Ways in Keeping Your Car Rust-Free

Watching Out for Rust

Rust or rust buildup is the bane of anybody’s car; being that a huge percentage of a car’s body is made of steel. Rust is always a potential risk. While there’s been a lot of advances in the car manufacturing industry, the inherent characteristic of steel remains unchanged. Your car will have to be acquainted with rust sooner or later.

It’s a huge headache for any car owner. It can lead to mechanical and functional issues, not to mention aesthetics. As such, it can downgrade the vehicle’s value. Rust initiates when your car’s protective outer coating is compromised. Dust and moisture will destroy your car’s paint finish exposing the metal component. All it takes is a small nick, a chip, road debris, even hail to cause this very thin protective layer to become damaged. It is important to notice these areas as early as possible so you can prevent rust from ever starting.

Rust can be prevented and treated, though. Here are a few of the most important ways to keep your car always protected from rust.

Wash your vehicle once or twice a week depending on how often you use your car to prevent the accumulation of grime. If you live or often travel near the sea, have your undercarriage cleaned two to four times a year. The salty air has a way of speeding up the corrosion in your car’s metal parts.

Wax at least twice a year. Wax does more than make your vehicle shiny – it also adds a protective layer that shields paint from fading and damage. Use a wax product that helps repel water and reduce the chance of rust.

Deal with rust promptly. Treat immediately when you see any paint discoloration, wear in the clear coat, bulging paint surfaces, or actual rust, even small areas becoming visible along the seams. There are many aftermarket products for treating rust, repairing clear coats, and touching up paint.

It is always best to have your rust issues handled by a professional body and paint technician.

Fighting Rust: The Earlier The Better in Seattle

Got rust issues with your car? We treat all stages of rust problems here at Greenwood Collision, your auto body shop in Seattle. Remember, just a little vigilance reduces rust to no more of a problem than any other regular maintenance issue.


Why High-Tech Cars Are Costing More To Repair

A Price To Pay for Safety Technology

You find many new vehicles on the road these days that sport all kinds of high-tech safety features that should help avoid a crash. There’s automatic emergency braking, blind-spot detection, forward-collision warning, and so on. These advanced safety extras have the potential to reduce collision fatalities for driver, passengers and pedestrians alike. However, experts say that if these vehicles meet road accidents, the cost of repair to those cars will be quite huge.

According to some industry publications that provide vehicle repair cost estimate services, there was observed a 2% increase in average repair costs from 2016-17. It’s been rising beginning in 2010. When the electronic content in a vehicle increases – to address vehicle safety or convenience – you also add to the overall cost and complexity of repair. The more parts are added, additional labor is required for resetting, calibrating and scanning operations. Automakers need to understand recommended repair procedures.

What high-tech features are we talking about? There are sensitive safety components located in bumpers, side mirrors and fenders; if damaged, they need sensor calibration and repair. There’s advanced driver assistance system technology being placed on high-production, low-cost vehicles, not just in luxury cars. A case in point, if you have to remove the mirror from the car door to paint the door handles and everything, you may have to recalibrate the security system, the interlocking system, and the blind-spot monitoring. It’s a multilayered process. Also, the use of materials like high-strength steel, magnesium, aluminum and carbon fiber in vehicles, and the use of crumple zones, can complicate the repair process.

Hence, the experts say, that when making repairs it is important to follow the automaker guidelines for vehicle repair, and paying the necessary price of safety.

Industry-Certified and Trustworthy in Seattle

When your car, whether high-tech or otherwise, needs repair and calibration, come to your trustworthy car repair shop this side of Seattle. We have the area’s best technicians, and we treat our customers right.


Car Care: Thinking of Your Car in Winter

Tips for Winter Car Care

Of all the seasons of the year in the US, the most demanding for car owners is winter time. Winters, especially in the northern United States and Canada, can be especially very cold, snowy and wet, and can a lot of damage to your car. From the car’s paint to the most interior metal components can be negatively affected if the vehicle is not maintained.

There are a few basic things, not too time-consuming or costly, that can protect your vehicle in winter. The first step is to keep the exterior as clean as possible. Winter is when your car gets the dirtiest, it gets ice melt and rock salt all over it and can quickly corrode the car’s paint and accelerate the rusting process if not washed away immediately. Get a professional car wash done, that which includes the undercarriage of the car, whenever the temperature goes above freezing.

Another tip that can save money in the long run is getting your car oil sprayed in the fall. A thick oil mixture sprayed onto the entire underbody of the car as a barrier between the car and the debris on the road. It can reduce the corrosive ice melt and salt from eating away at the car’s underside.

Check all the rubber components on the car – from window wipers to belts to the hoses around the engine. Did you know that rubber is particularly susceptible to damage from the cold. There may be rips, tears, or breaks in the rubber elements even before winter comes, and it’s important that they get checked and repaired to prevent winter car troubles.

