AutoPro

ABOUT

NAPA AUTOPRO is a dedicated nationwide team of highly trained technicians using state-of-the-art technology who are ready to provide you with unequalled maintenance, quality customer care and a range of services designed to keep your vehicle young for a long, long time. Thanks to our unparalleled expertise and a commitment to going the extra mile, you can rest easy knowing that you and your car will be taken care of from start to finish.

WHAT WE DO

When you bring your vehicle in for maintenance or repair, we guarantee a level of service uncommon in the industry. That means appointments tailored to your schedule, detailed safety and maintenance inspections, no work or billing surprises, manufacturer-recommended services, responsible environmental practices, and recall alerts. Plus, we only use high-quality, competitively priced parts so you know you’re getting your money’s worth. And we back it all with a personalized, competitive service warranty that works in your favour.

NAPA AUTOPRO received the highest numerical score among service providers in the proprietary J.D. Power 2011-2014 Canadian Customer Commitment Index (CCI)

Rust Check

What is Rust Check:

Rust Check is a premier automobile body panel protectant that has been used successfully since 1973. It is a light liquid product that is applied inside body sections as a pressurized spray.

Crevice areas hidden inside body sections, such as joints, folds, seams, and spot welds therein are the places where corrosion starts and spreads from. Rust Check has the light liquid consistency and the active additives necessary to penetrate deeply into and protect the many vulnerable crevices found in today’s vehicles.

Rust Check protects metals by displacing moisture and treating the surfaces with highly effective corrosion inhibitors. The corrosion inhibitors form an adsorbed (bonded) layer on the metal surfaces. This microscopic layer acts like a series of tiny umbrellas, shielding the surfaces from water molecules. Just as a car battery will not work without its electrolyte, metal corrosion will not occur if moisture does not contact the metal.

What is Coat & Protect:

Rust Check Coat & Protect is premium vehicle undercarriage protectant. Rust Check Coat & Protect can be thought of as a thicker version of Rust Check, with good adhesion and wash resistance, making it ideal for exposed undercarriage areas, Coat & Protect eliminates dripping from the undercarriage, but does not harden; it is self-healing, won’t crack or peel, and can be applied to both new and used vehicles. Coat & Protect is a premium product that contains a very high percentage of the same type of effective corrosion inhibitors used in Rust Check.

Used together in the Rust Check Two Product Process, Rust Check Coat & Protect and Rust Check provides premium quality protection, tailored to the different environments encountered by the different areas of your vehicle.

Rust Checks Unique 2-Step Process

Rust Check utilizes a unique two-step application process designed specifically to provide highly effective corrosion protection by utilizing products appropriate to different parts of your vehicle. The protection your vehicle requires varies as a result of its design. One product cannot be effective in all areas. Accordingly, the Rust Check Two Product Process uses:

 

Wheel Alignment

It’s no surprise that your vehicle will drive better, if all the wheels are pointed in the same direction. That’s called wheel alignment. If your wheels are out of alignment you may notice that your vehicle pulls to one side or the other.

Something that you won’t notice right away, but you will if you keep driving around when you’re out of alignment, is that your tires are wearing unevenly and fairly quickly. That’s because when the vehicle is pulling to one side, you have to steer it back straight. The outside of the tire just wears out fast because you’re constantly turning, which can be very exhausting on a long road trip – fighting to keep the vehicle going straight down the road.

Some of the things that commonly throw a wheel out of alignment are slamming into a pothole, smacking a curb or something a simple as a rock. And it doesn’t have to be a big shock, it can just be the regular bumps and bangs of daily driving that add up and eventually take your vehicle out of alignment. That’s why your owner’s manual may suggest having your alignment checked periodically.

With an alignment service at Clarenville AutoPro, we measure each wheel’s alignment and to see where they are relative to factory specifications. While we have the vehicle on the alignment rack, we inspect the tires for wear as well as the suspension and steering components for damage or wear – things that can contribute to alignment problems.

With some vehicles you can adjust all four wheels so we bring all wheels into alignment. On those vehicles where you can only adjust the front wheels, we bring the front into alignment relative to the rear.

Tire Change-Over

You can make your vehicle tires last longer with regular tire rotation and wheel balancing.

Let’s start with tire rotation. In normal driving, your front tires wear more on the shoulders because they handle much of the cornering forces in turns. Front-wheel drive vehicles have even more force on the front tires.

We rotate the tires so that all of the tires do some duty on the front end as well as getting a little break on the back end. That way, all four tires wear more evenly over their life and last longer.

For most vehicles, tires are rotated front to back. Some manufacturers recommend a cross rotational pattern that includes the spare tire, and some high-performance vehicles have different size tires on the front and rear and may even have uni-directional tires that can only be on the left or the right side of the vehicle

Your tire manufacturer will have a recommendation for how often you should rotate your tires.

Let’s move on to wheel balancing. That’s when there are heavy spots on the tire and wheel that cause it to wobble.

Balancing adds weights to the wheel to balance it out. Now, we are talking about very small weight differences. Variations in the tire and wheel manufacture can cause a slight imbalance. The valve stem, and now the tire pressure monitoring sensors in the tire, also play into the equation.

Even small differences can cause annoying vibrations at speed: the wheel is essentially bouncing a bit as it goes down the road. For example, at freeway speeds, an out of balance wheel can be slamming into the road 14 times a second. That’s annoying and can cause your tires to wear out more quickly.

