Skip to main content

Archive for August 2016

Tire Rotation and Balancing at TJ's Auto Center Inc. in Rockford

Posted August 29, 2016 12:22 PM

Tires do a lot of work for Rockford drivers. They transfer engine power and braking forces to the road; they handle steering control; and they cushion all those bumps and jolts while driving around Rockford. They also support the entire weight of the vehicle, including you and your passengers. With such important work to do, you want your tires to do their job well. And since replacing tires is fairly pricey, you want them to last as long as possible.


There are three keys to long, even tire wear for Rockford driving:

  • Proper tire inflation
  • Proper wheel alignment
  • Regular tire rotation and balancing

The front tires on a car take the brunt of the steering forces. As they push through turns, the shoulders of the front tires wear down more quickly than the rear tires. Rotating front and rear tires allows them to all wear at about the same rate. That's especially true of front-wheel-drive vehicles whose front tires steer and put the power to the road.

SUVs and pick-ups, especially four-wheel-drives, also tend to wear their tires more unevenly than cars because of their suspension and drivetrain set-up. Your owner's manual will likely contain a schedule for tire rotation. It's usually every 5,000 miles/8,000 km or so.

Also, there are different rotation patterns for different vehicles. TJ's Auto Center Inc. will know which is right for your vehicle. That brings us to wheel balancing. When wheels are balanced, they spin on the axle evenly. When they are out of balance, they wobble a bit. That makes the tires wear unevenly and may transmit a vibration to the car. Your friendly and knowledgeable TJ's Auto Center Inc. service advisor puts weights on your wheels to balance them out so that they turn true and smooth.


Tires are a big investment for Rockford drivers. They're designed for keeping you safely on the road in Rockford. The cost for regular rotation and balancing is more than made up in extended tire life. And, can you really put a price on your safety and that of your passengers?

 TJ's Auto Center Inc.
3427 E. State St.
Rockford, Illinois 61108
815-399-2886



Cabin Air Filter From TJ's Auto Center Inc.

Posted August 21, 2016 9:54 AM

Here is a questions for Rockford drivers: What is a cabin air filter?

Is it:

  1. A filter for a house in the middle of the woods?
  2. A fresh, piney scent?
  3. A filter for the passenger compartment of your car?

Clever you, it's 3.

A cabin air filter cleans the outside air before it comes into the passenger compartment. It filters out dust, pollen, spores, bacteria, pollutants, sparrows, exhaust gas and odors.

These high tech filters can block particles larger than 3 microns. By contrast, a grain of sand is about 200 microns.

Now not all vehicles in the Rockford area have cabin filters. They are fairly new on the scene in Illinois. About 40 percent of new vehicles come with cabin air filters, but the number is growing every year.

Cabin air filters can make for a very nice driving environment for Rockford. Your car can be a haven during Illinois allergy season with very little dust and pollen getting into the cabin. However, like all filters, your cabin air filter eventually gets clogged. When this happens, your heating and air conditioning flow can become restricted. The filter can even get kind of smelly.

Check your vehicle's owner's manual for recommended replacement intervals. Often, the owner's manual forgets about the cabin air filter, so ask your friendly and knowledgeable TJ's Auto Center Inc. service advisor for a recommendation. It's usually every year or 12,000 miles/19,000 kilometers. Change it sooner if you drive in dusty Rockford conditions or if you start to notice an odor from your ventilation system.

So, Rockford drivers, keep your cabin air filter clean. It may not help with your brother-in-law in the backseat, but it will make your driving experience more enjoyable.

TJ's Auto Center Inc.
3427 E. State St.
Rockford, Illinois 61108
815-399-2886



The Economy of Maintenance for Rockford Drivers

Posted August 16, 2016 7:02 AM

Do I keep my old vehicle or buy a new one? It's a question most Rockford drivers ask themselves at some time or another.

Generally, what it comes down to is the choice between a car payment and the possibility of repair bills. Most of the time, we want to choose the car payment because we don't like the inconvenience and uncertainty of vehicle repairs. But that payment has a detrimental effect on our budget and bank account.

Edmunds.com is a great website to help you with your decision. This site uses repair histories to calculate the average repair bills for specific makes and models of cars. You can plug in the information for your vehicle and get an estimate on what it will probably cost you to continue owning that vehicle.

Now, Edmunds.com isn't a crystal ball. It can't know what will happen to your specific vehicle. But it can guide you in knowing how much money to budget for the repair and maintenance of your vehicle. Ultimately, that can help you in your decision to buy a new vehicle or wait a few years.

For example, a five-year-old Camry V-6 is projected by Edmunds.com to cost about $96 a month, on average, to repair and maintain (at the time of this writing). Remember, maintenance costs are part of vehicle ownership, whether it's a new vehicle or an old one, so the projected cost for repairs on your five-year-old Camry average out to only about $50 a month. That's a whopping lot less than a new car payment.

