“Winter potholes make driving here in the Midwest a brutal experience for cars and vehicles,” said Denny Norton, owner of Ringwood based Performance Unlimited auto repair shop. “Winter roads tend to knock a car’s alignment out of whack while roughing up your shocks, struts, steering and suspension.”

Considering, Norton said spring is the best time of year to check out your alignment, steering and suspension. He said that, if you check it out now, your steering and suspension should be sitting pretty for the rest of the year. However, if you don’t have a trusted auto repair shop give your alignment, steering and suspension a check you could drive on faulty auto parts.

The problem with driving on damaged steering and suspension parts is that, as with bad apples in a barrel, a rotten part will turn other parts bad around it. So, you could start out with a worn idler arm and wind up replacing bushings, bearings and other parts, too; a repair that is relatively inexpensive could wind up costing quite a lot.

Not only do worn steering and suspension parts tend to spread, they also can create unsafe driving conditions. When you operate a vehicle, you expect the steering and suspension to respond a certain way to conditions and your control. When steering and suspension parts are worn you can’t count on the vehicle to react as you’d expect.

Norton said that auto repair shops and auto parts stores are aware of the need to check a car’s steering and suspension this time of year. In response, Performance Unlimited and NAPA Auto Parts are offering a spring special so that, those who do need steering and suspension work on their vehicles, can save a little extra money in the process.

Those who come to Performance Unlimited on a regular basis may realize that the 4-for-2 rebate offer on shocks and struts just ended. That special was also related to helping drivers with the costs of keeping up with Midwest winters. As the shocks and struts special ended, a new offer came into effect: through NAPA, Performance Unlimited is offering rebates on steering and suspension parts.

With the offer, if someone spends $150 or more, they can receive a $25 rebate from NAPA. If someone spends $250 or more, they can receive a $50 rebate.

Whether your car needs any steering or suspension parts, Norton said it’s almost a given that you’ll need an alignment for your car.

“The way winter beats on the steering and suspension, it’s almost impossible for a car to remain aligned by the time spring rolls around,” he said. “It’s not a bad idea to have your alignment checked once each year and this is the best time of year to check it out.”

* Call Performance Unlimited at (815) 728-0343 to find out if the specific parts your vehicle needs are covered by this special offer. You can also check out Performance Unlimited at www.4performanceunlimited.com.