Performance Unlimited Blog

You probably won't have a dust storm blowing across Wonder Lake like the one in the photo above, but there is still enough dust in the air in and around town to  create a challenge for your car's filters. Have you taken a trip away from Wonder Lake this summer? Perhaps you drove on summer gravel roads in the Northwoods of Wisconsin, Michigan or Minnesota. When doing so, you may have found yourself behind another driver, in which case you were probably driving in a cloud of dust kicked up by their tires. Even if you haven’t left the area and have stayed fairly close to your Wonder Lake home, you’ve probably driven through some construction zones this summer. Once again, you probably found yourself driving through air rich in dust particles that surround and seek to invade your vehicle.  Cars today are fairly well sealed up. But driving through a cloud of dust is a serious way to challenge your car’s ability to keep the dust out. Inevitably, a percentage of the dust is going to ...

 Make sure the car is checked out and won’t spoil your fun Don't let Labor Day pass without a last fling of fun with summer. But make sure your car is checked out and ready first. Alas the unofficial end of summer is at hand here in Richmond as Labor Day rolls by. Hopefully, you took some time to relax and light up the grill again, maybe go for a swim, play some volleyball, softball or hit the links. Whatever you did, hopefully you enjoyed yourself and had a good time with a late summer fling. After all, the warmer days are numbered. It’s not the end of the world but you might want to have a final fling before the Richmond summer of 2025 fades into the past. Do something memorable. Or just do something to take your mind off work, school, or the day-to-day grind. Maybe you should pack the family into the car and head out to a state park. You can bring your camping and fishing gear. Maybe you’d prefer to go birdwatching or simply sightseeing. You can take in a professional baseball g...

In the dog days of a Johnsburg summer, it’s nice that there’s no snow to shovel, that there are pools where you can swim, there are festivals where you can stroll while enjoying the event and the warm weather. But, for your car, summer comes with a cost. That summer heat you enjoy (when the thermometer in Johnsburg doesn’t get too high) is a challenge for your car’s engine (and on those days when the thermometer really climbs, it’s a downright risk). Engines get hot when they run. That’s true in the middle of winter. But it’s a whole lot more true in summer. Most car engines operate between 195 and 220 degrees. That’s the lower end of the baking scale in your oven. But what about on extremely hot days? To keep your engine operating in the safe zone – that range of temperature where you won’t damage the engine – you need a proper flow of coolant running through the engine and you need a sufficient supply of good quality engine oil. The coolant runs through the engine and carries away mu...

Timely oil changes for your car, truck or SUV will protect your investment no matter how  hot  it gets the rest of this McCullom Lake summer That’s not just a car, truck or SUV out there in your McCullom Lake driveway; it’s also an investment - an investment that deserves timely oil changes. Someday, you’re liable to want to trade your current vehicle in for another car, truck or SUV. Or, you may run an ad and put a FOR SALE sign in the window of your vehicle so potential buyers will see you’re selling it as they drive past your McCullom Lake home. Whether you’re trading it in or selling the vehicle, you want to get top dollar for your investment. That’s right – investment. Your investment in your car, truck or SUV includes the money you spent to purchase the vehicle in the first place. If you purchased it new, unfortunately, as is often said, depreciation begins the moment you drive it off the showroom floor. If you purchased you vehicle used, that initial depreciation took p...

Preparation includes making sure your car, truck or SUV is safe and ready Doesn’t it feel as though summer in McHenry has just begun? Hopefully, you’ve made the most of the warm weather and had plenty of enjoyable summer activities to remember. But summer will end and one sign of the beginning of that end is the approach of the coming school year. For McHenry District 156 high school students, the school year begins Wednesday, August 13. That’s only about a week away! For McHenry District 15 middle and grade school students, they have another week of summer vacation to enjoy with school starting Wednesday, August 20. Either way, in a virtual blinking of an eye, we’ll school busses rolling down the streets and children heading back to classes. But, before that starts, there is another annual ritual that needs to take place. Of course, that refers to the annual flocking to the stores for school supplies. For students participating in sports, band and other extra-curricular activities, ma...