If your vehicle is older than five years, you should also talk to your friendly and knowledgeable professional at TJ's Auto Center Inc. about its future. They are more familiar with the average cost of repairs for vehicles in your area and of specific problems they commonly see in particular vehicles. More importantly, they know you and they know your car. They can give you a heads-up on what repairs you may be facing in the near future.

Remember, the older your vehicle gets, the more important preventive auto maintenance becomes. Over time, vehicles accumulate wear and debris, and we just have to give them a little more attention. Getting to know your vehicle and its peculiarities is also good auto advice for Rockford drivers.

If you decide to keep your older vehicle, you may want to talk with your TJ's Auto Center Inc. service advisor about fluids specially formulated for older engines. These motor oils, transmission and other fluids are designed to clean older engines and automotive systems and recondition their seals and gaskets.

Good care at TJ's Auto Center Inc. in Rockford will keep your older vehicle on the road in Illinois. And that may be just the boost you need in this uncertain economy. It may even save you enough to be able to afford that new vehicle you've been dreaming about.

TJ's Auto Center Inc.
3427 E. State St.
Rockford, Illinois 61108
815-399-2886

 



New School: Automotive TJ's Auto Center Inc. Technician Training

Posted August 7, 2016 11:11 AM

Rockford consumers are demanding. We want a safe, reliable vehicle that handles well and is comfortable to ride in. Oh, and we want good fuel economy, too. We also want vehicle repairs that are cheap, fast and easy. Unfortunately, one usually comes at the cost of the other.

Today's vehicles have made significant improvements in reliability and performance over the last few decades. They also deliver more power to Rockford drivers more efficiently than ever before. For example, some of today's 4-cylinder engines are equal to yesterday's V-8's. Our vehicles also offer an amazing range of features that make them more comfortable and convenient than ever before.

But all of that improvement has come at a price for Rockford vehicle owners. Our vehicles are more complicated and difficult to repair than ever before. They have numerous mechanical and electrical systems. Fuel systems are so complex they have to be run by a computer. Our vehicles are covered with sensors and high-tech electronic equipment. Our dashboards rival the control panel of the first manned space flight.

With all that complicated equipment, it's no wonder we call mechanics service technicians these days. You can't learn to repair vehicles in the backyard with your dad anymore. Today's TJ's Auto Center Inc. technicians have to go to school. School may come in the form of classroom instruction, online courses or both. Technicians are also trained on-site at the Rockford service centers where they work (including TJ's Auto Center Inc.) to keep them abreast of constant improvements in vehicle engineering, diagnostic equipment and repair techniques.

Today's technicians need to be certified to work on our vehicles. They can earn a variety of certifications in Illinois, but the highest of these is Master Technician. It's like a graduate degree in auto repair.

Vehicle repair at TJ's Auto Center Inc. in Rockford requires more than just training and certification, though. It also takes information and creative thought. Rockford area auto service centers subscribe to data services, technical libraries and online repair communities in order to get the information they need to: work on various makes and models of vehicles, get recommended maintenance schedules, learn about non-standard features and locate hard-to-find parts in an unusual engine. They also use this information to help diagnose rare or difficult vehicle problems. Many auto repair problems also require a bit of creative thinking for the team at TJ's Auto Center Inc. to solve. Rockford service technicians at TJ's Auto Center Inc. act much like doctors in these situations. They're given a set of symptoms, and they have to come up with a diagnosis and treatment that will fix the problem. This process becomes as much of an art as it is a science.

A proper diagnosis, even by a highly qualified technician, can take time. And a technician's time is going to cost us. It's just the price of progress.

Of course, the best vehicle care for Rockford vehicle owners is planned preventive auto maintenance. This is also the least costly way to keep your vehicle in good repair. Regular inspections and replacement of worn parts will prevent most repairs from ever being needed in the first place.

And with the amazing complexity of today's automobiles, isn't it good to know there's someone out there with the knowledge, training and skill to give us good auto advice? Whether we need preventive maintenance or repairs, the team of automotive professionals at TJ's Auto Center Inc. can help us keep our vehicles on the road. We just can't do it on our own anymore.

