Performance Unlimited Blog

Roger, a long-time McHenry resident, has babied that car for years. Weekends, when it’s warm, it’s not unusual to see him out in the driveway washing and waxing his ‘beauty’ – an older car that looks as good as new. Considering all the care Roger puts into the car, he clearly has a love affair with the car. He doesn’t wait for parts to fail; he monitors the condition of the car on an on-going basis. If a part is showing wear, he has it replaced. He understands that wear in one area of the car, like one bad apple spoiling the entire bunch, will cause increased wear in other parts of the car. Roger follows the prescribed maintenance in the Owner’s Manual to a T. That includes everything right down to lubricating the door hinges when called for. With all the TLC he gives the car, no one in the neighborhood is surprised that he drives down his McHenry road in a decades-old mechanical gem. But, there is one thing Roger does, above all else, to ensure that his car is in the peak of con...

You’re used to Wonder Lake winters so, though you thought this one might have ended by now. In any case, since winter won't leave, it's still a good idea to make sure you’ve prepared your car. You’ve had the charging system and battery checked. Your cooling system is in good repair. Your tires have tread enough to make it safely through most snowstorms. But, do you have the essentials you’ll need for survival if your car breaks down anyway? Preparing your car for winter is essential for residents of Wonder Lake. We know how cold it will get and all the snow that will likely fall during the winter. But, even though you’ve taken those prudent steps to prepare your car, that isn’t an iron-clad guarantee that something won’t go wrong leaving you stranded on the side of the road somewhere. If your car does break down, it might have its ‘little’ problem in the middle of the afternoon in front of the Busy Bee on Barnard Mill Road where you can sit in a warm spot and drink coffee u...

In recent years, road-construction crews have repaved, or rebuilt, a number of the roads in and around McHenry. Those roads are smooth as silk. But, still, you may feel bumps when driving in the area. You may have come across roads that are still in need of attention from road-construction crews. You can try to avoid the roads in McHenry that are still in need of work. Or, you might consider that there are other possible explanations for the bumps you feel on the road. In other words, is it the road or is it something else when your drive feels bumpy. Is it wrong to blame the bumps on your car? Roads require maintenance and resurfacing because the elements have a slowly destructive effect on the roads. The same is true for your car, truck or SUV. It’s true that, if all the roads were as smooth as the recently resurfaced Route 31 running through McHenry, the suspension and related parts on your car, truck or SUV would last longer. But, few roads are perfectly smooth, and the older t...

One is for you, the other is for your car, truck or SUV. If they’re both doing their job, you and your car, truck or SUV can both take a deep sigh of relief, and a big breath of clean air. If they’re not up too par anymore, either of you could find yourself wheezing and coughing for a fresh breath. Who are they? One is an engine air filter. The other is your car, truck or SUV’s cabin filter. They both do the same job; they filter the air. The air filter cleans the air that is pulled into the engine and used in the engine combustion process. The cabin filter cleans the air that fills the inside of your car, truck or SUV. This is the air that you breathe. The air filter for the engine is essential. If it’s dirty, two things happen. One is that it restricts the flow of air into the engine. This is where the wheezing comes in. Your engine is fighting to take a deep breath when it should be concentrating on filling its lungs (cylinders) with a mixture of air and atomized fuel. That ...