Your car’s battery may be an old battery that can suddenly ran out of fluids in winter time, even if it might just be working fine in the fall. The best preventative measure is to test it before winter. Also check your gas tank. Fluids in the gas tank can freeze if it is really just too cold outside, so make sure to keep the tank more than half full to prevent this from happening.

Protect also the interior of your car. The easiest way to protect the carpeting is by using rubber floor mats, which are cheap to purchase, can be custom-cut to fit your flooring, and are easy to clean and maintain.

Helping Your Car to be Winter-Ready in Seattle

Be sure you bear in mind these tips for winter car care. It’s always best to practice prevention, saving you time and cost in caring for your car. Certainly, Greenwood Body Shop in Seattle is always around to help.


Signs That Say Your Car Needs An Oil Change

The Essentiality of Car Oil Changes

Some car owners don’t go for regular oil changes, for some reason, and that can be detrimental to engine life and overall performance of the vehicle. Most rely on the mileage reading on their odometer that will tell them it is time for a scheduled oil change. Usually, a newly bought car, that’s brand new, may benefit from such practice, say it’s first oil change may be after the first 6,000 miles reading or after 6 months, and so on. But you see, different vehicles have different oil change schedules. Consider it just a helpful guideline.

For most cars, there should be some tell-tale signs to indicate when you’re due for an oil change. Firstly, is your oil dark and dirty now? Clean oil, originally colored amber, collects dust, dirt, and other grime from engine use. It changes the oil’s color overtime and the grime it collects thickens the oil that can interfere with smooth engine function. Have your oil checked regularly, like monthly.

Do you hear some knocking noise underneath your hood?

Sometimes it gets louder over time. Must be your oil. Clean oil is thin and gets in between the engine parts providing lubrication, preventing metal-to- metal contact. Hence, it leads to a quieter, smoother drive. Otherwise, the fluid will start to break down, failing to lubricate the parts and you’ll soon be hearing loud knocking. It is time for a change.

If you’re low on oil, your oil change light will illuminate on your dashboard. Then go for that oil change as soon as you can. In some instances, a lighted oil change checker will mean your vehicle is at high risk of engine damage due to the lack of fluid.

Does your tailpipe emit smoke? In cold weather, it does belt out a translucent vapor. But do check your oil, because smoke out of your exhaust pipe can be a sign oil has leaked into the engine. It can also indicate faulty parts in the engine. So have your car checked.

Smell oil inside your car? That’s a warning sign. There’s a leak somewhere if the smell is strong. If it’s mixed with the smell of gasoline, it can mean your car is overheating and oil is burning into the exhaust area. It can ignite a fire. Once you detect the smell of oil inside your car, get an oil pronto..

Car Care Tips from Your Seattle Auto Shop

These are just some of the helps we extend our clients. We concern ourselves too with helping car owners know how to keep their car in top form for the long term. Know more about car care maintenance tips from your auto body shop in Seattle.


New Study: Many Americans Don’t Know About Car Care

Americans Lacking Maintenance Knowledge

A recently conducted study involving 2,000 American car owners found that many drivers, a quarter of them, know they take a risk driving their cars already in need of repair or are not in good running condition.
The study questioned the respondents about what they perceived is the state of their vehicles and what they know about car care basics.

Results showed that a good 68% of Americans know there’s at least one thing wrong with the car and could use a repair. When it comes to car care, 36% didn’t know what entails fixing a flat tire. Half of the respondents even said they’re not confident about changing car oils. One third aren’t even sure which correct oil would their vehicle need. A quarter wouldn’t know how to jump start a car should the situation arise. One in five think that using an air pressure gauge to check tire pressure is too much for them.

Now it gets complicated. Would you believe that 41% of Americans were unable to actually identify a car’s engine when presented with an image? That’s tough. So looking under the hood is not really going to help these guys. Being the case, they’d refrain from taking the car to a mechanic even when a new or strange noise is heard under the hood. But they will still raise the hood and look under even if they’ve not the slightest idea what’s wrong!

Why so? 54% of Americans seem to be intimidated by a car mechanic. Four in ten won’t do that because they’re afraid of the cost and any other additional work the mechanic finds that needs fixing. Only 19% feel very confident they’re paying a fair price when they take their car to one.

But as times change, people choose only what they want to know about their cars. Like, 83% percent of millennials could connect their phone to the car’s speakers and play music, 30% of those 66 and older cannot. On the other hand 71% of the oldies could drive a stick shift, only 51% of the 18-35 can. The 66 and older seem to be more knowledgeable about car maintenance. They know when their car is in need of oil change or need new tires, and so have those done in a timely manner.

While good car maintenance is important, today’s Americans should be more knowledgeable about simple ways to keep their vehicles in safe and good condition.

Learning Basic Car Care in Seattle

We at Greenwood Collision are always on hand to fill in our customers with bits of car care information. Car owners should be able to know the basics which is better for their cars. We’re just on hand to help along the way. Don’t hesitate to drop by.

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