Performance Unlimited Blog

What will the groundhog have to say about the rest of this  winter? If it's bad news (and you believe the groundhog), you might want to make sure your car, truck or SUV is up to the job. Groundhog Day just came to  Johnsburg , again. Did that furry little critter give us good news? Or did it curse us with an extended season of cold and snow. While those who believe the groundhog has some kind of mythical ability to predict the weather, and those who simply enjoy the holiday for the fun of it, anxiously await news of the groundhog seeing its shadow or not , the extent of winter weather in the days ahead is a significant question for our cars, trucks and SUVs. Warmer weather is generally easier on our vehicles. And if warm and sunny days outnumber the cold, rainy and snowy days as Spring approaches, it’s a small blessing for all our car, trucks and SUVs. An extension of frigid days throughout the rest of February and into March and even April, means that your vehicle’s engine h...

We've put some of this Wonder Lake winter behind us, but running your car, truck or SUV through a checklist to make sure it's ready for the rest of winter is still a good idea. There aren’t many good times for your car, truck or SUV to breakdown. But a Wonder Lake winter is a distinctly worse time for such an occurrence.  Cold temperatures can create hazards for you and loved ones if you’re out somewhere, particularly far from your Wonder Lake home, when the vehicle conks out. On days when the weather is really bad – temperatures are dangerously cold, the wind is blowing and carrying a blinding snow in its grip – you don’t want to find yourself in a car, truck or SUV that’s rocking with the wind, as the snow builds up outside with no heat inside. And if the engine won’t run, you won’t have heat for long, if at all. Have you prepared for such a possibility? Or are you completely at the mercy of the elements and a vehicle that won’t cooperate? The best way to avoid such a calami...

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...

Most semi drivers are trying to be safe but safe driving needs to extend to the drivers of automobiles, too. Those big rigs can't stop as quickly and they pack a big punch. The big rigs that drive through McHenry on a daily basis are long and heavy – up to 80,000 pounds and 53-foot trailer. With the truck and trailer combined, the length can come to 70 or 80 feet. How does that compare to a car, pickup or SUV? The average SUV weighs about 3,500 pounds with a sedan coming in a little less than that. A pickup truck can average about 5,000 pounds. That means that a full semi and trailer weighs 16 times as much as the average pickup truck. A 2025 Chevy Impala is just over 16-and-a-half feet long. The semi and trailer can be almost five times that length. The 2025 Impala weighs just over 3,527 pounds. The semi and trailer can weigh more than 22 times as much.  What does this mean for you when you’re driving down Richmond Road on your way to Ringwood ? It means that there are some su...

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...