Tag: Seattle Auto Body Shop

Aligning your car’s wheels involves adjusting their angles according to the specifications of the manufacturer. It is a process that you will likely need to have done by a professional auto body shop.

There are many things that can cause your wheels to go out of alignment, including hitting a pothole or striking a curb. If you notice that your car is drifting to one side as you drive, and you need to turn the steering wheel away from the center position in order to drive straight, first check your tires; be sure that they are inflated to their recommended pressure, as improperly inflated tires can give you the same effect of misaligned wheels. If your tires are properly inflated, you may very well have alignment issues.

If you observe a vibration in your wheels, this does not necessarily mean that they are misaligned. It likely points either to bent wheels or problems in the suspension.

Should you require an alignment for your own vehicle, visit Greenwood Collision in Seattle.

Winter is fast approaching, and this is a time when many people like to put their cars into storage. If you plan to put away your own vehicle for the cold season, be sure to do it right so as to make sure it’s in proper driving condition come spring time. The following steps will help you to accomplish this:

• Clean Your Car: Clean both the interior and exterior, applying a coat of wax to your paint job. Apply undercoating to any exposed part of the body that is prone to rusting.
• Guard Against Pests: Sometimes rodents will take refuge in your engine. A few dryer sheets or mothballs can work well. Alternatively, consider placing mousetraps outside your vehicle.
• Inflate Your Tires: Your tires will slowly lose pressure in storage, particularly during dramatic temperature changes. It can pay off to inflate your tires to a higher air pressure.
• Use Fuel Stabilizer: A common ethanol-blended fuel has an expiration date. The gas in your car’s engine will last for roughly three months unless you add a stabilizer.
• Store Your Battery: Remove and store your car’s battery in a place where it won’t freeze and crack.

Automobiles account for a large part of the pollution that civilization pumps into the atmosphere. Fortunately, Toyota is stepping up in an admirable effort to reduce the emissions of their cars. It is the goal of this automotive giant to cut the carbon dioxide emissions of their new vehicles by 90% by 2015, compared to 2010 levels.

To achieve this goal, Toyota intends to reduce the use of internal combustion engines in favor of hydrogen fuel cells, hybrids, and electric engines. On top of this, they also have announced plans to achieve zero carbon emissions at their factories within the same time frame.

The bad news is that this will not be an easy goal to achieve. Even a company as robust as Toyota will have to jump through some serious hoops to eliminate so many emissions. Executives of the company themselves have acknowledged that, without the support of all of their suppliers, all of their dealers, and their customer base, their plan will not be possible. How much support they are to receive has yet to be seen.

Between strong hurricane activity and a powerful El Nino brewing in the Pacific, flash flooding is a big concern throughout much of the country this year. An average of seventy-five people in the United States have been killed by floods every year since 2004, and roughly two thirds of these were drivers in their cars.

Indeed, should you find yourself driving in a flooded area, you should take particular care. One of the big killers is driving into water of unknown depth; it can be easy to misjudge the depth of water, particularly in low-light conditions. Unlucky motorists will sometimes find that the road or bridge they are driving along has been entirely washed out, and they don’t realize the dangers until it is too late.

FEMA gives the following advice:

• As little as six inches of water will reach the bottom of most cars, putting you in danger of stalling or losing control.
• A foot of water will cause many passenger vehicles to float.
• Two feet of moving water has the potential to carry away most vehicles, including pickups and SUV’s.

Should your car become damaged by flood waters, you will want to act quickly to salvage it. Talk to Greenwood’s auto body shop in Seattle for more information.

Automotive safety doesn’t end when you turn off your car. In the past decade, roughly 750 children in the United States died after being left in hot vehicles. Whenever it happens, it’s always a source of devastating surprise for the family and those around them. So, how can such a tragedy be avoided?

The first thing to do is realize just how likely your child is to suffer death from heatstroke. Kids overheat five times more quickly than adults do, and are prone to death when temperatures reach 107 degrees. Meanwhile, your car’s temperature can jump by 20 degrees or more in as little as ten minutes. Even if the external temperature is below 70 degrees, cracking a window may not be enough to keep a child safe when you run into the store to grab a few groceries.

