Performance Unlimited Blog

More than when we welcomed in 2021 a year ago, folks are getting out and doing things in public today. We feel safer doing so now than we did then. It’s refreshing. It feels as though we’re rejoining the human race. But COVID isn’t the only hazard in the world. New Year’s Eve in McHenry is a wonderful time of the year. We all have hope for the year ahead. And why wouldn’t we? This might be the year when we get back to a semblance of normalcy. But even before COVID, there were dangers in the world. One such danger is the effect on your ability to drive safely when you’ve had a bit of alcohol. No one is saying that you shouldn’t have a good time and, no doubt, the revelry you have in mind includes the consumption of some tasty beverages. Have a good time. Imbibe a little more than you usually would do. Why not? After all, it’s a holiday. Have fun but don’t get behind the wheel if you’ve had too much to drink. How much is ‘Too Much?’ As it turns out, alcohol consumption tends to ignore di...

Christmas is a time for gathering with loved ones and enjoying the season. But, often, travel is required to get together with family and friends. Some of us will put on a mask and fly greater distances to celebrate Christmas. But many will load up the car and drive somewhere for the holiday. Which is it for you? Or will you stay home? Maybe, you’ll stay home while loved ones drive to your home. But, whatever your personal situation, during Christmas time, there’s a whole lot of travelin’ going on. Travelpulse claims that 85-million Americans are expected to travel this Christmas. TravelandLiesure suggests that 47-million of those will mask up and take to the ‘friendly skies.’ If they have the numbers right, that still means that 38-million Americans will hit the roads to spend Christmas with loved ones. With all those people on the road, even if the conditions are good, folks need to be aware to arrive at the homes of loved ones safely. If the conditions aren’t so good – if there are ...

 Your neighbors know when you are leaving.  They know when you get back late. They know ‘cause your muffler's good and loud. So, replace it for goodness sake. Yes, if you’re muffler is failing, the neighbors can’t help but notice. People walking on sidewalks can tell. And folks in other cars turn up their radios so they can hear above the racket your car is making. But it’s not a calamity. And fixing your exhaust doesn’t have to be exhausting. If your car’s exhaust system gets bad enough, Santa in a blue uniform, with flashing lights on the roof of his sleigh, my add you to his list of tickets. But that’s not the only reason to fix your exhaust. And there’s another reason beyond bothering the neighbors and folks about town. Another reason to fix that loud muffler and exhaust system is because of the potential for fumes to work up into the cabin where you and your loved ones sit. If this happens, while it is a potentially dangerous condition, at the very least, you’re liable to...

If you’ve winterized your car, truck or SUV you probably don’t need to worry about breaking down when you leave your McHenry home this winter. Of course, there’s no absolute guarantee. Things happen. You may hit something in the road and blow out a tire. Or, even with snow tires, you could hit a patch of ice too fast and slide into a ditch along a McHenry road. There are mechanical parts under the hood that could unexpectedly fail. If something happens in spite of your best efforts to prepare for the season, our winterizing tips include one more topic … Winterizing Tip #7: McHenry Winter Emergency Preparedness  If you think about it, the most immediate thing you want in the car, truck or SUV if you find yourself stranded is a charged cell phone. If you can call someone for help, whether family, friend or road-side service, your breakdown could prove a minor inconvenience. But you’ll want to plan beyond a cell phone. Here is a list to consider when you set about applying the princip...

Changing your oil on schedule is the most important thing you can do to protect your investment in your automobile and that certainly applies during a Johnsburg winter. Winter poses an additional challenge to motor oil in terms of doing its job of lubricating the parts inside your vehicle’s engine. Without oil, the friction between parts within the engine will create so much heat that, in a short period of time, the parts will grab hold of each other, things will break, and parts will fuse together as they cool. Cold weather makes it harder for the oil to work its way up through its passages and into the engine. As we enter the Johnsburg winter of 2021-22, we don’t know how cold it will get. But we know the thermometer will fall below freezing and, quite likely, below zero. These cold temperatures have a specific effect on motor oil. When it’s cold, the oil thickens. Until it warms, it’s reticent to flow when the oil pump works to pump up and through the engine. As the engine runs, the...

