A recent report stated that over 80 percent of the vehicles on our St. Peter, MN, roads have one or more service or repair that’s needed but hasn’t been taken care of. Now that’s a lot of undone service. That translates into something over 160 million vehicles in North America alone. Some of the neglected items are minor. Others are serious safety concerns.

There are several reasons we hesitate to take care of recommended services, especially services that our St. Peter automotive advisor recommends when we’re in for something else, like an oil change.

The first issue boils down to comfort with car care. We don’t always feel we know enough to make good decisions. Some of that can be attributed to the fact that vehicles are so reliable these days. They almost become an appliance. Of course you love your vehicle, but if you don’t have to worry about it breaking down all the time, you’re not forced to think as much about preventive maintenance.

Perhaps your dad knew a lot about cars and always made sure they were taken care of. He was very comfortable dealing with his local St. Peter service center. People who don’t know as much about cars hesitate to ask questions because they don’t want to look ignorant.

It’s human nature. But there’s so much to know in this world, and we can’t all be experts in everything. So we specialize. It’s very important to ask questions of any specialist, whether it’s your doctor, financial advisor or your automotive technician in St. Peter, MN.

Your service advisor at Autotronics of St. Peter wants to answer your questions. We want you to understand the recommendation and why it needs to be done.

That brings us to the next issue; people say that they don’t always know if they really need the service or if they are just being sold something.

At the heart, it speaks to trust. Do you trust your St. Peter service center and your service advisor? Trust has to be earned, and that takes time and experience. But you can shortcut the process when you realize that most of the recommendations are based on manufacturer’s maintenance schedules.

In other words, “You don’t have to trust me, you can trust your owner’s manual.”

Your St. Peter service center has computer databases that contain the manufacturer’s recommendations for almost all vehicles, so they don’t need to rummage through your glove box to look for your owner’s manual to know what to do.

Basically, the engineers who designed the car say, “Here’s when you need to have it serviced.” That’s who makes the recommendation, not the technician. He’s just reminding you.

Now you do need to trust your St. Peter technician’s experience and judgment from time to time. When he inspects your vehicle, he may find problems or concerns. He will explain things so that you can prioritize the concerns and make a good decision about whether or not to have something done.

That brings us to the third issue; money. Often the concern is about spending the money to take care of a recommended service. Our money has many places it needs to go. And we have another list of places we want it to go. Auto maintenance isn’t usually on either of those lists.

Look, everyone who works at Autotronics of St. Peter has a family budget, too. They can relate. Maybe a little look behind the scenes would be helpful.

Service centers like Autotronics of St. Peter invest heavily in training, diagnostic equipment and tools so that they can make repairs and perform services as efficiently as possible. And like any other business, they have labor costs, insurance, rent, utilities, shop and office supplies, taxes and so on.

We work hard to make sure that we diagnose the problem correctly and fix it right the first time. That’s the only way we can maintain our reputation and remain in business. If we’re not satisfying our customers and providing a good value, you won’t come back and the service center won’t be around for long.

When there is a real budget concern, your Autotronics of St. Peter service advisor can help you prioritize the work that needs to be done and come up with a plan for taking care of it that works within your budget.

Let’s say you have a serious problem with your brakes. That’s a safety concern, so a technician can’t ethically say, well, let’s put that off for a couple of months. What they can do is take care of the brakes now and address the cabin air filter or transmission service next month.

Ask us for more details.

Autotronics of St. Peter
111 Jefferson Avenue
St. Peter, MN 56082
507.934.9290
http://autotronicsstpeter.com

Some of us St. Peter drivers just love tires. All those little rubber hairs on new tires and the smell is wonderful. We live in a great time for tires. No matter how you drive around MN, where you want to go or the look you’re after; there is a tire for you.

The same is true about wheels. The hardest part is choosing from the thousands of wheels available at MN tire shops.

The team at Autotronics of St. Peter can help you get some things in mind before you make a purchase. Let’s start with function and think about how you drive.

