Tip Tuesday: Brakes

August is brake awareness month. Your brakes are a very important component of your vehicle as they are responsible to stop your wheels from spinning which allows your car to stop in any situation. Being that they are so important you definitely want to make sure they are in tip top shape. Having some kind of brake check every so often is a good idea.

Here at Jerry Noonan’s Auto Center, we check and measure your brakes each time we do a tire rotation on your vehicle. Since the tires are off it is very easy to see how they are holding up. If you need to replace them immediately we will tell you that. If they are looking thin we will let you know so you can be aware of when they will need to be replaced. Your brake condition will be documented so if you ever have any questions about it we can let you know. Now if you feel that you have a problem with your brakes and something just doesn’t feel right we will do a full brake inspection.

A cool little model we use here to show how the life cycle of your brakes is this.

This is a really good visual to show you the different points on how your brake pads degrade. Here at JNAC if your brake pad measures 7mm or greater you are in the green zone. If your pads measure 6mm-4mm you are in the yellow zone which means you will be needing new brake pads soon. And if your pads measure 3mm-1mm you are in the red, which means you need brakes now. 

If you feel you have an issue with your brakes, please don’t hesitate to make an appointment with us. It is very important that they be looked at as soon as possible. Remember, we do check them if your tires come off during a service visit here to let you know how they are doing. 

If you have any questions or concerns please stop by or give us a call at (609)-655-2886. 

We will be glad to help you the best way we can. Please drive safely out there!

Mini Blog: Fender Repair

Here at Jerry Noonan’s Auto Center, we do a little bit of everything from mechanical work to auto body repair. When doing body work, the jobs vary. We can get a vehicle that got into a small fender bender or one that requires a complete overhaul. We also have a paint booth so if you need some kind of repair that requires painting we can do that too!

Something that is a pretty typical task in our body shop is a fender repair. This is when
the technician will repair the damage and then get it ready to be painted.

In these pictures the technician is using a material called polyester filler. This is used to fill in the low spots and dents that are on the fender. Once the first coat is dry the technician will put a few more on to ensure everything is filled in nicely. 

Once the multiple coats of the filler dry, the technician will then sand. When sanding, it is important to make sure you have evened out the surface.

Once the sanding is complete, the technician will need to clean the surface. You want to make sure that all the sanding dust is gone because the next step is priming the repaired area.

Once the area has been cleaned, it is ready to be prepared for the primer paint. The technician tapes off the area that needs to be painted. This is done to centralize where the paint is going to go. He then will put on paper (that has tape on one end) all around the area to protect the rest of the car from over spray. Once all this is set, the vehicle is ready to be primed.  

The technician will paint the repaired area with primer. He puts on a few coats to make sure he has fully covered the fender area. After the primer coats dry, the area needs to be wet sanded until smooth and flush with the rest of the fender; this will get rid of all the black spray. Once this is done, the vehicle is ready to go into the booth to be painted.

Tada! This is the final product. The fender went through paint and is all shiny and looks like new! The vehicle still needs to be finished up, but the fender repair that our technician did is all done. 

If you need any kind of body work for your vehicle please call us at (609)-655-2886 and ask for Dave. You can come in and he will assess your vehicle with a free estimate and schedule you in for your auto body repair. 

Mini Blog: Tire Rotation

Rotating your tires is important to maintain even tread wear on your tires. Each vehicle has
a different type of tire wear, which depends on many aspects. One is the drive train your
vehicle has; FWD, RWD, AWD, or 4WD. Another is how you drive your car. For example, someone who drives on the highway can experience a different type of tire wear than someone who does more local driving.

There are different processes when going into tire rotations for FWD, RWD, AWD, and 4WD vehicles which all follow a different pattern so to say. Our technicians are trained to provide the proper rotation procedure for your particular vehicle.

Besides maintaining the tread wear on your tires, a tire rotation is important to extend the life of your tires, which will ultimately help you save money. For example, if you drive a front wheel drive vehicle and do not rotate your tires, you will see significant wear on your front tires and not the rears. As long as you stay on top of properly rotating your tires, the tread will wear evenly, keeping you and your vehicle safe. Also when driving on tires with an uneven tread you may hear a very annoying sound and feel a vibration, this is called tread cupping.

Here at Jerry Noonan’s Auto Center, we recommend that you get your tires rotated at an oil change service. So for a vehicle that takes conventional oil, you would have the tires rotated every 6,000 miles, that being every other oil change. For a vehicle that takes synthetic oil, the tires should be rotated every 5,000 miles, so that would be every oil change. When you come in for an oil change service please mention that you would like to have your tires rotated as well and we will take care of this for you. If you would like to make an appointment for an oil change and tire rotation or just a tire rotation, please call us at (609)-655-2886. See you soon!

Mini Blog: Coolant

Coolant (antifreeze) is a liquid that runs through the cooling system of your vehicle and helps to protect your engine from overheating or freezing. An issue you can have due to coolant maintenance negligence is electrolysis. Electrolysis is when there is an electrical current running through the cooling system causing corrosion and damage to the components.

A coolant service involves pumping out the system and filling it back up with new and specific coolant your vehicle requires, as most automotive manufacturers recommend specific coolants for their vehicles. When pumping out the tank, a vacuum needs to be established to ensure the coolant exits in a timely fashion. Once all the coolant has been pumped out, the new supply is pumped in. After the tank has been filled, the technician will top off with a little more fluid. A coolant service varies from vehicle to vehicle so it’s always a good idea to check your owner’s manual on when they should be done. On average it should be done about every 30,000 miles or every 2 years. If you think your coolant needs changing, please give us a call at (609)-655-2886 to make an appointment and we will check it out for you.