“I've been drivin' all night My hand's wet on the wheel …” Headin’ home Thanksgiving Family has special appeal. You may have a ways to go to get home to family in Wonder Lake this Thanksgiving. The mile markers will flip by one after another, but don’t focus on those; keep your eyes on the road. Stay alert. Stay focused. As you drive through the night, you want to be on top of your game. You want to get home to Wonder Lake safely so you can enjoy the holiday with family and friends. The family is eagerly awaiting your arrival. But they would rather if you’re a little late than to have a knock on the door with a law officer there to tell them you were in an accident. “The radio's playing some forgotten song Brenda Lee's ‘Coming On Strong’ The road has got me hypnotized And I'm speeding into a new sunrise …” Yes, those road markers can hypnotize as you drive. White-line fever is always a risk. But there’s another concern; is your car up to the trip. In worst-case ...

You’re tough. You can take everything a Wonder Lake winter can throw at you. So, if the heater in your car isn’t as effective as it once was, so what? You’ll keep your coat cinched up around your neck, keep your gloves on and weather through the cold weather. But the heat in your car isn’t just about comfort. Of course, your car’s heater is also about keeping you warm as the next Wonder Lake winter approaches. Just because you can take the cold doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have your car heated inside when it’s blustering cold outside. The car heater, however, does more than fill your vehicle with the warming comfort of heated air. It also works to keep your windshield clear. Have you ever come out to your car on a cold morning, scraped the frost off the windshield and, by the time you get in the car, the windshield is frosting up again?  Sometimes, you’ll scrape the frost from the outside of the windshield only to find that frost has formed on the inside of the windshield, too. You c...

During the American revolution, Civil War, teamsters were responsible for driving and caring for horses and carts that carried ammunition, food and other equipment. At times, they carried troops. Other times, they carried the wounded. It was their job to keep the horses and good health and the carts in good condition. Horses were the engines of the transportation system of the era, though steam locomotives appeared before the Civil War and played a significant role in that conflict. But even a train engine has significant maintenance considerations.  By the time of WWI, the combustion engine had made its appearance and cars, trucks and aircraft had joined the logistical battlefield. Tanks also made their first appearance during the First World War. These, too, required dedicated attention to keep them operating properly. By WWII , the combustion engine was the overwhelming workhorse of the American military. While soldiers were often called upon to march into battle, there were tim...

It’s comforting to know that, no matter how cold it is outside this McHenry winter, when you run out to your vehicle, your car, truck or SUV will start. When you have that kind of comfort, you don’t even think about it. It’s subliminal. But if you don’t have that confidence … If there is a weakness in your car, truck or SUV charging and starting system, a McHenry winter is likely to find it. There are a number of issues that could give your vehicle trouble starting when the temperature drops. The charging system: The charging system recharges the battery and operates the electrical systems while your car, truck or SUV is running. If it doesn’t provide enough electricity, such as with an alternator that isn’t up to speed, the battery will slowly lose its charge while the charging system will fall short of providing the energy required to keep the vehicle running. Either the vehicle won’t start one day or you’ll find yourself stranded on the road somewhere. The battery: The battery is a...

In our series on winterizing your car, truck or SUV for the McHenry winter of ’21-’22, this post is all about traction. But it’s not all about winter.  We are not only on the cusp of winter, we are even closer to that moment in relation to Halloween. And with Halloween, traction may prove critical with all those little ghouls out and about in McHenry this coming Sunday. Traction is important when you want to get your car, truck or SUV going. It’s also critical while you’re driving down the street. It’s probably most critical, however, when you want to stop. Traction is based on the ability of your tires to grip the road, so to speak. Imagine if you had no tread on your tires – your tires were bald as Uncle Augie’s head. What kind of traction could you expect with tires such as those? In other words, you want tread on your tires. There is a certain point when the tread has worn away on your tires to the extent where you need to replace them. Not only have they lost their edge in ter...

Ever seen that driver in McHenry who was in too much of hurry to take the time scraping the frost off their windshield before driving? That’s crazy, isn’t it? But it also highlights a point. Vision is critical when driving and never is it challenged more than in the winter. Several characteristics of winter driving conspire to make it difficult to see when driving in the winter. If you accept the notion that visibility is reduced when driving at night, consider that the nights are longer in winter, and substantially so. In other words, you can count on doing more night-time driving during the winter months. More night-time driving is not the only reason driving in winter is a challenge to visibility.  As mentioned in the first paragraph above, winter tends to spread layers of frost across your windshield and windows. On some days, there is a layer of snow above the frost. That frost, and that snow, requires removal if you are going to see where you’re going.  In fact, if you f...

