May 16, 2012

Deep Breathing In Charlotte: Engine Air Filter

Filed under: Engine Air Filter — steelecr302 @ 7:29 pm

Deep Breathing In Charlotte Engine Air Filter

Your truck engine really needs clean air to operate efficiently: it takes about twelve thousand gallons of air to burn a gallon of gas in your truck engine. And clean air is much better than dirty.

When your air filter’s dirty, it simply can’t trap any more dirt, so the dirt just passes through into your air intake system. From there it can get into the truck engine combustion chamber. And burning dust and pollen in your engine as you drive around Charlotte does you no good.

The verdict: When your engine air filter needs to be replaced; it needs to be replaced. How often depends entirely on how dirty the air is in Charlotte where you drive. A simple visual inspection by a courteous Steele Creek Tire technician will tell you when you need a new engine air filter in your truck.

When you look at the air filter on your furnace in your Charlotte home and see it’s all clogged up with dust and dirt, you don’t hesitate to replace it. But don’t wait until your air filter (furnace or automobile) is totally plugged – by that time you’ve been running inefficiently in Charlotte for a lot of miles.

When your Steele Creek Tire service technician brings out your nasty engine air filter, you now know why you should go ahead and change it out.

Give us a call

Steele Creek Tire
704.583.2800
9800 South Tryon St
Charlotte, NC 28273

At Steele Creek Tire in Charlotte NC (28273) we install quality NAPA replacement parts. Give us a call at 704.583.2800. To learn more about NAPA AutoCare, visit www.NAPAAutoCare.com.

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May 11, 2012

Cooling System Service At Steele Creek Tire

Filed under: Cooling System — steelecr302 @ 4:56 pm

Cooling System Service At Steele Creek Tire

Your truck cooling system’s job is to keep your engine cool. Coolant (also called antifreeze) mixed with water flows through your engine and absorbs heat. The mixture then flows out to the radiator where it’s cooled by air flowing over the radiator. From there the cooled mix circulates back through the truck engine to absorb more heat.

Coolant, or antifreeze, is specially formulated to keep your engine safe in a wide range of environmental and operating temperatures in Charlotte.

Without coolant, the truck’s metal engine parts would expand so much that the engine would seize up and stop running.  Expensive parts could be broken or warp so badly they would have to be replaced at Steele Creek Tire in Charlotte. It could even be so bad that the whole engine is ruined and has to be replaced.

Also, if it’s freezing outside in Charlotte, the water in your engine could freeze while your vehicle is sitting out in the NC cold. This is why you check coolant levels frequently and have your cooling system inspected for leaks. Also your manufacturer has a maintenance requirement for draining and replacing your coolant. These recommendations can vary widely, so check your Charlotte owner’s manual or ask your service advisor at Steele Creek Tire in Charlotte.

The reason you need to change the coolant is that it has additives in it to protect the cooling system. As you can imagine, with all the heat, the cooling system’s a pretty harsh environment. The additives keep the fluid from becoming corrosive and damaging the radiator and other Charlotte cooling system components. Over time, the additives are depleted and the coolant just has to be replaced. A simple pH test can measure the coolant’s acidity.

You may have noticed that there are different colors of antifreeze at Steele Creek Tire: it is very important that you use the correct type.  The different coolant types are different colors so you don’t mix them up.  Manufacturers use different materials to make the cooling system, and they require different types of antifreeze to protect them.

So check with your courteous Steele Creek Tire service advisor or owner’s manual for the right kind because using the wrong coolant can void the warranty for your truck cooling system.

Ask us about check engine light diagnostic, water pump replacement and engine air filter.

Give us a call

Steele Creek Tire
704.583.2800
9800 South Tryon St
Charlotte, NC 28273

At Steele Creek Tire in Charlotte NC (28273) we install quality NAPA replacement parts. Give us a call at 704.583.2800. To learn more about NAPA AutoCare, visit www.NAPAAutoCare.com.

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May 3, 2012

Viva la Differential At Steele Creek Tire

Filed under: Differential Service — steelecr302 @ 9:52 pm

Viva la Differential At Steele Creek Tire

With front-wheel drive being so common in Charlotte these days, the differential is just taken care of during a transmission service, so most Charlotte folks don’t even have to think about it. And most rear-wheel drive truck differentials don’t need to be serviced for many miles, so it’s understandable that it’s not something on the top of mind. So it’s not uncommon for NC people to not know they have a differential let alone know that it needs service.

To better understand what a differential does, think about a high school track. There are lanes marked off on the track. For the longer distance races, the starting lines are staggered. The starting lines for the outside lanes are ahead of the starting lines for the inside lanes. That’s to compensate for the longer length of the outside lanes. Staggering the starting lines means that each runner has the same distance to run.

The differential compensates for the difference in speeds on drive wheels between the inside wheel and the outside wheel in a turn, because they have to travel together through slightly different distances.

Many truck differentials do a lot of work and require very heavy duty parts. And those parts need protection. The differential fluid lubricates the gears in the differential and keeps them cool. The fluid eventually gets dirty and worn down. Some kinds of differentials require special additives that break down over time. So manufacturers and Steele Creek Tire technicians recommend intervals for replacing your differential fluid.

Your Steele Creek Tire service technician will drain the used fluid and check it out for metal bits, which could be a sign of excessive wear on the gears. He’ll then replace the fluid and install the additives if necessary.

