AC in your car includes expensive parts, such as a compressor, condenser, evaporator and drier. The serpentine belt that drives the alternator in most cars, also turns the wheel on the front of the compressor. If the belt goes, not only do you lose AC, but your car will also stop producing needed electricity.

The AC unit in your car also relies on electrical wiring and components. The latter are even more complex as cars have become increasingly computerized.

To schedule an appointment to have your air conditioning checked, call Performance Unlimited at 815-728-0343 or visit: www.4performanceunlimited.com.

Maybe you don’t exactly love you car’s engine. You may start the car and start driving while hardly considering your engine at all. But, if your engine stops doing what it’s expected to do, you may develop strong emotions about your engine in a hurry.

“Your oil is the lifeblood of your engine,” said Denny Norton of Ringwood based Performance Unlimited. If you shortchange your engine oil you’re liable to pay in the long run.”

If that happens; if your engine ceases to run or runs so poorly that you can’t help but take notice, before you blame your engine, you may want to consider if you have any blame for its sickly condition. Ask yourself, while your engine started and ran day after day, good weather and bad, did you reciprocate in any way? Did you show your appreciation by ensuring your engine had all that it needed to keep performing its work-horse duties?

It’s amazing how quickly an engine will seize up and stop running without motor oil. And, if the motor oil isn’t replaced at regular and prescribed intervals, it’s amazing how much life it will tear out of the heart of an engine.

Motor oil carries away dirt and particles that can scratch at an engine’s parts. The oil itself will breakdown and loose its degrees of its cooling and lubricating qualities after time. It’s a good idea to change the oil every three months or 3,000 miles, whichever comes first.

Another vital fluid that you and your engine rely on is coolant/antifreeze. Coolant carries heat out of the engine and into the radiator. In the radiator, as the fan pulls air through, the coolant releases the heat and prepares for a fresh run through the engine. But, if you don’t have enough coolant, or if it is too old and tired to do its job effectively, heat will start building up higher in the engine.

An engine that runs too hot experiences more strain on its parts and metals. A crisis situation occurs when an engine overheats. It’s no fun for the engine and it’s no fun for you sitting on the side of the road with the hood up on a 90-plus summer day when you have somewhere to go, maybe even the beach for some relaxing fun in the sun.

If an engine gets too hot, however, a crisis becomes a catastrophe as an engine seizes up. Instead of having engine parts, you have an engine block in the literal sense – one block of fused iron. Or, maybe the engine block will crack letting the oil, coolant and compression out where it makes a mess and does you no good at all.

So, if you haven’t thought about your car’s engine lately, maybe it wouldn’t hurt to give it a little thought now and then. A tiny bit of TLC now could prevent untold headaches down the road.

For more information, call Performance Unlimited at 815-728-0343 or visit: www.4performanceunlimited.com.

Well, your antifreeze kept your engine block from freezing and cracking last winter. How should you reward it? How about giving it a physical examination and, if it isn’t up to snuff as a coolant, having it replaced. That might not seem entirely appreciative but it’s probably the smart move.

The liquid in your radiator is supposed swing with power from both sides of the plate – in winter and in summer. Where baseball players take the winter off, however, antifreeze/coolant comes to bat year round.

Without that opportunity to recuperate, it can wear down and go into a permanent slump. In other words, you may have no choice but to put your current antifreeze/coolant out to pasture and bring in a fresh player from the bench.

There are inexpensive hydrometers in local auto parts stores that even a rookie can use to determine the ability of a car’s coolant to take on the summer ahead. Will it be a hot summer? Time will tell.

For those who enjoy a little pointless risk in life, waiting to see how their coolant reacts to a day of driving in 98-degree heat is one option. If the coolant fails the test and the car overheats, hopefully, they won’t have any permanent engine damage or find themselves on the side of the road late at night in a tough neighborhood. But, that’s what taking risks is all about, right?

For the rest of us, an ounce of prevention is a worthy idea. Replacing the antifreeze/coolant with a fresh player is far less expensive than the cost of a tow and replacing a radiator, hoses or an engine.