This is the first of several articles about winterizing your car for the cold McHenry season ahead. Today, we’re discussing coolant. Coolant is the liquid that flows between your radiator and engine to keep the latter from overheating. It’s still called upon to do so in the winter, but only after you get going. Once you’ve driven down the road a while, even if it’s a bitterly cold day or night in McHenry, your engine will produce enough heat that it’s possible to overheat. You still want your coolant to work effectively in this way. But you also want it to perform properly in those times when it’s sitting in the driveway. In the summer, coolant does just that – it cools the engine during operation by carrying away the heat created by friction within the engine. When the car isn’t running, when the temperature isn’t likely to dip below 50 degrees and, sometimes, not below 80 or 90, the coolant is just fine. It’s sitting there in the engine and radiator waiting for you to start the car a...

October has only just arrived here in Johnsburg and yet this blog wants you to start thinking about winterizing your car, truck or SUV? Kinda jumpin’ in the gun there, fella. Is it really too early to start thinking about winterizing your vehicle? Truth be told, according to one weather Website, we’ll see some snowfall in Johnsburg every three or four years, but no real accumulation. It’s not until November that we can expect to see some snowfall every year. And the chances of accumulation are very real that month. According to that same Website, we can expect the following in terms of snow accumulation in November, on average, this is how many days, per accumulation, we can expect here in Johnsburg (the numbers for October are in parentheses): 1-inch – 2.8 days (0.1 days) 3-inches – 1 day (0.1 days) 5-inches – 0.3 days (0.0 days) 10-inches – 0.1 days (0.0 days) The average minimum temperature in Johnsburg 46-degrees Fahrenheit. The average maximum temperature is 63-degrees. Last year,...

On the same day in 2015, our hypothetical characters, George and Nancy, living on opposite sides of McHenry, each purchased the same car. As this is a representative story, let’s say that they both purchased a Chevy Malibu. It doesn’t matter, but let’s also say that George’s Malibu was beige and Nancy’s was blue. Otherwise, they were identical 4-door, LS sedans.  As it happened, they both worked on the opposite side of McHenry, too; Nancy worked over by where George lived and George worked near where Nancy lived. As a result, and a similarity in the amount of other driving they did, George and Nancy put almost the same amount of mileage on their cars. In a story of comparisons, this is about where the similarities end. Nancy was determined to take good care of her car. She always had the oil changed on schedule. She had the car winterized in the fall and summer-ized in the spring.  When the shocks and struts began to show some wear, she was on top of it and had them replaced p...

You can gaze out the windows of your McHenry home this fall to see the changing foliage as the autumnal transformation sweeps like a wave over the area. But if you really enjoy the fall colors, maybe you should get in the car and go somewhere to see the change in its full splendor. There are heavily wooded areas where autumn colors are more pronounced since all those trees have more leaves. Some areas here in McHenry County offer splendid opportunities to enjoy the seasonal change. But you may want to take a drive to see autumn in a visual display of its full potential.   There are actually maps you can find online that show when the leaves are expected to change and at what stage you’ll find them on a given day. According to one-such map, McHenry could expect to see the first signs of autumn’s colors as early as Sept. 13 with the peak in fall colors occurring around Oct. 18.  The same map shows that, if you travel about halfway up into Wisconsin, fall colors should reach...

That sweet little lady down the street doesn’t drive much – once a week to one of the grocers in McHenry but not much more than that. She probably doesn’t put more than 100-miles a month on her car.  The guy living across the street, however, does construction. He puts more than 100 miles on his car every workday, which usually includes Saturday. On Sunday, he usually goes somewhere, as well. At about 1,000 miles per week, he spins the odometer for 52K every year. At that rate, he’s changing the oil more than 10 times per year as he stays on top of maintaining his pickup truck. He also uses up a set of tires just about annually, and wears out his brakes with equal frequency. And, with all that driving, if he wants to avoid a stranding on the side of the road because something has gone wrong, he takes a wholistic approach to auto maintenance. Obviously, the sweet little lady down the street isn’t going to wear out a set of tires every year. Her brakes will last considerably longer, ...

 You’ll wish you had It’s highly recommended that you change your car, truck or SUV’s oil according to the schedule in your owner’s manual. As we’ve written here before, this is one of the best things you can do maintain your McHenry vehicle for the long haul and to maintain the value. Some people don’t do a good job of changing their oil on schedule. But imagine if someone never did change the oil. Back in 1974, a man, we’ll call Ray, went a couple years without changing the oil in his 1968 Olds 88. In that time, he put about 34,000 miles on the car. He checked the oil periodically and, if it was low, he added another quart of oil. He joked with his friends about how long he’d gone without an oil change. Some were impressed. Others just shook their heads thinking, ‘That’s a real bad idea.’ The latter group was right – it was a bad idea. It was a very bad idea. Eventually, at about the 34,000-mile mark, their car started acting up. It wasn’t running right. It got bad enough that he...

