FAQ

Q. How often should I change my oil and oil filter and service my car??
A. I recommend at least changing the oil in Petrol vehicles every 10,000kms and Diesels every 5,000kms. This is because the engine oil has 6 main functions:

1. Minimise engine wear. 
2. Reduces friction and power loss. 
3. Removes heat. 
4. Reduces engine noise. 
5. Forms a seal. 
6. Cleans. As time goes on between servicing the oil contaminates & breaks down minimising the 
efficiency of the engine oils to do it's job correctly.

Q. What causes the engine oil to breakdown and lose its efficiency?
A. Working a motor hard e.g. Towing long distance, touring in hot dusty conditions, wrong oil selection for the vehicles purpose, higher operating temps of Gas/Duel fuel engines and build up of soot and carbon in diesel motors.  

Q. Why should I change my oil filter?  When I do change the engine oil?
A. The old oil and contaminated oil residue inside the old oil filter mixes with the fresh new oil and slowly contaminates the new motor oil. 

Q. What should I do about a rattle in the front of my car? Could it be the wheel bearings?
A. Yes. Wheel bearings like to be treated with a regular greasing.  They don't like prolonged exposure to: Mud, water, heavily corrugated roads and especially don't like lack of maintenance. It pays to have them re-packed regularly, particularly if you use them a lot in the above mentioned conditions.

Q. On all services do you check the brakes and why remove all wheels to check them ?
A.Yes we remove all wheels on every service to check the brakes. The reason behind this is: By removing the wheels we can check for any un even pad wear indicating a seized or semi-sized brake calliper. We also measure rotor thickness and drum diameter. We are also able to look for heat cracks or small holes forming in the rotors or drums. To ensure a good, safe and efficient brake pedal it is important that rotors are above minimum thickness pads or shoes not to thin and nothing is seized. 

Q. What are the benefits of slotted rotors and up graded pads?
A. In short heaps. The slots in slotted rotors assist in dispersing brake gas and brake dust build up creating a more efficient performing brake system. The pad material is a semi organic/metallic compound that has an operating rotor temperature of around 500 deg. So it takes a fair bit to make them fail.