While the sandlot version of an auto-repair technician can replace the coolant in their own car it’s hardly worth the effort. First of all, they can’t replace last winter’s antifreeze with a fresh batch of coolant, but they’ll have to dispose of the old stuff properly.

When bringing a car into a certified auto-repair shop, such as Performance Unlimited in Ringwood, not only will they properly dispose of the old antifreeze, they’ll also make sure your cooling system is working properly for the summer ahead; they’ll inspect the hoses, radiator, radiator cap and thermostat. Any of these parts can also fail on a particularly hot day.

Some people like surprises and some people don’t. Few, however, like surprises when the surprise is their car breaking down on a hot summer day.

For more information about Performance Unlimited, call 815-728-0343 or visit: http://www.4performanceunlimited.com.

Have you rotated your tires lately? If not, maybe you should.

“Rotating your tires will extend the life of the tires while ensuring safer driving,” said Denny Norton, owner of Ringwood based Performance Unlimited.  “Tires wear differently on the front of the car than they do on the rear. By rotating the tires you make sure that they wear a more evenly.”

Uneven wear between tires will have one pair of tires worn to the point of needing replacement before the others. At that time, car owners have to decide whether to purchase two tires or a full set of four. Even wear on the tires also offers the optimal traction for steering and braking.

Some car manufacturers recommend rotating the tires every 5,000 or 10,000 miles. However, checking the owner’s manual is a good way to make sure you’re doing it according to the recommended schedule.

Rotating the tires is a procedure car owners can do themselves. However, it’s important that they know which way to rotate the tires – front to back/back to front or in a criss-cross pattern. Additionally, rotating the tires means removing at least two tires at a time. It’s essential that the car is properly and safely jacked up for such an operation.

“You can do this yourself,” Norton said. “But, it’s not that expensive to have your mechanic do it. Besides, while rotating the tires, your mechanic can also check the wear for other potential problems.”

Tire wear offers clues on a variety of other factors. For instance, irregular bare spots on a tire can indicate that the tires need balancing. Other types of wear can indicate the need for an alignment or the replacement of front suspension and/or steering parts.

If someone is rotating their own tires, it’s important that they tighten the lug nuts in a crossing pattern. Additionally, Norton said that cars with aluminum wheels need to be retorked after the first 100 miles to ensure that they don’t come loose.

To schedule a tire rotation or other repairs at Performance Unlimited for your vehicle, call 815-728-0343 or visit http://www.4performanceunlimited.com.

The bad news was that your car threw its timing belt. But, once you recover from the sticker shock of an operation such as that, now the work is all done and you can pick up your vehicle. Good news, right? Not so fast.

This is a question you probably should have asked before the mechanic started working on your car but what kind of parts did they use? Were they OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) parts or were they aftermarket parts. Some aftermarket parts can have potentially shorter life spans?

Some people might say, “Parts are parts.” It’s not true. Not all parts are created equal. Denny Norton, owner of Ringwood based Performance Unlimited, says that he approaches aftermarket parts with a sense of caution.

“Some aftermarket parts are as good as or better than OEM equipment,” he said. “Some aren’t. Experience teaches you which aftermarket parts you can trust.”

Aftermarket parts sometimes cost less than the OEM parts they were designed to replace. However, Norton said using the aftermarket version of a part is not always a money saving idea. Additionally, he said some repair shops use aftermarket parts without telling the customers.

“Some shops will use aftermarket parts and pocket the difference in price between that and the original equipment parts,” he said. “Customers wind up paying the full price for inferior parts and equipment.”

Norton said it’s essential that car owners work with a repair shop they can trust. He said that, when a shop replaces parts on a car, the customer has a legal right to take the old parts with him or her. He said they also have a right to see what kind of part was used on their vehicle.

“With some parts, it’s OK to use the aftermarket version,” Norton said. “In some cases, though, I wouldn't advise it.”

For more information about Performance Unlimited, call 815-728-0343 or visit http://www.4performanceunlimited.com.