Heading out for a drive? Wanna get some fresh air? You can roll those windows down and let the wind blow through the car as you drive. But how fresh is that air (hopefully, not bad here in Johnsburg)? Then again, if it’s cold or it’s raining, you may want the windows up. With the windows up, you have a choice what air you want to breath. You can adjust the vent so the air inside the cabin is recirculated. Or you can set the vent so outside air enters the cabin. In either case, how fresh is that Johnsburg air? If you’re recirculating the air, with every breath you take, you are recirculating your own carbon dioxide through your respiratory system. YUK! And not the healthiest idea. Other than the air that enters your car’s cabin through the window, the air that is pulled through your vents by the cabin blower has a potential advantage over the air coming in through the windows; there is a line of defense to ensure you and your loved ones are breathing fresh air. Fresh air and your cabin ...

Many insurance companies offer discounts on auto insurance when customers allow the insurance company to monitor their driving. Often, this involves plugging in a chip of some kind that provides the data the insurance company is looking for as the insured party drives. Some appreciate the savings and don’t mind that the insurance company is figuratively looking over their shoulder every mile they drive. Others would rather not have the insurance company monitoring their driving. Either way, it is possible to keep your insurance rates lower based on how you drive. The insurance companies monitor the way you start from a stop and how you come to a stop. They monitor the speeds you drive and may know if you tend to speed often. Pulling away from a stop sign or signal light at a steady rate is a good way to reduce your fuel usage, as is slowing further in advance when coming to a stop. But it really all comes down to something else in terms of safety. Paying attention while you drive is th...

Be aware when driving School boards around McHenry County are making decisions about whether to require students to wear masks as the school year begins. But, what we haven’t heard yet, are decisions to keep the kids at home for another school year. Certainly, this is good news to parents and children. It also means that the school busses will hit McHenry County roads again. It also means that children will appear on or near the roads. Some children are too young to appreciate the risks involved with automobiles. We can’t count on them to take appropriate actions to avoid auto-vs-pedestrian accidents that inevitably work out worse for the latter. In fact, we can count on children to often behave erratically around roadways. Most children have never seen what happens when a one-and-a-half-ton automobile strikes a flesh-and-blood pedestrian. They have no way of fully comprehending the harm or the pain. When drivers can’t count on children to take appropriate precautions, it’s up to drive...

You’re visiting a friend in McHenry and will park somewhere in the street out front of their house. Now, you have a choice to make; should you park under a tree or in the sunlight? If you’re car will sit there long, you may want to consider your options with some degree of care. If you park in the shade under a tree … Trees can sometimes drip sap.  Willows and Poplars are trees that are notorious for dripping a lot of sap. Magnolia and Oak trees are also known to drip a bit. But even trees that are less inclined to do so may soil the shiny finish on your car. Other than trees that drip, trees can also have insects and birds that do a, shall we say, different kind of dripping. The potential for these elements to mar your exquisite finish is distinct. Of course, if you don’t leave them on your finish to dry too long, you can generally wash them off. Another risk is that, if you’re car is under a tree when a storm blows in, branches can fall on your vehicle and do significant damage. ...

According to a Website, a 2014 VW Jetta takes 31.68 PSI (Pounds of air per Square Inch) in the front tires and 29.716 PSI in the rear tires. There are some quality tire pressure gauges on the market but you’ll need a new digital model if you want one that will give you a reading to the thousandths of an inch of pressure. The idea that Volkswagen saw fit to provide air pressure specifications to this degree of accuracy for tires on its vehicles suggests that VW does think it’s a big deal if your tires have low air. And Volkswagen is right. Air pressure is critical in tires for several reasons, all of which should help convince you to maintain the proper air pressure in your tires. Road Stability and Handling: A tire that is low on air will not steer and handle as well as a tire that is filled to specifications. The difference, if the tire is only a little low, may be almost imperceptible. But, in a crisis situation, it could be very real, too. Durability: Tires last longer when they are...

