Chesapeake Auto Repair

Shake It Up in Chesapeake!: Why Wheel Balancing Your browser does not support video Our vehicles are not massage chairs. While we may enjoy a good vibration in an overstuffed recliner, us Chesapeake drivers generally want as smooth a ride as possible in our vehicles. One way to achieve this is to keep a vehicle’s wheels in balance. When a tire is mounted onto a wheel, it is usually out of balance. This means that as the wheel spins, there is a slight wobble to the path of the tire. For best handling performance and safety on the road, Chesapeake motorists want to minimize this wobble as much as possible. So we balance our tires. To balance a tire, your honest West Service Center, Inc. service specialist spins it on a machine or drum to determine where it is off-balance. He then attaches weights that counter-balance the uneven weight. Most Chesapeake car owners are surprised at how much balancing improves the smoothness of their ride. High-quality tires g ... read more

Smart Chesapeake Drivers Protect Against Overheating Your browser does not support video Engines get hot when they run. This heat can build up and damage vital engine parts, so engines need a cooling system to keep them running. Cooling system failure is the most common mechanical failure in vehicles. This is unfortunate, because these failures are usually easy for Chesapeake drivers to prevent. The radiator is the best-known and most recognizable part of the cooling system. Hoses filled with coolant (also known as antifreeze) connect the radiator to the engine. The coolant draws heat from the engine, and then flows to the radiator. Air passing through cooling fins on the radiator cools the coolant. The coolant then cycles back into the engine to start the process over again. The most critical component of the cooling system, however, is the coolant itself. A mixture of water and coolant/antifreeze helps keep it both from freezing and from boiling away. Either can result in serious ... read more

10 Services Chesapeake auto owners Often Overlook   We live such busy lives nowadays: work, social events, running the kids all over Chesapeake. Some days it’s all we can do to keep track of everywhere we need to be. That’s why you’ve gotta be organized. Smartphones, calendar apps – we have to keep track of it all. So let’s talk about schedules. Specifically, automotive service schedules. And particularly, the vital scheduled services that are sometimes forgotten. Here is a list of 10 service items that are often overlooked by Chesapeake drivers. They’re all very important and need appropriate attention. So here we go, in no particular order. 1. Power Steering Service Be honest; have you ever thought of this on your own? Your power steering fluid gets dirty and builds-up moisture over time. Cleaning out your power steering system means that dirt and gum are removed and your important power steering parts are ... read more

Smooth Shifting in Chesapeake Virginia: Transmission Service   So you have some exciting plans for the Virginia weekend. You’re going to take some of your Chesapeake, Virginia friends out on the boat for some water skiing. Of course, you’ve gotten the boat all ready. And you haven’t forgotten about your tow vehicle. You’ve gassed it up and even vacuumed it out. However, there is something even more important than the cleanliness of the interior: you want to make sure that your van maintenance is up to date. Think about it – heavy interstate traffic on the way out of Chesapeake. There’s hilly terrain as you get to the lake. Some dirt roads – and it’s going to be pretty hot in Chesapeake this weekend. And all the time you’ll be towing around several thousand extra pounds. That all adds up a lot of severe strain on your engine, brakes and transmission. Let’s just consider the transmission. It’s going ... read more

Differential Service At West Service Center, Inc.: Vive ala Difference Your browser does not support video Every van on Virginia highways has a differential, and it is important to the proper operation of the vehicle, but most Chesapeake motorists don’t have a clue what it is. The differential compensates for differing wheel speeds. For example, when you turn, the inside tire on the turn travels a much shorter distance than the outside wheel. So the inside wheel of the van must move at a slower speed than the outside wheel. Without a differential, the wheels would hop and scrape while turning. Have you ever seen the large bugle-shaped object in the middle of the rear axle of a truck? That’s the differential. In a rear-wheel drive vehicle, the differential is located on the back axle. Four-wheel drive vehicles and SUV’s have differentials on both the front and the rear axle. You might expect that the differential is loca ... read more