The Performance Unlimited auto repair technicians at 5415 Austin Court, Ringwood, have built a strong reputation for more than quality repair services; they’re also known as mechanics who care for the welfare of their clients.

“We know that, when someone’s car breaks down, at the minimum, it’s an inconvenience,” said owner Denny Norton. “In some cases, it’s a significant problem. In this economy, when someone’s car has a major problem, it can have a catastrophic effect on their budget.”

Norton said they do everything they can to soften the blow in such situations. However, he said the best thing they can do is to help people keep up on maintaining their cars.

“When money is tight, people look for ways to save,” Norton said. “Sometimes, they save by cutting back on auto maintenance expenses. That’s not always a good idea.”

Norton said maintenance expenses are generally a fraction of major auto repair expenses. The prior costs often eliminate the need for the latter saving more money in the long run.

In fact, since more people are trying to drive more miles with their existing vehicles, rather than buying new cars, maintenance is more important than ever.

“There’s no way around it,” Norton said. “If you drive your car you’re going to have normal wear and tear on the vehicle. In some cases, the wear and tear is abnormal.”

Norton described ‘abnormal’ wear and tear as those things you can’t necessarily plan for, such as hitting an extremely deep pothole and damaging your suspension, steering and/or alignment.

On the other hand, normal wear and tear simply happens and maintenance is quite predictable. After a certain number of miles, depending on individual driving habits, brake pads wear out, shocks lose their bounce and sparkplugs fail to sufficiently spark.

In terms of maintenance, nothing is more crucial than timely oil changes. When a car’s oil is changed on schedule it extends the life of the engine.

“We know people are trying to save money,” Norton said. “Our goal is to help people keep that transportation column in their budgets as small as possible.”

To schedule maintenance or repairs at Performance Unlimited for your vehicle, call 815-728-0343 or visit http://www.4performanceunlimited.com.

Apparently, April is National Car Care Month (incidentally, October is Fall Car Care Month). Online offers pertaining to this celebration include a suggestion that this is a perfect time to purchase a rebuilt engine. Here at Performance Unlimited, Ringwood, we sincerely hope you don’t need one of those. In fact, if you’ve done a good job keeping after your car, you almost assuredly don’t.

Other online auto parts establishments are offering everything from products to clean your car to seat covers, trailer hitches, lights struts and brakes. If you’re in need of these items now, or will be in the near future, you may very well want to take advantage of these offerings. But, even if you don’t, National Car Care Month is a good time to reflect on your vehicle’s condition.

National Car Care Month and Fall Car Care Month are set at specific times of year for particular reasons. In the case of the latter, it’s so that people will make sure their cars are ready to take them safely through the winter. In the case of the prior, the goal is to get cars back into shape after grueling winter driving experiences.

Yes, this past winter wasn’t as grueling as some in recent history. Still, the cold weather took a steeper toll on vehicles than most warm weather months. One of our goals is to ensure that our customers, people we like to call friends, have a safe and enjoyable driving experience. To that end, we do all we can to keep their vehicles in tip-top shape.

Whether you look at National Car Care Month as a marketing tool, which, to some degree, it is, or whether you look at it as a community service effort, the idea has merit if you take it to heart and consider the needs of your vehicle at your convenience.

Bringing your car in at your convenience is the alternative is to finding yourself sitting on the side of the road somewhere. Or, it’s the difference between taking care of a problem when it’s relatively small and less expensive and waiting for it to grow into something more significant and costly.

So, if you want to bring your car in, we’d be happy to hear from you. Even if you don’t, please, take a moment to consider your car’s needs before they interfere with yours.

For more information about Performance Unlimited, call 815-728-0343 or visit www.4performanceunlimited.com.

A recent article on Yahoo.com suggested drivers can save as much as $2 per gallon on gasoline if they follow a few tips offered in the article. That offers wonderful news here in the Chicago area where people are now paying more than $4 per gallon. Unfortunately, the article was probably a bit too rosy. However, that isn’t to say that there aren’t ways to save on gasoline.

