O'Fallon Auto Repair

Because we care about our customers, here are some great tips for winter safety: Stock your car with emergency supplies. You never know when you’ll get stranded on the side of the road. Be prepared by having your car packed with emergency supplies. Check your battery. The chemical reactions required to generate power in a car battery slow down in extremely cold temperatures. At 5 degrees F, a fully charged lead-acid battery has only half its rated amp-hour capacity. On top of that, during cold weather, your engine requires more current from the battery in order to get the engine started. At Hillside Auto Repair, our mechanics can run a battery load test to see if you need to replace the battery. Even if you don’t, we can check for and clean up any corrosion he finds on your posts and connections. Check your anti-freeze mixture. The mixture of anti-freeze and water in your radiator should be about 50:50. Check your b ... read more

Brake rotors — otherwise known as brake discs — provide a friction surface for brake pads to grab onto. Disc brake rotors are metal discs that work together with the brake pads and calipers to slow the vehicle. Brake rotors are bolted directly to the wheel hub, so they spin in direct relation to wheel speed. The rotor is sandwiched between two brake pads. When the brake pedal is depressed, the calipers squeeze the brake pads against the spinning rotors to slow and stop the wheels and the vehicle. Modern cars are equipped with either two-wheel or four-wheel disc brakes. A four-wheel disc brake system has a rotor at each wheel, whereas a two-wheel system has rotors in the front, and drum brakes in the back. Two basic types of rotors are currently in use: solid and vented. Solid rotors are one solid piece, like the name implies. This relatively inexpensive type of rotor is generally used in small cars. Vented rotors are cast with fins between the two disc faces. The fins are d ... read more