Performance Unlimited Blog

It’s August in Johnsburg. You go out to car, hop in, start the engine and, watching behind you, back out of the driveway. Then you drive to the store, to some event or just to visit a friend. No problem, except that it’s not August. It is now late November. Winter isn’t officially here but the weather doesn’t wait on the demands of the calendar; Johnsburg winter weather will arrive when it chooses. And when winter comes, the scenario described in the previous paragraph changes entirely. Preparing your vehicle for the arrival of winter includes the winterizing aspects you’ve read about several of the last weeks on this blog. You want to change the oil on schedule. You want to make sure the coolant/antifreeze is up to snuff. You want to be confident that the car will start when you want it to, no matter how cold it is outside. You want good tires, good defrosters, good wipers and plenty of windshield washer solvent, for a start. But there’s more. The physical aspects of preparing your ve...

Driving somewhere away from your McHenry home to celebrate Thanksgiving this year? Maybe you’re staying home and laying out your own Thanksgiving spread. Whatever the case, you’re going to depend on the assistance of the automobile. If you’re taking an airplane to a faraway destination, you’ll still need a car. You’ll need a car if you hire a cab, Uber or limousine to drive you to the airport. If you take the train to the airport, you’ll probably need a car to get to the train station. But what if you’re staying home? How are the ingredients for your Thanksgiving dinner going to make their way to your pantry and refrigerator if not for a car. Even if you call DoorDash and have the food delivered, they’re going to use a car. Only a remotely small number of people will walk to and from the grocery store to pickup the turkey and fixings for this special meal. However, even for someone who does walk to and from the grocery store, if not for trucks that are closely related to the automobile...

It’s the most important thing you can do to protect the engine in your car, truck or SUV. But, when a Wonder Lake winter sets in, regular oil changes are more crucial than ever. Wonder Lake winters are hard, hard, hard on cars. The ice, sleet, snow and road salt scratch the paint and give rust access to the body of your vehicle. Those elements on the road make traction difficult to maintain, which can land you in a ditch, upside a tree or into another car. That rust also attacks your car, truck or SUV’s suspension and steering components. But the cold really does a number on your engine. Cold thickens fluids. Remember that while considering the role engine oil plays in the heart of your vehicle. The engine is the heart of your car, truck or SUV and engine oil is the lifeblood of the engine. When you start the car, and the engine is cold, the engine oil is at its thickest consistency. It’s imperative that the oil move quickly up from the oil pan and throughout passages on the inside of ...

The automobile gave them something to dream about while off to war Friday, Nov. 11, is Veterans Day, a day designated by federal act to thank all those who have served honorably to preserve liberty in America’s wars, including those from McHenry. It was originally known as Armistice Day and commemorated the end of WWI, which ended at 11 minutes after, 11 in the morning of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918.  It was renamed Veterans Day in 1954 thereby taking into account the veterans of WWI, WWII, the Korean War and other minor conflicts during that time. These wars were different in that the level of technology changed, as well as the scale of the conflicts. WWI saw the advent of military aircraft as submarines and battleships also came to the fore. In WWII, some nations began the war with biplanes that flew under 200 mph while, by the end of the war, jet aircraft were reaching speeds over 500 mph. In terms of scale, WWI was a global conflict where a majority of the fighting t...