Surprisingly enough I have an auto mechanic that I trust.  When I needed a new battery this winter he said that the best one for my car was the Wal-Mart Ever Start Maxx.I had not ever had any work done at the Wal-Mart Auto Shop, but since the price for the battery was based on turning in your old battery core, and the installation was supposedly free, I decided to let them do it.  Oth...

I have often been writing reviews on my husband’s cars. It just came to my mind that whenever he is buying a car, he is categorically inspecting tires along with many other things that he checks in a car.   Last time when he bought the Kia Sportage, he had to change all 5 tires on it. He spent just as much time in researching for the best tires for his SUV, as he spent on looking...

Tires are very important but often overlooked components of auto maintenance. Even the highest-rated performance vehicle can fail you if you have incorrect or worn-out tires. I drive a 4Runner when the weather is too bad for me to feel safe in my Mustang. Living in the mountains you can be caught off guard by snow or ice, and if that happens you don’t want to question the performance of y...

The Winterforce snow tire performed extremely well throughout a Michigan winter, and should be good for another season.My husband has a 365-day-a-year, 125-mile paper route, in Michigan.  It’s also an early morning route, so he is often out before the snowplows.  He also drives a small car, and this year he decided that he had to have snow tires, not just all-season radials, to ...

I was in dire need of new brake pads for the front and back on my Subaru Forester. I could have just taken it in to the many places that do brake jobs but I knew that I would end up with brake pads that were on the cheap side quality wise. Instead I went to Auto Zone and purchased their Duralast gold brand which is a ceramic brake pad. I purchased a set for the front and back. I have friend tha...

After buying a gently used mini van last year, we decided to invest in 4 new tires.  We chose Sam's Club to buy our Goodyear Allegra tires.  The tires that came with the van were okay but starting to show the wear from the previous owner.Each Allegra tire was priced at $71.58.  A strange price for a tire, I wondered why such an odd price!  Never did find out why, but the...

I have owned my Sears DieHard gold battery for my Subaru Forster for over 3 years now. I have purchased several DieHard batteries from Sears over the years and have always been satisfied with their quality. My dad always bought them as well and he was pretty picky on what auto parts he would buy. My brother buys them for his car as well and has been happy with the product. The biggest testimony...

Ok…I’m not mechanically inclined…I don’t even mess around much on motorcycles, dirt bikes etc…My in laws bought a pair of these  Baja Warrior Mini Bikes. Every time we stay up at their house or they come spend a weekend at ours, they bring them. I have played around on them a little and they are pretty fun! The Baja Warrior is a mini Chopper style &ldq...

I had my mechanic put the Bosch platinum plus 4 spark plugs in my Subaru Forster about 3 years ago. They have been firing just fine with no problems at all noted. I have been told that these plugs can stay in service for quite a number of years without changing them. They come preset so there is no need to gap them. I noticed right away that the engine seemed to respond quicker. As I accelerate...

I purchased 4 of these Yokohama AS 430 tires from Town Fair Tire about 4 years ago. I have put on 30,000 miles since and it looks to me like the tread has worn quite evenly. I have rotated them as recommended a very important aspect of tire care. Without doing that tires wear very unevenly. Supposedly with proper care these tires are said to be able to last in the area of 70,000 miles. The...

The Craftsman 3 1/2-ton hydraulic floor jack is very handy to have around.  This is our second Craftsman floor jack; we needed this bigger one for our bigger Truck.This floor jack is heavy.  It's mobile on four steel casters.  The jack plate is nice sized at about 6 inches in diameter.  The jack cranks evenly to 20 inches and lowers smoothly because of the hydraulic syst...

This will be my third winter using the Mastercraft  Glacier Grip Tires. These have been a wonderful and sturdy tire for winter driving. The tread is aggressive and the wear is lasting. The only issue I have is the price varies due to the size needed. I paid $125.00 per tire and that is because I had a sport coupe to fit. There is a bit of road noise but this is to be expected for...

I got suckered into buying a car security system because, well, who knows where I'll take my car in this life. It's an investment, so why not put the money down? I have a KARR Security System and I can say there are some benefits and some negatives here.Does it do a good job as an alarm system? Yes. It has three modes so I can set the security level of the system to suit my taste. There...

When we needed to buy a truck, we searched long and hard.  We ended up with a Ford F250 V10 4X4 Super Duty XLT Extended Cab.  Ford's reputation for value, the fact we had owned Fords previously, and the classic style brought us to our gem of a truck.  Ford trucks are work horses!  The Ford F250 V10 4X4 Super Duty XLT can tow up to 10,000 pounds!  This is a life...

What do you get when you mix a Convertible, a SUV and a Transformer? The answer is the Jeep Wrangler Unlimited.Meet Bumblebee (yes, we name our cars), he is a 2008 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited 4 X 2 and he is a whole lot of fun. Yes, I know in this day of high fuel prices that he was probably not the most fuel efficient vehicle we could have chosen, but it is the car my husband has wanted for&n...

This is a handy dandy Code reader/diagnostic tool  for vehicles 1996 and newer that are CAN (Controller Area Network) compliant and OBD2 compliant.  We own 2004's - a Nissan Altima and a GMC Sierra and this particular scan tool works for both vehicles.When the "check engine soon" light came on in the truck a few weeks ago, it did so when I just happened to be driving it....

I first started using Castrol motor oil many years ago back in 1978. It was a good oil then and still works great today. I had a vehicle back then that would burn a 1/2 quart of oil every 2,000 miles. I switched to Castrol motor oil and it stopped burning. It made me realize that all oils were not created equal. I personally in this day and age prefer a synthetic oil but at 5 dollars per q...

We decided it was time for new tires on the car, so when my wife asked where to go I said Everything is always cheaper at WalMart, so that's where we went. Upon entering the service center we were greeted and served immediately. We had expected the installation to take some time so we decided to shop for a while as we waited. It took less than an hour and they were calling us back, cool. Th...

 I was looking for something that would enhance the performance of my Chevy HHR and also keep it in tip top shape. I decided to try a set of the Iridium IX spark plugs because of all the great things I've heard about the technology and performance of this plug. Iridium is stronger that any metal used in other spark plugs today which allows it to have the ultra fine center electrode whi...

My wifes car tends to get some "mysterious" scratches once in awhile. On a black car likes hers it sticks out like a soar thumb. You know those trips to Target or Walmart, end up giving you  more than you want! Grocery carts, doors from other cars, or just general scratching that happens when you rub against your car.I didn't want to spend 50-100 to pay someone to buff out th...