According to the Yahoo article, tips include removing junk from the trunk of your car. The article states that every “100 pounds of added weight in a car reduces its fuel economy by up to 2% (working out to) an extra four to seven cents per gallon.”

Here at Performance Unlimited, we’ll occasionally perform repairs or maintenance on a vehicle with a trunk full of odds and ends. But, even the most crammed trunk seldom has even 100 pounds of “junk” in it. Removing unneeded items from the trunk isn’t a bad idea but it may not save as much on mileage as the writer of the Yahoo article suggested.

The article also suggests using credit cards that offer gas rewards on purchases. This is also a reasonable idea but it’s a tradeoff between one set or rewards and another. Most of us are already banking rewards on our purchases.

Another tip is to drive responsibly. Here, the writer refers to U.S. Department of Energy estimates: “each 5 mph one drives over 60 mph adds $0.30 per gallon to the gas bill. Aggressive stops and starts waste another 33% at highway speeds and about 5% at slower, local speed limits.”

Not to take a position opposed to the Department of Energy but, if you can save the $1.27 per gallon suggested in the article by changing your driving habits you can probably save a lot more money in the traffic tickets you’ll avoid. In fact, if you can save that much you’re probably driving without a license already.

Still, jack-rabbit starts and heavy acceleration will adversely affect your mileage. You will save if you go a little easier on the gas pedal.

Maintaining the air pressure in your tires will also help, but I wouldn’t count on saving 12 cents per gallon. If you’re driving on tires that are virtually flat, maybe you’ll save that much. Most of us, however, may save a few cents a gallon by keeping our tires fully inflated to manufacturer’s specifications.

If you live near a grocery chain that is offering discounts on gasoline based on grocery purchases, that may well save you some money on gasoline. However, most grocery chains will fall somewhere below the $2.20 the writer mentions. However, if there is a “Giant” grocery store in the area offering that kind of savings, we’re all for it.

Most grocery stores offering discounts based on purchases have caps on how much you can save and time limits to use the discounts.

Finally, the story suggests planning your routes better. Other than where you can choose between a route through city driving and highway driving, this won’t have a lot to do with your mileage. However, planning trips using the shortest practical route does make sense and can save you money you would otherwise burn up in the engine.

The one tip the article doesn’t mention, which is probably the most important, is to make sure your vehicle is running optimally. A poorly tuned car will burn a lot more extra gasoline than a car with under-inflated tires.

When’s the last time you changed the oil, air filter, had a tune up? These are all good questions to ask when thinking about improved performance, whether that performance translates to better mileage or more power at the pedal.

Ways to save $2 per gallon makes for a great headline. These days, however, saving anything on gas mileage is welcome news to most of us.

You’re driving down the road listening to the radio and thinking about what you need to buy at the store when, suddenly, you hear a thump, thump, thump sound and the steering wheel starts jerking in your hands. For a split second, you think to yourself, “What the heck is that?” Then it dawns on you, “For crying out loud, I have a flat tire.”

Of course, this scenario assumes you haven’t had a complete blowout and aren’t fighting to maintain control of the vehicle. In either case, you need to grab the wheel firmly and, first of all, ensure that you have control of the car. At the same time, assuming it’s safe to do so, you’ll want to let off the gas. Don’t slam on the brakes unless, once again, you absolutely have to. But take control of the car while remaining calm.

At the first reasonable opportunity, you want to start pulling off of the road into a safe and level area. It’s possible you’ve had your flat where there is nowhere to pull over. In that, case, you’ll have to thumpety thump your way along at a low rate of speed until you come to a spot where you can pull out of traffic. If you go too fast or too far, a tire that is flat and repairable can become a tire that is shredded and replaceable.

Once you’re off the road a good distance, you’ll want to replace the flat tire with your spare tire. You have checked the spare recently to make sure it’s holding air, right? That’s a good thing to do before you actually need it. It’s a major inconvenience when your tire is flat and you don’t have a spare to replace it. However, more important than convenience is safety.

