Performance Unlimited Blog

What if you have trouble with the car now as McHenry schools open up for the fall? That’s not a pretty picture, is it? Summer is winding down. Of course, summer may have kept you busy in its own way – vacations, trips to the McHenry pool and park on Green Street, summer camp and other such activities. But autumn is different.  With the approach of autumn, you need to prepare to modify your schedule. Will you drop off and/or pick up the kids from school? Are your children involved in after school activities – sports, band, chorus, school clubs, etc.? Then there are all the trips to the stores for class materials – trips to the stores for their new school wardrobe. And while all these trips are added to your daily agenda, you still have all the other trips you take regardless of the school year. To and from your job, to the grocery store, date night with your spouse: you’re counting on your vehicle to get you there and back reliably. Reliable transportation is not something you can t...

Does that sound like a goofy idea? Not too many years back, it was fairly common for a family in McHenry to drive somewhere with a blanket and a picnic basket for a Sunday outing. The biggest difference today is that most families would go in an SUV where, in years gone by, they would have gone in the family stationwagon. It was a customary Sunday afternoon event, though it sometimes happened on Saturday. It was something people did on holidays, too, such as Memorial Day, Labor Day and the 4th of July. It was relaxing. It was an event that reinforced the bond within the family while filling their lungs with fresh air. The picnic basket, or cooler, might have sandwiches. It might have cold chicken. It would certainly have potato salad and, you never know, it might have some apple pie or peach cobbler. There weren’t any televisions, cell phones or laptop computers folks could use to isolate from the family while all together. The family would entertain itself with talk. The children woul...

Did you pack the car, truck or SUV and head out from McHenry on that long-anticipated camping trip? Did you load all your fishing gear and drive up to a cabin on the Boundary Waters? Either way, or both if you were twice as fortunate in getting away, there’s a good chance you left the so-called beaten trail. In other words, you drove those dirt backroads that tend to cover your vehicle in dust. Even if you didn’t go offroad on some adventure, they’ve got this thing in summer that is also found around McHenry called “road construction.” As with the off-road adventure, road construction kicks up a bit of dust. Like most of us, you probably responded to all that dust by running the car, truck or SUV through the carwash when the adventure was over. But those airborne particles did more than coat your vehicle with dust; they attacked every crack and crevice and opening they could find in the vehicle. Where else could the dust go?  Anywhere you can think of, that’s where the dust went on...

While enjoying this McHenry summer are you protecting your car, truck or SUV finish? Ahhhhh, summer in McHenry. What a wonderful time of year. The sun is shining, birds are singing and this is just a great place to be. And, compared to the brutal season we call winter, this is a time of year that is easier on your car, truck or SUV, right? Well, maybe not as much as you might think. Not only does the heat of a McHenry summer bake your battery and test your coolant and oil, but it also bakes the daylights out of your vehicle’s finish. The sun, while it’s warm and bright also comes with these rays referred to as ultra-violet. The short name for ultra-violet is UV. Set a car in the sun long enough and the UV rays will drain the shine and color right out of your car, truck or SUV’s finish. Instead of the rich luster of a fresh finish on your vehicle, you’ll find yourself with that junkyard-like skin on the body. The color doesn’t reach out and grab you the way it used to do. And, instead o...