TJ's Auto Center Inc.
3427 E. State St.
Rockford, Illinois 61108
815-399-2886



Search



Archive

June 2010 (71)
July 2010 (4)
August 2010 (4)
September 2010 (4)
October 2010 (4)
November 2010 (4)
December 2010 (4)
January 2011 (4)
February 2011 (4)
March 2011 (4)
April 2011 (5)
May 2011 (5)
June 2011 (4)
July 2011 (4)
August 2011 (5)
September 2011 (4)
October 2011 (4)
November 2011 (5)
December 2011 (4)
January 2012 (5)
February 2012 (2)
March 2012 (5)
April 2012 (4)
May 2012 (5)
June 2012 (4)
July 2012 (5)
August 2012 (4)
September 2012 (4)
November 2012 (1)
December 2012 (2)
March 2013 (1)
April 2013 (3)
May 2013 (2)
October 2013 (5)
November 2013 (2)
January 2014 (2)
February 2014 (3)
March 2014 (1)
July 2014 (4)
August 2014 (7)
September 2014 (4)
October 2014 (5)
November 2014 (4)
December 2014 (5)
January 2015 (4)
February 2015 (4)
March 2015 (4)
April 2015 (4)
May 2015 (3)
June 2015 (5)
July 2015 (2)
September 2015 (2)
October 2015 (4)
November 2015 (5)
December 2015 (2)
February 2016 (2)
March 2016 (4)
April 2016 (4)
May 2016 (5)
June 2016 (4)
July 2016 (5)
August 2016 (4)
September 2016 (4)
October 2016 (5)
November 2016 (4)
December 2016 (4)
January 2017 (5)
February 2017 (4)
March 2017 (4)
April 2017 (3)
May 2017 (5)
June 2017 (4)
July 2017 (5)
August 2017 (4)
September 2017 (3)
October 2017 (5)
November 2017 (4)
December 2017 (3)
January 2018 (5)
February 2018 (4)
March 2018 (4)
April 2018 (4)
May 2018 (4)
June 2018 (4)
July 2018 (5)
August 2018 (4)
September 2018 (5)
October 2018 (3)
March 2019 (4)
May 2019 (2)
June 2019 (5)
July 2019 (2)
August 2019 (2)
September 2019 (4)
October 2019 (5)
November 2019 (4)
December 2019 (5)
January 2020 (5)
February 2020 (4)
March 2020 (5)
April 2020 (1)
May 2020 (2)
June 2020 (1)
July 2020 (1)
August 2020 (5)
September 2020 (4)
October 2020 (4)
November 2020 (5)
December 2020 (4)
January 2021 (6)
February 2021 (4)
March 2021 (4)
April 2021 (4)
May 2021 (5)
June 2021 (4)
July 2021 (4)
August 2021 (5)
September 2021 (4)
October 2021 (5)
November 2021 (4)
December 2021 (4)
January 2022 (6)
February 2022 (4)
March 2022 (4)
April 2022 (4)
May 2022 (5)
June 2022 (4)
July 2022 (5)
September 2022 (4)
October 2022 (5)
November 2022 (4)
December 2022 (4)
January 2023 (5)
February 2023 (4)
March 2023 (4)
April 2023 (5)
May 2023 (4)
June 2023 (4)
July 2023 (5)
August 2023 (4)
September 2023 (3)
October 2023 (2)
January 2024 (1)
February 2024 (4)

Categories

Air Conditioning (17)Alignment (18)Alternator (6)Auto Safety (6)Automotive News (10)Battery (20)Brake Service (4)Brakes (22)Cabin Air Filter (9)Check Engine Light (7)Cooling System (21)Customer Detective Work (1)Dashboard (3)Diagnostics (5)Diesel Maintenance (1)Differential Service (4)Drive Train (10)Emergency Items (1)Engine Air Filter (3)Exhaust (13)Fluids (17)Fuel Economy (10)Fuel Pump (1)Fuel Saving Tip: Slow Down (2)Fuel System (49)Headlamps (7)Inspection (11)Keys to a long lasting vehicle (4)Maintenance (62)Monitoring System (3)Oil Change (7)Older Vehicles (5)Parts (8)PCV Valve (2)Safe Driving (1)Safety (6)Serpentine Belt (7)Service Intervals (10)Service Standards (14)Shocks & Struts (9)Shocks and Struts (2)Spark Plugs (2)Steering (15)Suspension (3)Timing Belt (6)Tire Pressure Monitoring System (1)Tire Rotation and Balancing (4)Tires (10)Tires and Wheels (44)TPMS (3)Transfer Case Service (1)Transmission (11)Trip Inspection (4)Warranty (2)Water Pump (1)What Customers Should Know (81)Wheel Bearings (2)Windshield Wipers (9)Winter Prep (8)Winter Tires (1)

image-people-driving

OUR REVIEWS

image-quotes
reviewicon

The business always does a great job and takes care of him. They are very polite.


partners

ACDelco
ASE (Automotive Service Excellence)
Rockford IL
Wix
Walker
Champion
Moog
Gates
Monroe
TECH-NET Professional Auto Service - Trans
Car Care Aware