Performance Unlimited Blog

Situations, such as this, are easily avoided for McHenry revelers New Year's Eve. Don't drive. Hire a cab, an Uber or a limo and focus on the celebration without worries. It’s 1 a.m. and the neighbors, those who went out to parties on New Year’s Eve, are safely arriving at their McHenry homes in taxis, Ubers and limos. But that’s not how it’s worked out for you. Over your wife’s objections, you insisted you could drive yourself. Now, red lights are flashing and you’re anxiously trying to see if your wife is okay after you lost control and ran into a tree. But you’re having trouble looking after your wife because an officer is insisting that you take some tests while an ambulance is anticipated. The tests aren’t usually difficult. In fact, any other day, you would probably call them simple and easy. There’s this bit about doing the alphabet. Then there’s the part where you touch your nose. Finally, you have to walk a simple line. But it’s not so simple now with the influence of ...

One way to celebrate the season as Christmas comes to McCullom Lake is to watch a Christmas movie. Here's a list of movies to  help choose the movies you and your family can watch. There are only a few nights left until Santa sweeps into McCullom Lake on his reindeer-powered sled. Hopefully, while you eagerly anticipate the gifts he’ll bring you and the family, you’ve completed your Christmas shopping (if not, and you’ve got someone on your list who is impossible to shop for, you might consider a gift certificate from Performance Unlimited - contact us and we'll be happy to help). Assuming, however, you’ve got your shopping done, by this time, you’re probably thinking of kicking back and relaxing until the big day arrives. One great way to do that is to make some hot chocolate and, maybe, some popcorn and stream a Christmas movie or pop in a Christmas DVD. Once you’ve decided to enjoy a festive film about the holiday season, the next question is which Christmas movie to watc...

Timely safety check and maintenance can ensure trouble free trips Last year, according to the AAA , more than 119-million Americans traveled for “year-end holidays.” With a population of approximately 330-million Americans, that means that more than one third of us left home for the holidays. Quite a few people from McHenry will do some traveling this holiday season. For those who do, it's important to make sure your vehicle is reliable before you go. Of those who traveled in previous Decembers, 10.3% of them traveled by air or some other form of travel other than automobiles. That means that nearly nine out of ten holiday travelers used the roads to get to their destinations. That’s about 107 million. And, even those who travel by air, train or boat, probably have to drive a little to get to their points of embarkation.  That’s a significant commitment, all that driving and such. Why would people do that?  They do it because they want to be with loved ones for the holidays....

More important than ever to have timely oil changes with proper oil What would happen if your drove your car, truck or SUV without oil in the engine? It’s unlikely you’ll find anyone in McHenry who doesn’t know the answer to that question. But, for those who aren’t as familiar with how motor oil works in an engine, they may not know about the additional challenge that oil faces in the winter. The cold of a McHenry winter makes timely oil changes all the more important. One website suggested that an “engine can run without oil for less than 30 minutes.” But that’s not really true. It depends on a lot of factors, such as the air temperature, the amount of load placed on the engine and more. But, what is true is the remainder of the quote above: “but it will suffer severe damage in a very short time.” In a relatively short amount of time, the engine will lock up meaning that medal parts will weld together because of the heat and high degree of heat-causing friction. The level of damage...

As winter rolls into McCullom Lake, you can find the bitter cold deflating for your car's tires. Have you ever had a morning when you wake up feeling great. You’re happy and excited to get on with the day. But then you see the weather report and it’s telling you that it will be frigid outdoors in McCullom Lake. You may find the news a tad deflating. Did you know your tires may react the same way? Yes! Your tires can find cold weather deflating.  It’s not that they’re emotionally distraught. Rather, there is a perfectly rational reason your tires may go flat when the thermometer dips outside in and around McCullom Lake. On the one hand, cold will naturally reduce the air pressure in a tire. According to one report, tires lose approximately one pound of air pressure for every drop in outside temperature of 10-degrees. Of course, when you start driving, and the tires warm up, the pressure will increase. But there are other reasons tires can lose air pressure due to cold air temperatur...