The other day, Rich was walking down the sidewalk approaching a crosswalk. His intention was to use the crosswalk to cross the street. He didn’t hear any cars coming and planned to step off the curb at the crosswalk before looking both ways. What he didn’t hear was the bicycle coming up the street behind him. It was a mighty close thing. The bicyclist swerved to the Left and Rich jumped back while he said, “Whoa!” The bicyclist said, “Sorry” as he kept on going hardly missing a beat. There was no accident, so Rich said, “No problem.” But if there was an accident …? What Rich failed to do was to communicate his intentions. The rider on the bicycle probably could have done a better job of anticipating the possibility that Rich might step into the crosswalk. But that wouldn’t have changed the fact that Rich and/or the rider might have gotten injured if the collision wasn’t avoided. Communicating your intentions is important if you’re walking down the sidewalk and if you’re driving down th...

Shelby! Hemi! Boss 302! Supercharged! Muscle Car! Hotrod! Pony Car! These are words that generate a sense of power and individualism. They speak directly to America’s love affair with the car. The automobile provided a kind of mobile independence that allowed Americans to wake up in McHenry in the morning, and watch the sun set in the Gulf of Mexico that evening. Considering that, in the horse-and-buggy days, it was an all-day excursion to Chicago, the automobile transformed the world and figuratively shortened distances.  More than just independence, the automobile gave Americans a platform for personal expression. It wasn’t just getting from Point A to Point B; it was a question of getting there in style. And, as Americans expressed themselves with their cars, they fell in love with the automobile and what it meant in their lives. It is said that the term ‘Hotrod’ had its origins in the late 1930s. Young men were personalizing their cars. They performed mechanical feats to increa...

Did you know that there is actually a difference between winter and summer wiper blades? According to NAPA, a summer wiper blade is “made with a lighter layer of rubber or silicone” and a lighter frame. This helps the blades to do a better job of wiping away water from the windshield in warmer weather. But these blades have a harder time standing up to winter weather. In the winter, they freeze up. They lose their flexibility and have a hard time clearing the windshield. Winter blades are designed so ice can’t build up into the frame. The rubber is thicker and it’s harder for the cold to reduce the ability of the wipers to clear the windshield cleanly. When a wiper doesn’t work properly, it will leave streaks – lines following in the path of the wiper blade’s travel. In some cases, it will leave water untouched on portions of the windshield where the water should have been removed. The result is that you’ll find yourself leaning and trying to look past the spots where the wipers have f...

Changing the oil according to recommendations in your McHenry car, truck or SUV’s owner’s manual is a critical factor if you want to extend its life and durability. But summer is a factor that may influence how frequently you change the oil. There are two primary enemies of motor oil – dirt and heat. The dirt is the accumulation of particles suspended in the oil that increases over time after each oil change. The heat, on the other hand, progressively breaks down the oil. The heat effects the oil’s viscosity. Viscosity is a measurement of the oil’s resistance in relation to how the oil acts with motion and under force. Measuring viscosity helps to determine the effectiveness of motor oil as a lubricant. A viscosity rating provided by the company selling the motor oil helps to determine which oil to use under which anticipated conditions. For instance, you may use a 5W-30 motor oil. The ‘W’ represents the winter rating for the oil. A low number, such as ‘5W’ represents an oil that will ...

You’re cruising down 120 one evening, a smile on your face as you head out of McHenry for an excursion you’ve looked forward to all through the pandemic when your serpentine belt breaks. Now that the coronavirus is fading, it’s time to get out of town. But you don’t go far before you have a problem. Suddenly, you notice that your dash lights seem as though they’re dimming. Next thing you know, the engine is dying and you’re trying to pull over before you lose the last traces of momentum.  What is wrong? Why would your car betray you this way? You’re not even out of McHenry and your plans are torpedoed. Then again, that might be a good thing. The alternative is that you’re a couple hundred miles down the road when you notice the problem. What would cause your car to act this way? Actually, the problem could develop several symptoms, none of them good. As mentioned above, it turns out that your problem is a broken serpentine belt. The serpentine belt is a critical part of your car. I...

What happens to a liquid when it gets hot? It expands. Just like a person whose temper gets the better of him, as the coolant expands in the radiator, it may seek a way to relieve that pressure. You probably won’t like what happens when it finds that place. The place where the pressure is relieved is the place where steamed coolant will erupt from under your car’s hood. By the time this happens, your vehicle is overheating. Keep driving with an overheating car and you could ruin the engine or cause other problems. This is a stuck-on-the-side-of-the-road type of emergency.  The way to avoid finding yourself stuck somewhere as your radiator blows steam under your hood is to have your cooling system checked now. Checking your cooling system will include checking for leaks. The following are places coolant may ‘let off steam’ in the form of a high-pressured leak: The radiator The radiator cap Radiator and heater hoses Gaskets, such as under by the thermostat Through a crack in the engi...