East Lansing Auto Repair

Winter Weather Driving Winter Weather Driving Driving through snow, slush, and ice is an annual Michigan pastime, and while driving through flurries or ice storms will never be fun, there are a multitude of ways to prepare yourself, and your car for a Michigan winter. One of the most important parts of your vehicle during a cold and snowy winter are your tires. Having an extra set of snow tires that are swapped on and off at the start and end of the snowy season will give you a great boost to traction and control while driving. Snow tires have tread that is deeper and wider than an average all-season tire. This helps the tire compact snow, which improves traction and handling for the vehicle. You can get a similar effect by using snow chains, chains that are fitted to your tires to improve traction and handling. They’ll cost less than a full set of snow tires, but some areas prohibit their use, as they can damage roadways. So, before you invest in a set of tire chains, make s ... read more

Whether you’re driving an electric vehicle, a hybrid, or a plain old gasser, your vehicle's battery plays a vital role in its operation. Combustion motors use automotive batteries to start the engine, and provide power to the various electronics in the vehicle. The vehicle's alternator then charges the battery while the engine is running. Electric and hybrid vehicles have a higher voltage battery in addition to a more standard vehicle battery that you would find in a combustion motor vehicle. Automotive batteries generally last three to five years, though instances of draining a battery completely by leaving your headlights on or from having your vehicle in accessory mode for extended periods of time, can reduce its lifespan considerably. A battery can also lose its charge in extreme cold weather, or from a vehicle being used infrequently. If you find yourself with a dead battery you can try to jump start the battery if you have jumper cables or a portable jump box. I ... read more

Brakes are one of the most important parts of your car. Without a gas pedal you wouldn’t get anywhere, and without a brake pedal, you wouldn’t get there in one piece. So, what are they? Whether you’re braking on a bicycle, motorcycle, or car, you’re always using friction. On cars this is accomplished either through disc brakes or drum brakes. Disc brakes work by having brake pads ‘pinch’ a brake disc (often referred to as a rotor) attached to the wheel. Drum brakes involve a ‘drum’ attached to, or as a part of a vehicle's wheel assembly that houses the mechanical parts of the brake. Two shoes, similar in effect to brake pads, inside the drum push against the wall of the drum to slow the vehicle. Disc brakes are what you’ll find on most cars today, though some vehicles are made with disc brakes on the front wheels and drum brakes on the rear wheels. Disc brakes are much easier to maintain and replace than drum brakes, and c ... read more

Americans use nearly 300 million tires every year. They help keep us on the road and in Michigan, they try to keep us going over potholes, snow and ice throughout the year. On the face of it tires are pretty simple, they’re made of rubber and filled with air. The most commonly referenced parts of a tire are the tread, sidewall, shoulder, and bead. The tread is the part of the tire that contacts the road. Treads come in different designs for different purposes, accounting for weather, noise and environment. Winter tread has larger gaps in it to compress snow and increase control. While your average every-day tire will have minimal gaps and a basic design to increase friction and reduce costs. Lower than recommended PSI means more of your tire is contacting the road, increasing friction. However if tire pressure is low enough it can cause the tread of the tire to bend inward, creating a concave contact point. This means that the center part of the tire is no longer in contact with ... read more

H&H Mobil offers a variety of maintenance services for your vehicle, things like, checking your tires, brakes, and yes, oil changes. Changing your vehicle's oil is one of the best ways to extend the life of your vehicle and while trying to fit in an oil change during a busy week can be difficult, H&H Mobil offers rides to and from your work or home to make it a bit more manageable. So, what does oil do, and why do you need to change it so often? Engine oil acts as a lubricant, coating moving parts in your vehicle's engine to reduce friction and prevent rusting. The movement of oil through the vehicle also helps to cool the engine. Making the vehicle as a whole operate more efficiently, save fuel and as previously mentioned, extend the vehicle's life. Oil grades are broken down into two parts, put simply, cold and hot viscosity. For a typical oil, say 5W-30, the ‘W’ stands for winter and the ‘5’ rates how resistant the oil is to thickening ... read more

There are a lot of practical reasons to make learning a habit, but the best reason is that we are learning creatures, and the lifelong practice of learning is what makes us humans and our lives worthwhile.  Here are some worthwhile benefits: Learning a wide range of subjects gives us a range of perspectives since most of us specialize in few areas day after day, whether that be work or family/friend related. Learning helps us more easily adapt to unexpected experiences. Broadened knowledge of unfamiliar situations inspires us to think creatively. Learning deepens our character. Learning makes us more confident. And, there’s the whole making life worthwhile thing. Ways to Learn, find the fit that makes learning fun for you. Written text: Books – The great thing about books is they let you consume a lot of insights in a few hours.  Audio: Podcasts – Maybe the number one biggest trends of the last decade.  You can find a podcast on any topic ... read more

Choosing to contribute to your community can be very rewarding and an extremely personal choice in how you decide to do it. However, for many of us, we find ourselves ever busier even though we have all the technology that we thought would give us more time. So how can we contribute to our community with our limited time and sometimes, resources. Here are some things, that knowing, can help motivate you to contribute, withstanding the roadblocks of life (time & resources) getting in the way. *Who would you like to help? Choosing who you want to help will always make it easier to contribute. What I mean is that it would motivate me to serve in an area that I am personally interested in. Also, maybe I want to choose something in an area that I want to learn more about. For example, volunteering at the Library if I loved literature or volunteering with Habitat for Humanity if I wanted to learn more about building.  *How often do you want to commit to thes ... read more

Now that we’re moving from Winter weather to spring we should all take stock of what impact the harsh Michigan winter has had on our cars. I know from experience that our vehicles maintenance issues can change drastically from fall to spring. I had to have my struts warrantied, was it the part or the rough winter conditions? From potholes, ice and snow to frigid temperatures, it can be a dicey game to get through winter without having some suspension or other system failures.  What can we do to minimize unwanted and unexpected vehicle failures? Here are some tips to keeping your car on the road instead of the back of a tow truck. Regular vehicle maintenance is key. From simple tire inflation and fluid checks to alignment and suspension checks, and don't forget to check those charging systems too.  Simply taking the time to check your fluids and also checking for proper tire inflation can alert you to future problems. Making sure you have proper ... read more

When car dashboard lights come on, many people panic, usually because they don’t know what could be wrong. But don’t worry. We’ve compiled a list of the top 5 most common car problems and solutions so you know what you’re dealing with and how to solve it. CarMD, a manufacturer of electronic vehicle systems checks, examined over a million repairs in the U.S. and found these 5 problems accounted for about 30% of all repairs. Here Are The Top 5 Most Common Car Problems and Solutions This list includes common car problems and solutions related to a check engine light, and doesn’t include regular maintenance or collision repairs. With the right maintenance schedule, you can avoid many of these check engine light problems. 1. Faulty Oxygen Sensor What is it? Oxygen sensors analy ... read more

Every Michigan resident knows how frustrating winter weather is when it comes to driving and winterizing your car. If you’ve jumped in the car in the morning only to find the battery dead, you’ve experienced yet another unfortunate side effect of cold temperatures, and you know the importance of cold weather car battery care. These tips can help keep your battery alive and well during the winter months. Try These 8 Cold Weather Car Battery Care Tips First, it’s a fact; car batteries do not work as well in cold temperatures. Car batteries generate electricity through a chemical reaction, which slows down in cold temperatures, generating less power. But with the right cold weather car battery care, you can still get the most out of your battery in the winter. 1. Covered Parking Covered parking will keep you from brushing snow off your vehicle, but it is also a helpful cold weather car battery care measure. Thanks to the heat from the house, a ... read more