Most tires are designed to provide similar performance throughout their entire lives, but at some point they start to lose their traction and braking abilities. Understanding when a tire needs to be replaced is important to maintaining the overall performance and longevity of your car, but it’s also important to make sure replacement is the only option you have left. Before making a final decision, consider the following tips:

Look at the tread pattern. All tires sold in the United States have “tread wear bars,” which are small bridges that form between the treads. Look at the tread pattern and you’ll see the beginnings of these bars start to form. As the tires wear, Read more

Kris Cesena, owner of Auto Medics, a Diamond Certified auto repair shop, first has a tip is about spare tires. She says, “Most cars have a space-saver spare tire, or what we affectionately call the donut-spare. This tire is only intended to take you from where you got a flat tire to the auto shop. Don’t drive around on your donut spare for days, and don’t drive over 55mph with this spare on.”

The second tip is a warning about having too many things dangling from your key ring. According to Ms. Cesena, “A heavy key ring can cause your ignition switch to wear out as the weight bounces and swings while you drive. Read more

Improve your chances of finding a competent and honest mechanic and repair shop. Choose one with ASE certification! A mechanic who earns that certification from the national Institute for Automotive Service Excellence has passed at least one of its challenging exams in the past five years. If the shop itself has an ASE Blue Seal of Excellence, seventy-five percent of its technicians are ASE-certified and at least one of them works in each area of service the shop offers. So make sure the technician doing the specific repairs on your car has that certification, choose a shop that’s been around for at least five years, and check out other consumer’s opinions about their experiences at websites like yelp, Read more

My husband’s 2008 Honda CRV has only gone in for an oil change twice since he’s owned it. It now has 30-some thousand miles on it. I keep bugging him to get an oil change, but he says the manufacturer suggests waiting until the oil indicator light goes on. That light rarely goes on. That happens about every 12-15,000 miles. My dad drilled into me that you get an oil change about every 5,000 miles at least.

To settle our disagreement, I decided to find out what one of the Diamond Certified auto repair experts thinks about that. Richard Cordes, owner of European Sales and Service, Inc., a Diamond Certified company, says it’s a mistake to wait that long. Read more

Teach Students Four Simple Things Don’t let your student drive off to college in a vehicle they have no idea how to maintain. AAA Northern California recommends parents have a talk with their students before sending them off to college about the four major things they need to do to care for their car. “Not only does a well-maintained vehicle provide safe, reliable transportation for their student, it also prolongs the life of the vehicle and saves money,” says Matt Skryja, AAA Northern California spokesperson. Ideally, learning how to care for a car is part of learning how to drive, but it is never too late to help your student learn the basics of car care. Read more