Performance Unlimited Blog

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...