Welcome to the Autotronics of ST Peter automotive blog. Today, let’s talk about the effect of tire tread depth on braking. When talking about stopping power, most St. Peter and Saint Peter car owners tend to focus on our brakes. But our tires are where the rubber meets the road. So having good brakes isn’t enough. Safe Saint Peter drivers need to have tires with enough traction to translate braking power into stopping power.

Let’s focus on stopping in wet Saint Peter conditions. In order for a tire to have good contact with the road, it has to move the water out of the way. If it can’t move the water, the tire will actually ride on top of a thin film of water.

That’s called hydroplaning. If it’s really bad, Saint Peter car owners can actually spin out of control – endangering themselves and the other drivers around them. At best, you won’t stop as fast.

So how does a tire move water? It has channels for water to flow through. Look at your minivan tire and you’ll see channels: channels that run around the tire and channels that flow across the tire. They’re designed to direct water away from the tire so it can contact the road better.

And the deeper the channel, the more water it can move. A brand new Autotronics of ST Peter tire has very deep channels and can easily move a lot of water. As the tire wears down, the channels become shallower and can move less water. When it wears down enough, it can seriously affect your ability to stop your minivan on wet Saint Peter roads.

So that’s why it’s so important for MN drivers to replace their minivan tires when they get worn. Consumer Reports and other advocate groups call for a standard of 3/32 of an inch and they have the studies to prove it.

By comparison, you’ve probably seen the wear indicator that’s molded into tires. When tires are worn 3/32 of an inch, the tread wear bar is visible. So the recommended standard has twice the tread depth as a completely bald minivan tire.

At Autotronics of ST Peter, we want our customers to know that the deeper recommended tread depth makes a big difference. Stopping distances are cut dramatically on wet Saint Peter interstate. A safe stop from MN freeway speeds with 4/32 of an inch of tread would result in a crash with worn out tires.

There’s an easy way to tell when a tire’s worn to 4/32 of an inch. Just insert a quarter into the tread. Put it in upside down. If the tread doesn’t cover George Washington’s hairline, it’s time to replace your minivan tires. With a Canadian quarter, the tread should cover the numbers in the year stamp.

Many Saint Peter auto owners have heard of this technique using a penny and Abe Lincoln’s head – the old method. That measure gives you 2/32 of an inch – half the suggested amount. Of course, minivan tires are a major purchase. Most of us in Saint Peter want to get as many miles out of them as we can. But there’s a real safety trade-off. It’s your choice.

We live in such a disposable society. It’s amazing all the stuff we throw away. New stuff comes out so fast, we just toss the old and move on. In the old days MN folks were real sticklers about taking care of their things. If something got lost or ruined by neglect, tough – they had to do without. Most St. Peter auto owners couldn’t afford new cars very often, so they had to make them last as long as they could.

It’s a good thing that cars are more reliable these days for St. Peter car owners. They just don’t break down as often. And the good news for us MN penny pinchers is that a modern car can easily go 200,000 miles/320,000 km with proper care. The engineering and the manufacturing quality is tremendous. The missing ingredient is us St. Peter car owners making sure we follow the vehicle manufacturer’s recommended maintenance schedules.

Every time you go a couple thousand extra miles between oil changes you have created an opportunity for sludge to be formed and clog passages. Then some minivan parts don’t get properly lubricated and they start to wear out faster. Skip a cooling system service, and the corrosion inhibitors become depleted, and the radiator starts being damaged – one step closer to a failure. Same thing is true for transmission service, power brakes, fuel system cleaning – really everything on your schedule.

It is probably even more important for older minivans. Those engines and other systems have had more time to get dirty, so they are a bit more stressed anyway. But it is never too late to get back on track with your auto maintenance and to hold off further damage.

And it really does start with the oil change. When you get a full service oil change in St. Peter at Autotronics of ST Peter, we top off all your fluids and check for other items that are on your maintenance schedule. It’s like your safety net. Go in for an oil change on time, and let your knowledgeable Autotronics of ST Peter service advisor help you keep track of the rest.

Some things are going to wear out along the way, things like alternators, water pumps, etc. But fixing those at Autotronics of ST Peter is cheaper than a a significant new car payment for St. Peter motorists. And taking care of problems early means they have less time to mess with other things. It is like having high cholesterol – you don’t want to wait for a heart attack before you address it.

Today’s Autotronics of ST Peter auto maintenance article focuses on your serpentine belt. Your serpentine belt is a long belt that’s driven by your engine. It winds around several accessories that power vital automotive systems. Let’s go over them.

First, the serpentine belt drives your minivan air conditioning system. It spins the compressor that makes the cool air that takes the edge off the summer heat in Cleveland.

Next, the belt powers the alternator. The alternator creates electricity that’s used by your minivan’s electrical systems and also charges your car battery. All Cleveland car owners know that without the alternator, the battery will go dead in a few miles.

The serpentine belt may also run the pumps for both the power steering and power brakes. And, on many minivans, the serpentine belt powers the water pump. The water pump circulates coolant through the engine to keep it within normal operating temperatures for Cleveland drivers. (On some minivans, the water pump is powered by the timing belt instead of the serpentine belt.)

So you can see the serpentine belt does a lot of work. And it if breaks, it affects a lot of systems. That’s why auto manufacturers and your service advisor at Autotronics of ST Peter have recommended that it be changed every so often so that it doesn’t fail.

Your knowledgeable Autotronics of ST Peter tech can perform a visual inspection of the belt to see if it has any cracks that signal the belt could fail soon and will measure the amount of belt material to make sure there is enough.

Your serpentine belt works in tandem with a spring loaded pulley attached to the engine called the tensioner pulley. Its critical job is to make sure there’s a constant tension on the serpentine belt so that it doesn’t slip. The spring can become worn and no longer provide the necessary pressure to keep the belt tight. At Autotronics of ST Peter, we recommend that the tensioner be replaced at the same time as the serpentine belt.

All in all, the serpentine belt’s a key art for the function of your minivan. And it’s not that pricey to replace at Autotronics of ST Peter – so bring in your vehicle if it hasn’t been checked in a while.