Charlotte four wheel drive trucks need special attention to their differentials because they have a differential on both the front and rear axles that work at different times and sometimes under heavy loads – so they may need to be serviced at Steele Creek Tire at different intervals.

Your Charlotte service advisor can look up the manufacturer’s recommended service interval or you can check your truck owner’s manual.

Give us a call

Steele Creek Tire
704.583.2800
9800 South Tryon St
Charlotte, NC 28273

At Steele Creek Tire in Charlotte NC (28273) we install quality NAPA replacement parts. Give us a call at 704.583.2800. To learn more about NAPA AutoCare, visit www.NAPAAutoCare.com.

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April 25, 2012

Battery Replacement In Charlotte

Filed under: Battery — steelecr302 @ 8:29 pm

Battery Replacement In Charlotte

Car batteries wear out just like any other battery and need to be replaced. There are a couple of things Charlotte truck owners should know when looking for a new car battery: one is cold cranking amps and the other is reserve capacity.

Let’s start with cold cranking amps. This can be thought of as the power output used to start a cold truck engine. The number of cold cranking amps you need depends on your vehicle and where you live around Charlotte, specifically how cold it is where you live. The two factors are that the colder an engine is, the more power it takes to turn the truck engine over to get it started. It has all that cold, sluggish oil to contend with. The other factor is that the chemical reaction in the battery that creates electrical energy is less efficient in the cold.

So the colder it gets in Charlotte, more power is needed, but the available power drops.

If you live where it’s cold, you need a battery with more cold cranking amps than you do where it’s moderate or hot. You should always get at least as many cold cranking amps as the manufacturer recommends, but may want to upgrade at Steele Creek Tire if you live where it gets real cold.

An important note: Batteries may also list the Cranking Amps – CA – number. It is the Cold Cranking Amps – or CCA – that is the important number here. CCA is the number to use in your comparisons.

Now with all this talk of cold temperatures in Charlotte, it’s important to note that heat is the real enemy of long battery life. In other words, the damage that’s done over the hot summer months in Charlotte shows up with the increased demands on the truck battery when the weather turns cold.

Now on to reserve capacity: It’s a measurement of the number of minutes of reserve power the battery has at a given load. The number is more important these days because of parasitic drain. Parasitic drain is the battery energy that’s used when the key is off. So the power drawn by the truck security system, the remote start system, even the power the truck computers require to maintain their memory.

Reserves are also needed when you make very short trips around Charlotte. You’re not driving long enough for the battery to recover the energy it used to start the truck engine.

So go with the minimum recommended by your manufacturer and upgrade if you need more. Talk with your courteous Steele Creek Tire service advisor about options. If you need more from your battery, a larger capacity battery may be called for.

Batteries are a big ticket item for most Charlotte motorists, so the warranty gives peace of mind. Be sure to ask about the car battery warranty at Steele Creek Tire so you know what you’re getting. At Steele Creek Tire, we have been providing quality auto service in Charlotte for 4 years.

Give us a call

Steele Creek Tire
9800 South Tryon St
Charlotte, NC 28273

At Steele Creek Tire in Charlotte NC (28273) we install quality NAPA replacement parts. Give us a call at 704.583.2800. To learn more about NAPA AutoCare, visit www.NAPAAutoCare.com.

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April 20, 2012

Getting The Right Wheels And Tires At Steele Creek Tire In Charlotte

Filed under: Tires — steelecr302 @ 5:32 pm

Getting The Right Wheels And Tires At Steele Creek Tire In Charlotte

A lot of people in the Belmont area want custom wheels. When you do this yourself (over the internet . . .) you could run into trouble if you’re not careful. Sometimes they just don’t fit right: The tires rub in turns or over bumps. Consulting a tire professional at Steele Creek Tire in Charlotte can ensure you get the right fit for your truck. First he’ll ask you a series of questions about your driving needs and what you want in your new wheels.

Now, not every wheel can go on every vehicle. Care must be taken so that tires and wheels are not too large or that the wheel is centered too far towards the outside or the inside. If you don’t want to make any modifications to your truck, you would need to focus on a wheel and tire combination that would fit. With trucks, some Charlotte people like much bigger tires so they need a suspension lift.

Also, most Charlotte people don’t realize that you need to keep the rolling diameter of your new tires – that’s the overall height of the tire – very close to what came from the factory in order for your anti-lock brakes and stability control systems to work properly.

The truck computers that control these systems are calibrated to a certain size tire. When you go bigger or smaller, the computer doesn’t know what changes you made so it can’t tell how fast you’re going. This, of course, means it sends commands to the brakes and traction control that are based on the wrong sensor information. If you go with a different rolling diameter, your truck vehicle control computer can be reprogrammed for the new tire size. At Steele Creek Tire, we can give you information about control computer reprogramming.

Either way, there are hundreds of wheel and tire choices to choose from in Charlotte. You can pick the style of wheel you want and then talk with your Charlotte tire professional about how big the wheel should be – and select the right tire to meet your style, performance, ride and handling needs – and the best way to do all this is to have your courteous Steele Creek Tire tire specialist see your truck in person so mistakes are not made.

At Steele Creek Tire, we also offer air conditioning service and water pump replacement.

Give us a call

Steele Creek Tire
704.583.2800
9800 South Tryon St
Charlotte, NC 28273

At Steele Creek Tire in Charlotte NC (28273) we install quality NAPA replacement parts. Give us a call at 704.583.2800. To learn more about NAPA AutoCare, visit www.NAPAAutoCare.com.

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