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Auto Parts
Auto parts are a big part of owning and maintaining a car. Your car performs best when its systems are in good condition, and every system has pieces that need to be replaced. Oil is the most famous example of this; oil changes every 3-6000 miles will improve your engine health and prolong your car’s life. But oil is just the beginning of the kind of thing you need to replace regularly on your car.
The life span of various auto parts changes with the part. Your tires will come with a mileage rating. This can be a rating of thirty, sixty, or even ninety thousand miles. This rating is accompanied by a warranty that covers the tire for the duration of the mileage. Of course that is predicated on regular rotation and alignments.
Tire rotations keep the wear even on a set of tires. This is because front wheels, which steer become worn more quickly than the rear wheels do, even in rear wheel drive vehicles. It also attempts to cover for uneven wear between the two sides by switching the side of the car a tire is on. This is traditionally done when a tire is moved from the front to the back to avoid double switching.
An alignment is an adjustment of sever auto parts in your steering system that when totaled, makes your car’s front two wheels run parallel to each other. This is important because if your front wheels are pigeon toed or duck footed you drastically reduce your tread life. Things such as the tie rods, axel, and control arm are checked for integrity during an alignment.
Brakes are another part of your automobile that you want working on their best level at all times. They are what stops your car, and if you think traveling at a high rate of speed is dangerous, just think about not being able to stop when you want to. There are two types of brake on almost all automobiles today, disc brakes and drum brakes. A disc brake is by far the most common. In a disc brake a metal plate is placed behind the wheel and affixed to the axle. Along the edge of the disc two calipers are held just off the surface. The calipers are made of a highly heat and abrasion resistant material. When you press the brake pedal the calipers close on the disc and slow your car down.
In a drum brake the auto parts are significantly different. A hollow cylinder is fitted inside the wheel. Within that cylinder a set of panels are placed attached to springs. These panels are curved to fit tightly against the inside of the cylinder when released, and lined with the same padding material used on disc brake calipers. When the pedal is pressed, the panels are released and rub against the interior of the drum to slow your vehicle down. These used to be far more common than they are today, and are now almost exclusively used for large trucks because they can provide better stopping force.
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