AUTONET TV

Tire Rotation and Balancing at S T Foreign Auto Service in Syracuse

Tires do a lot of work for Syracuse drivers. They transfer engine power and braking forces to the road; they handle steering control; and they cushion all those bumps and jolts while driving around Syracuse. They also support the entire weight of the vehicle, including you and your passengers. With such important work to do, you want your tires to do their job well. And since replacing tires is fairly pricey, you want them to last as long as possible.

There are three keys to long, even tire wear for Syracuse driving:

• Proper tire inflation
• Proper wheel alignment
• Regular tire rotation and balancing

The front tires on a car take the brunt of the steering forces. As they push through turns, the shoulders of the front tires wear down more quickly than the rear tires. Rotating front and rear tires allows them to all wear at about the same rate. That's especially true of front-wheel-drive vehicles whose front tires steer and put the power to the road.

SUVs and pick-ups, especially four-wheel-drives, also tend to wear their tires more unevenly than cars because of their suspension and drivetrain set-up. Your owner's manual will likely contain a schedule for tire rotation. It's usually every 5,000 miles/8,000 km or so.

Also, there are different rotation patterns for different vehicles. S T Foreign Auto Service will know which is right for your vehicle. That brings us to wheel balancing. When wheels are balanced, they spin on the axle evenly. When they are out of balance, they wobble a bit. That makes the tires wear unevenly and may transmit a vibration to the car. Your friendly and knowledgeable S T Foreign Auto Service service advisor puts weights on your wheels to balance them out so that they turn true and smooth.

Tires are a big investment for Syracuse drivers. They're designed for keeping you safely on the road in Syracuse. The cost for regular rotation and balancing is more than made up in extended tire life. And, can you really put a price on your safety and that of your passengers?

 S T Foreign Auto Service
415 E Brighton Ave.
Syracuse, NY 13210
315-478-2161
www.stforeignauto.com

Automotive Tips from S T Foreign Auto Service: Battery Testing

The simple fact is that 70% of car batteries fail within 4 years. They just need to be replaced at S T Foreign Auto Service when they are no longer able to hold a full charge.

Batteries are a big ticket item for most Syracuse drivers and it’s tempting to put off buying a new one as long as possible. But a battery that cannot hold a full charge requires the alternator to work extra hard, causing it to wear out prematurely.

Your S T Foreign Auto Service service advisor can test your battery to see if it should be replaced. Testing is a good idea for NY drivers because a battery might still be good, but become dead because of a bad alternator or even a worn serpentine belt and tensioner.

S T Foreign Auto Service
415 E Brighton Ave.
Syracuse, NY 13210
315-478-2161
www.stforeignauto.com

Battery Replacement at S T Foreign Auto Service in Syracuse

Hello, welcome to S T Foreign Auto Service. Today's focus is batteries. It seems like everything in Syracuse runs on batteries. Of course, the batteries we're most concerned with here at S T Foreign Auto Service are those in our customer's vehicles. Just like the batteries in our smoke detectors or TV remote, they wear out and need to be replaced . This can be thought of as the power output used to start a cold vehicle engine. The number of cold cranking amps you need depends on your vehicle and where you live in NY, specifically how cold it is. (Many Syracuse drivers have first-hand experience trying to start their car on a cold winter morning.) The two factors are that the colder your vehicle's engine is, the more power it takes to turn the engine over to get it started. It has all that cold, sluggish oil to contend with.

The other factor is that the chemical reaction in the battery that creates electrical energy is less efficient when the temperature dips. Let's say it's 80 degrees Fahrenheit (27 degrees C) in Syracuse. At that temperature, 100% of the battery's power is available. At freezing, only 65% of battery power is available, but it requires 155% as much power to start the engine as it did at 80 degrees F (27 degrees C).

As you can see, the colder it gets, more power is needed, but the available power drops.

So if you live where it's cold in NY, you need a battery with more cold cranking amps than you do where it's moderate or hot. The battery that originally came with your vehicle was based on averages. At S T Foreign Auto Service, we like to remind Syracuse drivers that they should always get at least as many cold cranking amps as their vehicle manufacturer recommends but may want to upgrade if they live where it gets real cold.

S T Foreign Auto Service
415 E Brighton Ave.
Syracuse, NY 13210
315-478-2161
www.stforeignauto.com

S T Foreign Auto Service: Why Replace Your Engine Air Filter?

Just as our bodies need clean air to function properly, your vehicle engine needs clean air to operate efficiently. Let's go egghead for a minute. For every gallon of gas we burn driving on Syracuse streets, 20 pounds of carbon dioxide comes out the tailpipe. Question: how can a gallon of gas that weighs a little over six pounds produce 20 pounds of carbon dioxide?

The answer is that the carbon comes from the gasoline, but the oxygen comes from the air. You see, it takes about 12,000 gallons of air to burn a gallon of gas in your engine. Clearly, your vehicle needs a lot of air to keep going in Syracuse. A lot of clean air is best.

You've seen the pictures of people in Japan wearing face masks. They want some kind of filter to keep unwanted pollution and germs out of their lungs. Well, your vehicle also works better when its internals are clean. When your vehicle air filter is dirty, it simply can't trap any more dirt, so the pollutants just pass through into your air intake system. From there it can clog your fuel injectors and even get into the motor itself. Not surprisingly, burning dust and pollen in your vehicle engine does you no good.

Replacing a dirty air filter at S T Foreign Auto Service in Syracuse can improve your fuel economy by up to 10 percent. At today's Syracuse fuel prices, you should be able to pay for a new air filter before your next oil change.

The verdict: When your vehicle engine air filter needs to be replaced; it needs to be replaced. How often depends entirely on the level of air pollution where you drive in NY. A simple visual inspection at S T Foreign Auto Service in Syracuse will tell you when you need a new engine air filter.

S T Foreign Auto Service
415 E Brighton Ave.
Syracuse, NY 13210
315-478-2161
www.stforeignauto.com