Since many cases of accidental death involve poor planning or forgetfulness, you will want to take measures to make sure you never forget your child. Consider using a cell phone app, or leaving visual clues in your car.

Should you have any problems with your vehicle that go beyond its internal temperature, bring it to our auto body shop in Seattle for collision repair or regular maintenance.

Your vehicle’s brake system is the single most vital to the safety of you and the passengers in your car. It is important to have your brakes inspected at least once every year. This is why August has been designated as Brake Safety Awareness Month. Take this time to have your brake system professionally inspected to assure that they remain at peak performance as you prepare to start a new school year and take on the cold winter months.

A proper inspection of your brakes should include taking a look at your brake lining, your brake fluid levels, the condition of your hoses and brake lines, your rotor thickness, and your warning lights. Take your car for a test drive and try out your brakes; if your car pulls to the side, if you hear unusual noises whenever you apply your brakes, or if your brake pedal otherwise doesn’t behave normally, you will want to bring it in to our auto body shop in Seattle as soon as you can.

When a police car lights up its emergency lights behind you, it is important to pull over to the right side of the road as soon as it is safe to do so. Once you have done this, consider the following tips:

• If it is dark out, turn on your interior light.
• Keep your hands where they are readily visible to the officer. Resting them on your steering wheel is a good option. Avoid reaching under your seat or into your glove box unless you need to.
• Be prepared to show your license and registration. Keep your registration where you can always know where it is and retrieve it easily.
• Remain calm and be polite. Many officers deal with difficult people all day, and are frequently receptive to people who are willing to be civil and admit to making mistakes.
• Don’t attempt to bribe the officer.
• Should you feel that you have been unfairly treated, make your case to the traffic court.

In the event that your car troubles go beyond the legal, contact our auto body shop in Seattle for quick and reliable repairs.

We often hear about how safe it is to be in a car during a lightning storm. Indeed, if a bolt of lightning were to strike your car, it is true that you could very well walk away entirely unscathed. However, the full truth is not quite this easy.

The first thing to understand is that some vehicles are safer than others. A fully-enclosed vehicle with a metal frame is the safest, while a convertible or fiberglass vehicle are considerably less secure.

If you are in your vehicle during a lightning storm, there are several steps you should take to improve your chances of staying safe. Firstly, you should roll up your windows. Secondly, you should avoid making contact with any interior metal objects in your car. You may want to pull off the road, turn off the engine, and wait out the storm, since even your steering wheel may give you a bad shock.

Should the worst happen and your car ever become damaged by a freak lightning strike, bring it in to our auto body shop in Seattle.

Going green with your car means keeping it for as long as you can without buying a new vehicle. You can extend the life of a car dramatically with a rebuilt engine. More than just a simple engine repair, a rebuilt engine entails completely dismantling your existing engine, machining and cleaning all components, replacing key parts as needed, and putting it back together according to prescribed standards. Properly maintained, your remanufactured engine should last as long as a new engine.

Having your engine rebuilt can come with a high price tag, but the benefits are great. Since rebuilding involves less energy and resources than manufacturing a new engine, it is both ecologically sound and more affordable than buying a new car. Depending on your vehicle model and the particulars of your situation, you can expect to pay between $2,500 and $5,000 on average, which comes out to roughly ten to fifteen percent of the cost of buying a new vehicle.

Talk to our auto body shop in Seattle for more ways to extend the life of your car.

Often times, when you wash your car, the bugs that have gathered on your windshield are the most stubborn part of the job. Thick wads of insect guts don’t respond easily to a bit of soap and a squeegee. When you find yourself struggling with bug stains, try one of the following solutions:

A bit of undiluted car wash solution may serve well to pre-treat the stain before washing your car.
Mix three tablespoons of a common household cleaner with a quart of hot water. The hotter the water, the better, but don’t use anything that is too hot for you to comfortably handle.
Soak a rag in extra virgin olive oil, then rub it into the stain with a circular motion. This is an effective method, but you will need to wash the oil away with soap afterward.
Mix baking soda with water so that it forms a paste. Apply this paste with a paper towel or disposable rag, then allow it to dry over the stain before washing it away with hot water.
For particularly tough stains, a degreaser may be in order.

When your car’s problems go beyond simple stains, bring it to our auto body shop in Seattle.