For example, maybe you have a large SUV but you don’t drive off-road around MN, so an off-road tread isn’t important. Also, because you are not out bouncing over rocks in the MN backcountry, you don’t need a high profile tire to protect your rims. So that means you can probably go with the low-wide look.

If you have a winter season with rain and snow or if you find you need better ice and snow performance, they make great, high-performance snow tires that won’t make it look like you are driving a tractor.

There really are a lot of options for any given vehicle. St. Peter drivers will find it very helpful to have a discussion like this with their St. Peter tire pro or the tire experts at Autotronics of St. Peter when they need new tires. You can find the best solutions for your driving needs and to make improvements in ride or handling.

Picking a wheel that is the same size as what you are now running on is important and pretty simple. But, it gets trickier if you want to upsize. Just get some help when you go bigger. All that tire and wheel still needs to fit in the available space. You do not want your tires to rub when you turn or hit a bump. St. Peter drivers also need to make sure their brakes and suspension bits will fit with their wheel of choice. It doesn’t matter how great your car looks if it’s not drivable.

Taller, wider wheels and tires probably weigh more than your stock shoes. And it’s “unsprung” weight that has a big impact on brake performance. The upsized shoes increase rotational inertia; if you go too big you may need to upgrade your brakes to compensate.

Another possible problem is an inaccurate speedometer. This happens because the number of rotations can change with the new wheels. Fortunately, speedometers and odometers are all controlled by the engine computer; so they need to get reprogrammed at Autotronics of St. Peter to compensate for the bigger tires.

No matter what you are after: low cost, long life, high performance, traction or stunning good looks, your wheel and tire professional at Autotronics of St. Peter in St. Peter, MN, can help identify your needs and give you a custom fit. With all the options available, you don’t have to compromise. There is a tire out there with your name on it!

Autotronics of St. Peter
111 Jefferson Avenue
St. Peter, MN 56082
507.934.9290
http://autotronicsstpeter.com

Because 90% of our driving decisions are based on visual information, unobscured vision is paramount. Which brings us to the topic of today’s Autotronics of St. Peter article: wiper blades. While this isn’t the most exciting automotive subject, it’s important. You wouldn’t drive at night in St. Peter with your headlights off, but a dirty or streaked vehicle windshield can catch the glare of the sun or on-coming headlights and make it just as difficult to see.

Most of us in St. Peter replace our wiper blades when they no longer do the job. They are so worn, hard or brittle that they can’t clean the windshield. They may even be falling apart. In other words, we deal with our wiper blades from a failure perspective. We address them when they no longer function. The theory, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” doesn’t apply here. Instead, we should think about wipers blades as an important safety system that we should maintain rather than repair.

MN automotive experts recommend that we change our wiper blades twice a year, in the spring and fall. That way you have functional blades for those St. Peter spring showers and winter storms.

When we use our wipers a lot, they get worn from the St. Peter road grime and bug juice. Even if we don’t use them very often, they’re exposed to the sun, heat and cold, and air which cause them to dry out, become brittle and break.

And of course, you need a good windshield washer fluid in your vehicle to help the wipers do their job. Always use washer fluid because plain water doesn’t work as well and it can freeze in the reservoir. If you’re driving where there are a lot of bugs in MN, you can pay a little more and get fluid that does a better job of clearing them. If you live where you have extremely cold winters, you can get fluid that resists freezing.

Like everything else in the automotive world, there’ve been some big advancements in wiper blades, both in terms of the design and the materials from which the blade is made. If you are a local St. Peter driver that has a need for better than average windshield wipers, you can pay some more for an upgraded wiper. And if you live where there’s a lot of snow and ice in MN, they make special winter blades that don’t clog up and freeze like standard blades.

At one of your fall and spring oil changes, ask your Autotronics of St. Peter service advisor which is best wiper blade for your driving conditions. Replace your blades on schedule so you never have to struggle with your vision when you switch on your wipers.

Autotronics of St. Peter
111 Jefferson Avenue
St. Peter, MN 56082
507.934.9290
http://autotronicsstpeter.com