Oakville Auto Repair

Well winter tires have some advantages over sporty summer tires or even all season tires, mainly they remain softer when the temperature dips below 7 Celsius, and in Ontario we are below that after labour day at night until the end of April. back to the topic "whats involved when mounting my winter rims and tires?"  Well at My shop Mark's Auto Service we always perform a courtesy inspection which includes a short road test. Why? This allows us to test for any warning lights, listen for any noises and get a feel for the brakes and handling. Then drive the vehicle into the shop, for a lift on the hoist, here we will remove the summer wheels, visual inspect the brakes, summer tires and record our findings on a tablet DVI digital inspection, then we will inspect the winter tires, the air pressure, check the winter tire balancing on our Hunter Road Force machine and adjust as necessary, then install and torque the wheels to manufacturer Specificat ... read more

Well with winter comes cold weather. Money saving tip: After driving home in the rain or snow, make sure you turn your wipers off and let them “park” Then turn off the car. Why? Well if you turn the key off with the wipers on, they will stop right away on the glass, and freeze in that position. Now here is the problem: the next morning you start the car and the wipers will try to move or park, but are frozen in place, this can damage the wiper motor, wipers or the linkage, with new cars getting lighter and lighter to save fuel the wiper linkage is often plastic and replaced as unit. Please pass this on the younger drivers too! Cheers Mark

We hosted a Worst Roads and Winter driving clinic at our shop on Saturday October 17th it was sponsored by CAA, It was a huge success thanks to my dedicated staff who came in on there day off to help. There was a power point presentation on winter driving tips, what bad roads can do to the car, followed by 3 mini workshops at different hoists in the shop, this is were they really got to get our hands dirty seeing different areas on vehicles taken apart for demonstration, Adrian Wong explained winterizing your car and testing fluid samples for wear, Shawn Edwards explained Steering and Brakes and Steve Handojo performed a Wheel Alignment and Tire demonstration. Thank you Iain, Candis, Shawn, Steve and Adrian Cheers Mark

To all those who drive in Ontario, please read and be aware! New Ontario law now states that when approaching any emergency vehicle on the roadside with emergency lights flashing, you must slow down and move to the left lane. If not face a MINIMUM fine of $400! And also 3 points off your license. I change lanes as a caution, but will make sure I do from now on. The Police are cracking down hard on this because of injured officers. I did not realize this was the law. Please pass this on to your friends. Cheers, Mark