Silicon Valley Auto Repair

You might only think about wheel alignment when the car starts pulling or the steering wheel looks crooked. In reality, alignment quietly affects how your vehicle steers, how long your tires last, and even how much you spend on fuel. When it drifts out of spec, the changes can be slow and subtle, right up until you are buying tires much sooner than you expected. Why Wheel Alignment Is More Than Just “Straight Tires” Alignment is all about the angles of the wheels relative to each other and to the road. Camber, toe, and caster settings control how much of the tire actually touches the road, how willingly the car tracks in a straight line, and how the steering wheel feels in your hands. Even small changes in those angles can make a big difference over thousands of miles. When alignment is correct, the car rolls with minimal drag, the steering wheel naturally centers, and each tire carries its share of the load. When it is off, the tires scrub, drag, and fi ... read more

We hear a lot of odd sounds roll through the bays, and certain ones raise the stakes fast. A quick sound check and a little pattern-matching can tell you whether it is safe to keep driving or it's time to schedule a check. Below are six noises that deserve attention and what they usually mean. 1. High-Pitched Squeal That Stops When You Press The Brake Pedal That brief squeal at low speeds is often a pad wear indicator grazing the rotor. It is designed to get loud before the pad is gone. Light surface rust after rain can squeal too, but it fades after a few stops. If the sound returns daily or grows sharper, the pads may be near the end of life, or the hardware needs cleaning and lubrication. Ignoring it risks scoring the rotors and stretching the stopping distance. 2. Grinding Or Growling That Tracks Road Speed A steady grind while moving points to either pads worn down to the backing plate or a wheel bearing that has started to fail. With pad ... read more

You park at the store, come back ten minutes later, and the starter barely clicks. The battery seemed fine yesterday, so the sudden failure feels random. In most cases it was building for weeks. Modern vehicles put a steady load on the battery even while parked, and heat, short trips, and age all chip away at its reserve until one cold morning or hot afternoon finishes the job. Why Modern Batteries Fail Suddenly Lead acid batteries do not taper off like a phone battery. They can deliver normal cranking right up to the day internal capacity drops below what the starter needs. Plate material sheds with age, sulfation builds on surfaces, and a few deep discharges finish the process. Once internal resistance climbs, voltage sags hard during crank and the car feels dead without much warning. Short Trips, Heat, and Hidden Drains City driving is tough on batteries. Repeated short trips never give the alternator time to replenish the energy used to start t ... read more