There are two major concerns in terms of safely replacing a flat tire with the spare on the side of the road. The safest way to deal with something like that is to call your motor vehicle club and have a professional come out. One major safety concern still applies in this case, though; even if you’re pulled off the road there is a risk that someone could hit your car from behind.

Before you get out of the car, put the flashers on to let people know you’re pulled over. This is particularly crucial at night and/or during bad weather. However, it’s still important on a sunny day. You’ll also want to set the emergency brake.

Now, checking that it’s safe before exiting the car on the passenger side away from the road, you need to pop the trunk or otherwise access the spare, the jack and the lug wrench.  You need to apply additional caution if the flat tire is on the driver’s side of the car as you may be working close to the road as other cars go by. This is an excellent time for a police officer to stop by and put his lights on behind you.

Inside the trunk lid you’ll most likely find directions for using the jack. This is crucial. You don’t want the car to fall off the jack, particularly while you have the wheel off. Cars generally weigh around two tons and are very dangerous if they fall on you.

A car can roll back off of the jack. You should have a block of wood or something to jam behind a good tire opposite from the end of the car you’re lifting. If not, look for a large rock or something else that you can jam behind the tire.

Before you raise the car so the tire is off the ground, you’ll want to break the lug nuts loose. Don’t take them all the way off yet but loosen them enough that, when the tire is free from the ground it won’t spin when you try to loosen the lugs.

When you’re ready to jack the car up, be sure to raise it high enough for the spare. Even if your spare is a smaller tire or what is commonly called a donut, it may be wider than a flat tire.

Once you have the car in the air, remove the lug nuts completely, putting them in a place where you won’t lose them and they can’t become fouled with dirt or mud. A coat pocket works well if you don’t mind traces of rust the lugs may leave behind.

Once you’ve removed the lugs, remove the flat tire, set it aside and immediately put the spare tire onto the car fitting the bolts through the holes in the wheel. Then spin the lugs on just snuggly while the car is still in the air. At this point you’ll want to lower the car carefully until the spare tire has solid contact with the ground.

Now It’s time to tighten the lug nuts. Don’t tighten them one after the other in a circle. Rather, tighten in a crossing pattern. Most cars have four, five or six lug nuts holding the wheel in place.  Also, don’t tighten the first lug as far as you can. Instead, work all the lugs in a bit moving from one to another until they are good and tight.

Now, you can lower the car and put the flat, jack and lug wrench back in the trunk.

If your spare is a smaller donut, keep in mind this is a tire that is not rated for the speeds of the other tires on your car or for driving the same distances. Consider the 50 rule – you shouldn’t drive over 50 mph and you should replace the spare with an actual tire within 50 miles. Actually, those are the outer limits of safety. Your best bet is to drive well below 50 and change the spare as soon as possible.

For help or additional information, visit Performance Unlimited’s Web site at www.4performanceunlimited.comor call 815-728-0343.

To properly maintain your vehicle, it helps to arm yourself with some basic knowledge about your car’s proper operation and maintenance so that you’ll recognize a potential problem. You’ll also want to employ your senses to gather clues about the problem so you can pass them on to your mechanic.

Seeing a puddle under the engine is a pretty good indicator that something is leaking. Feeling a shimmy in the steering wheel suggests a problem with the steering and/or suspension. A knocking sound when you accelerate will help to identify a possible problem with your engine. Even your sense of smell can help, particularly if you have an idea what different odors mean.

The Federal Trade Commission, in an online article titled, “Taking the Scare Out of Auto Repair,” offers the following information under the heading, “Smells Like Trouble:”

As with any potential problem you see, hear, feel or smell, these are clues that you may want to bring your vehicle in to a trusted auto-repair shop. Keep in mind, many problems start with a little drip, tap, vibration or odor and then develop into something more – something that could take a big bite out of your wallet, leave you stranded on the side of the road somewhere or, even worse, put you and your family in harm’s way.

Has your car recently developed an unusual odor or have another symptom that has you concerned?  Bringing your car in to your trusted auto repair technician will help you get to the bottom of the problem. In the McHenry County area, call Performance Unlimited at (815) 728-0343.

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