Time of year in Johnsburg to have your steering, suspension and alignment checked

This is a general schematic of what the steering

and suspension parts of your Johnsburg vehicle

look like. There are quite a few parts and they're

all susceptible to damage.

If you’re steering and suspension are in properly aligned and in good shape, as you drive down a straight road here in Johnsburg, your car, truck or SUV should not pull to one side or the other. If you do feel the vehicle trying to pull to the right or left, there’s definitely something out of whack.

Of course, even if it goes straight, you could have problems with the steering and suspension somewhere. But the test above is a basic place to start checking on the status of your steering and suspension, whether your driving in Johnsburg or anywhere else.

This is a good time to start thinking about the status of your suspension and steering. We are, hopefully, emerging from another winter. And winters in this area are traditionally rough on cars, trucks and SUVs. When it comes to winters giving your vehicle are hard time, we can start with what winter does to your vehicle’s steering and suspension.

Slippery roads may have caused you to slide into a curb at some point. The jolt of hitting a curb, if you hit hard enough, could damage the steering and suspension sufficiently that you’ll need a tow and immediate repairs. On the other hand, maybe the damage isn’t that bad; maybe you can still operate the vehicle. But has the impact with the curb knocked your vehicle out of alignment? Has it damaged one or more of the numerous parts of your suspension or steering?

There are quite a few parts involved in the steering and suspension of your vehicle, such as:

Rack & Pinion Unit
Inner Socket Assembly
Rack & Pinion Bushings
Control Arms
Control Arm Bushings
Anti-Sway Bar
Struts or Shocks
Upper Mounting Plate & Bearings
Outer Tie-Rods
Inner Tie-Rods
Idler Arm
Center Link
Stabilizer Links
Pitman Arm
Adjusting Sleeves
Lower Control Arms
Upper Control Arms
Control Arm Bushings
Coil Springs
Lower Ball Joints
Upper Ball Joints
Steering Knuckle
Power Steering Gearbox
Power Steering Pump

As mentioned above, sliding into a curb can damage some of these parts, whether to the extent that your vehicle requires immediate repairs or to the extent that something isn’t quite right as you continue to drive. But you don’t have to slide into a curb to suffer damage to your steering and/or suspension.

Winters in Johnsburg and the surrounding area are notorious for causing potholes. Hit a pothole hard and you could damage your suspension and/or steering, as well as knocking your vehicle out of alignment. As winter draws to an end, crews will be out filling potholes and making the roads less stressful for your car, truck or SUV.

This is the time of year to have your steering and suspension checked out, as well as the alignment. Even if you’re able to drive on the vehicle that way for a while, you don’t know when something would break with catastrophic effect. And your tires are almost certain to experience uneven and excessive wear.

Comments

Is your antifreeze safe from freezing this Richmond winter

You still have time to have it checked Well, there’s no denying it – winter tends to get chilly here in Richmond. We have to deal with snow and ice on the roads, scraping the same off our windows and windshield, and staying warm while we drive. Of course, you had your antifreeze checked before winter rolled into town. What?! You didn’t have your antifreeze checked before winter clamped down on Richmond? So, how’s your antifreeze doing? If you haven’t had it checked, there’s really no way of knowing, is there? This car has overheated in the middle of a Richmond winter. But, on the other end of the spectrum, the antifreeze can also freeze if it's not up to its job. Hopefully, you haven’t had a serious problem with your antifreeze already. If you did, you’d probably know. When antifreeze fails, it’s a potentially catastrophic condition for your vehicle’s engine. You could have hoses that have burst because of freezing antifreeze. Worse than that, your engine block may have crac...

Blocks of ice falling from cars in McHenry could cause accidents or damage

We’ve all seen those blocks of snow falling from behind the rear tires of a car when the snow rolls into McHenry . Fortunately, they’re just packed snow that will disintegrate under your vehicle’s tires as you simply drive right through them, right? Don’t count on it. Those blocks of snow are often packed so tight, condensed by the thaw-and-freeze cycle, that they’re anything but oversized snowballs . They’re often more like boulders. Hit one of those blocks and the collision between the block and one of your tires could send you careening off the road or into oncoming traffic. In some cases, they’re so solid you could pound them with a sledgehammer with little effect. They truly can represent a serious road hazard. The problem is that it’s difficult to tell how solidly they’re packed when you see them on the road, left their unwittingly by another driver. Either way, your best bet is to try to avoid them. But you want to be careful dodging blocks of ice in the road, too. You need...

Timely maintenance is even more important with your Johnsburg Electric Vehicle

Even if you have an electric vehicle in your Johnsburg driveway, maintenance is still critical. You pull out of your Johnsburg driveway and you watch the gas stations go by as you smile from behind the wheel of your EV – Electric Vehicle. Of course, at some point, you will have to stop and charge the battery but you still take some comfort that you’re not standing next to your car as the fuel pumps into your tank. One of the true comforts you take with your EV is that the mechanics of your vehicle are simplified. You don’t have to worry about the engine breaking down anymore, and we all know how costly that can be. But there’s more to your EV vehicle than you may have considered when you first parked it in your Johnsburg driveway. Many of the parts found on gasoline-driven vehicles are also present on your EV. These require the same maintenance as your gasoline-powered vehicle. For instance, you EV still has: Tires and Wheels Brakes Steering and Suspension Windshield Wipers and So...

Performance Unlimited Blog

Search This Blog