Windsor Auto Repair

This is the second post about why paying for a brake job can save you money and a lot of time and frustration. Click here to be routed to the previous post. Now we're discussing installation of the new brakes. Not all brakes are created equal and you'll want to be experienced with your specific style of braking system before you attempt replacement of the pads & rotors. Especially for European setups. In the following picture, we're showing a special tool required to compress the caliper piston on a Mini disc brake caliper. Unlike most, this piston spins as it compresses so it requires a tool that maintains pressure while you spin the piston. There's another $50 for the manual tool and $150 for the pneumatic one. The next two steps hardly ever happen at home but are commonplace in a professional garage: rust removal and lubrica ... read more

You are in the middle of rotating your tires. You take a quick look at the rotors and see this: Great! Now it's time to make a trip the garage. Wait a minute; why should I pay for a brake job? Have you ever wondered this? It can cost 2-3 times as much to have a shop do what you might be able to do for yourself. My goal in this post is to show how twice the cost will equal quadruple the value for you. To start, I'd like to introduce a list of the “steps of the brake job.” Since we're located in a very rusty area in the Northeast, I'm assuming a pretty rough set of brakes and a job with pads & rotors replacement. 1. Measuring brake thickness 2. Removing the wheel 3. Releasing pressure on the brake pads 4. Removing the caliper 5. Removing the brake pads 6. Removing the rotor 7. Lubrication 8. Installation I know I broke that section down “barney-style” but my first point is that not every ... read more

This post is a little more technical than most. I've included a glossary below should you like more information about a term. What does it cost to perform a check engine light diagnosis? Repairpal says between $88-111. What does it cost to skip a diagnosis? It could be a lot. Let's give an example: if the check engine light on your 2008 Mini Cooper comes on and you're a do-it-yourselfer, you immediately grab your trusty scan tool, or you head to your local parts store. The diagnostic trouble code you find stored in the ECU is P0420 which is the universal code for catalyst inefficiency (bank 1 if the engine has two banks). This means the catalytic converter is not reducing emissions the way that it's designed to do. What's a catalytic converter cost? Well, almost $1100 for a ... read more

You may wonder why oil doesn't seem to last as long as other fluids in your car. You may also have wondered how there could possibly be so many different kinds of oils. After all, whether you come in 500 miles before the oil change is due or 3000 miles after it's due, the car seems to drive the same. Well your wait has come to an end. Oil is made up of a foundational compound (called the “base oil”) and additives (called “additives”—I know, I know, don't quit my day job). What additives are included in the oil depend on what vehicles the oil is designed for. A large portion of research and development has been devoted to fuel efficiency and decreased emissions. It wasn't uncommon for passenger cars in the 70s and 80s to call for a 10w-40 oil. Now many passenger cars recommend using a 0w-20 oil. You don't have to understand much about weight ratings and viscosity to know that's a lot less thick. One reason we use thinner oils is that less viscosity CAN tran ... read more

This post is a proactive thought piece as opposed to last week's reactive one. Nobody asks me this question, but I can tell that people have radically different ideas about how much should be spent on vehicle repair and maintenance. There are two scenarios that happen often to me that relate to this universal query: 1. Two customers are quoted the exact same job on identical models: one customer says that's a good deal, the other says the car isn't worth that. 2. Customer A needs a repair that costs $1000; the final bill ends up being $1100. Customer B needs a repair that costs $100; the final bill ends up being $200. Who do you think is more upset? The moral of those scenarios is that people have different value systems. Feeling like you're getting a good deal is more important to people than actually getting a good deal. (Otherwise, people might be asking me to replace unnecessary items so that they won't ever have to pay labor to replace those in the future). Now let's turn to the e ... read more