Tread depth is typically measured in 1/32″ increments. Using a recent Canadian penny (the Queen is not wearing a crown) you can quickly and easily check the tread depth yourself.

With the Queen facing you, insert the penny into the tread hair first. Repeat this by placing the coin into several treads across the tire from each side and the middle. Take the lowest reading as the overall tread depth.

The top of her head is approximately 4/32″ of tread depth. If you can see her entire head it is time to find some new Tires!

Quick and Easy!!

Ready to start shopping for tires? Good timing, cause our parts department is selling tires at 99¢ over cost!

For those of us with Quarters jangling in our pockets, the same measurement can be taken using the the moose head (does he have a name?) put him in the tread nose first and if you can see his muzzle it’s time to start looking for new tires!!

So what happens? Gasoline is what happens!

Gasoline is a hydrocarbon fuel and when a hydrocarbon fuel is burned, one of the by products is carbon. Carbon deposits form on the combustion chamber walls, the back of the exhaust valves and on top of the piston crown. The throttle body and plenum are also effected. All this is not good for the vehicle or it’s owner.

The deposits rob a vehicle of its performance, but more importantly of its fuel economy. By removing these deposits, your vehicle will perform and run like new. Fuel economy will be restored.

(Left to Right) Before and after of both the Piston Crown and the Intake Valve.

The human body and the engine in your car have a lot in common. Both need air to operate properly.

When the Throttle Body (nostrils) of the vehicle, the Plenum (sinus) or the Combustion Chamber (lungs) are congested from fuel related deposits, the engine does not operate properly. Performance is compromised. Fuel efficiency decreases and exhaust emissions increase.

Our Fuel System Cleaning Service cleans the respiratory system of your vehicle. Restores the performance, reduces exhaust emissions, but more importantly, helps maintain the fuel economy your vehicle was designed to get. Book an appointment online or call our service appointment desk at 250-758-7388.

“I’m so glad I did ACE-IT instead of just regular grade 12 – I’m doing something I love,” she says. “I wanted to come to school every day.” In grade 10, Victoria participated in a trades co-op program, earning credits by completing a three-week work placement at Steve Marshall Ford, changing oil and learning what she could from the veteran mechanics in the shop.

Once my rear tire was pulled off, my rear brakes were checked. The cover comes off first, you can see it below my truck on the hoist. Then the technician starts to shine lights and check these little boot things (where he’s pointing is a rubberish boot) for leaks! Free of leaks, he moves on.

He wiggled, jostled and shone more lights and all around made me feel like my rear brakes were thoroughly tested and very safe before giving them the “All Good”.

Then my front tires were moved to where the rear tires were, almost done this tire rotation and repair, and my front brakes were accessible for their check up.

Uh oh!

I tried taking a picture of how little pad I had left, but I’m not sure if you can see it. See that little 2mm indent between the holding cage? That’s bad. On the inspection sheet I got a “Yellow-Red” and a recommendation to get them repaired, as soon as possible.

I can only imagine the bad things that could happen if I couldn’t stop.

The tire rotation continued including balancing of the tires that needed repairs and all my tires had new spots on my truck!

Want to check out more about my tire repairs?

Are you ready to book your service? Is there anything else you’d like to see done in our shop?

We were in for an excellent surprise, the best and safest way to repair a puncture is with a patch plug.

We used 3 tire specific machines: one that deflated my tire while breaking the rim seal, one that removed my tire from the rim and one that balanced my tire with lasers!

LASERS!

The first step was to get my truck on the hoist and put the tire block on so the tires can spin freely, so we can find the hole. To make it easy to find the puncture we grabbed this solution and sprayed the tires. Starting with the valve stem and then the side walls and then finally the tread. I was lucky with where my tire puncture was, very repairable. If it is on the corner between sidewall and tread, not so repairable. See where the bubbles are, if it had been a little bit more to the left, NO repair!!

I then got a mini lesson in independent suspension and the reason for tire rotation. My front tires were “cupping” you couldn’t see it but when you rubbed your hand on the tire you could feel that the tread was tall then short on each tread…caused by not rotating the tires, and not rotating tires causes them to wear much faster.

Once we located the tires that needed repairs, and our lesson on rotation was over, we started to remove and rotate! My rear tires both had punctures so they both came off, then we started the brake checks and completing of the rotation!

See my brake’s being checked over here!

Now we start the fun part of the tire repair, the machines!! Did I mention the lasers?

The machine we first used was this amazing beast that broke the seal of rim to tire with a loud POP! and let out all the air, FAST! The second machine removed the tire from the rim using that little arm thing (see the first picture above) ran it’s way around the edge of the tire until the top was off the rim, then onto the bottom lip. Quick and easy.

(That third picture is just a gratuitous tool shot.)

Now we get to take the rimless tire to it’s “holder” and fix it. First the technician works at getting that nasty giant staple (click the picture to see it up close) out, then he drills a perfect hole for the plug to go in, then grinds the tire to make sure there are no burrs that could make the patch not stick.

Here is the “plug patch”. It gets covered in some glue and put into the hole, pulled out the other side and then burnished from inside of the tire so it sticks. Then we paint the inside of the tire and the patch with some serious tar looking goop.

Almost done with the repair, we trim the length of the plug and we are ready to put the tire back on the rim and back on the truck.

To make it easy to put the tire back on the rim Warren painted it with this slimy stuff from a bucket, it looked like salted lard. Started up the machine that rolled around the rim of the tire before, it now put the tire back on the rim! The valve stem got replaced, just a tiny little piece that got screwed in before we filled the tire up with air!

To the LASER MACHINE!

I was told that it’s a balancing machine (laser’s only got mentioned once). The balancer, with it’s lasers, spins the tire and calculates how thick each area of the tire is, finds any abnormalities and then tells you how much additional weight is needed on the tire to give you a super smooth ride. Once the weights are on the machine spins the tire a little bit and gives you to green arrows indicating each side is balanced! It was truly amazing, I wouldn’t mind seeing it again.

Then my tires were all put back on my truck after the technician finished up my repair, tire rotation and brake inspection plus a Multi Point Inspection… Turns out my oil was low!!

Is there anything else you’d like to see our shop do?

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Implementing small changes, drivers could save up to $538 a year or $6,610 in the lifetime of their vehicle. In any economy, every penny counts. That’s why it’s important to get the facts.

Debunking a few of the most popular maintenance myths, including the following:

• MYTH: Cars need oil changes every three months or 5,000 kilometers.
  False: That used to be true, but not with newer cars. Because of synthetic oils that don’t break down as quickly, consumers actually don’t need oil changes as often – more like every 7,000 to 10,000 kilometers. (There may be two recommendations for oil-change intervals: one for normal driving and one for hard use. Check your maintenance guide to be sure.)

  SAVE: Either way, there’s a considerable savings here: Let’s say you’re an average consumer who drives 20,000 kilometers a year, which means you would need about four oil changes a year under the old formula. With the new extended mileage, consumers need only about two oil changes a year, cutting their bill for oil changes in half – you could pocket upward of $50 a year or $650 in the lifetime of your car and do something to help the environment by saving oil.