If a front wheel’s out of balance you’ll feel the vibration through the steering wheel. When it’s a rear tire, you’ll feel the vibration through your seat. If you’re getting bad vibes from your vehicle, bring it in to see if it’s a balance issue or something else. You should balance your wheels whenever you get a new tire or remount a tire like when it’s been removed for a flat repair.

Steering System

For most of us, it is hard to remember life without power steering – cranking those great big steering wheels? It was a pretty good workout. Now power steering is standard. The heart of any power steering system is its pump. The pump pressurizes the power steering fluid that provides assist for steering. Most pumps are driven by a belt that is run by the engine – a few are electrically powered. A high-pressure hose passes fluid from the pump to the steering gear. A low pressure hose returns the fluid back to the pump.

These hoses can develop leaks, so it is a good idea to inspect them at every oil change. Low fluid can damage the power steering pump. That is why fluid level is on the checklist for a full-service oil change. The fluid needs to be compatible with the hoses and seals, so check your owners’ manual for the right type – or just ask your service technician.

The fluid cleans, cools and lubricates the power steering system. It breaks down as the years go by and collects unwanted moisture, so it needs to be replaced from time to time. Many manufacturers specify power steering service intervals. Unfortunately, this important service is sometimes left off the maintenance schedule. So, when in doubt, every 25,000 miles/40,000 km or two years is a good fallback. Your service center will use a detergent to clean the system, flush out the old fluid and replace it with the good stuff.

Here are some warning signs of trouble with your power steering: It’s harder to turn the wheel, there’s erratic power assist, you hear loud whining coming from the pump (which may be difficult to hear over the loud whining coming from the backseat), you have to top-off the fluid frequently, or you hear squealing belts. Remember to never hold the steering wheel to the far right or left for more than a few seconds at a time. That will wear out your pump real fast.

Other steering components can be bent or damaged from wear or hard knocks. Ball-joint, idler-arm, steering-gear, steering-knuckle and tie rod to name a few. Warning signs here are steering play, wandering, uneven tire wear, and off-center steering wheel. An annual alignment check will reveal bent or damaged steering components.

Most SUV’s, pick-ups and rear-wheel-drive cars need regular front-wheel-bearing service.

The bearings should be cleaned and inspected. If they are excessively worn, they need to be replaced. The bearings are then repacked in clean grease. It’s also recommend the wheel-seal be replaced when the bearings are serviced. Like everything else, check your owners’ manual maintenance schedule. It’s usually required around every two years or 40,000 miles/64,000 km. If you drive through water, the bearings will need service more often.

Exhaust

We’ve all heard a car or truck in our St John’s neighborhoods that needs exhaust work. But there’s more to the exhaust system than just the muffler.

The exhaust system has three main functions:
1.) To safely get hot exhaust gas from the engine out the tailpipe
2.) Treats the exhaust to remove harmful pollutants
3.) Muffle the engine noise

Exhaust gas is poisonous. You don’t want it getting into the passenger compartment. For example, carbon monoxide can be deadly. That’s why you should never run your engine in a closed garage. If you have a leak in the exhaust system, exhaust could get into the passenger cabin and make you sick or even kill you.

If you smell exhaust in the vehicle, roll down your windows and have it inspected. You may smell or see exhaust coming from the engine compartment or under the vehicle if you have a leak. Sometimes the sound from an exhaust leak is loud and obvious. Sometimes it’s a ticking sound when you start the engine that goes away as you drive. That could be a small crack or a bad fitting that leaks when it’s cold but seals up when the metal heats and expands.

Now, let’s address the environmental issues. Exhaust gas contains a number of pollutants and particulates. The catalytic converter scrubs some of those harmful substances. And diesel vehicles have systems to deal with soot.

Catalytic converters eventually wear out and need to be replaced. They’re expensive so you want to help them last as long as possible by keeping the fuel system clean and replacing your air filter. These components need to be tested for function with an emissions test from time to time.

Suspension

Let’s talk about your suspension – you know, the system that connects your wheels to your vehicle, controls your handling and delivers a good ride as you cruise around town.

Your suspension is critical for proper steering, stopping and stability.

Hey, it’s a rough world out there – every time you hit a pothole, a bump or an object in the road, your suspension system has to absorb the impact and maintain control.

As you can imagine, your suspension has a lot of joints and pivot points that allow your wheels to move up and down over bumps and to turn as you steer. These parts include ball joints, tie rod ends, the pitman, idler arms and the control arm bushing. They simply wear out over time.

When a joint or other part is worn the suspension parts don’t fit together as tightly as they should. Handling and steering has a loose feel and you may hear strange noises. Your tires will wear unevenly because they’re bouncing down the road a little off kilter.

A loose joint has the effect of stressing other suspension components so they wear out faster than they should. Sometimes a suspension part can be bent from hitting a rock or curb or by slamming into a big pothole.

We’ll look for signs of suspension problems: things like uneven tire wear, excessive play in suspension components and other visible damage. We can replace the worn or damaged parts and restore safe handling.

It’s a great idea to take care of these problems right away before they become more expensive to repair. And nobody likes to see a tire that should last for several years get worn out in a matter of months because of a bad suspension part.

Diagnostics

When your check engine light comes on, you may be torn between utter panic and just wanting to ignore it and hope it goes away. That’s perfectly understandable. That same check engine light could come on for anything from a serious engine or transmission problem all the way down to a loose gas cap.

There’s a very common misconception that the trouble codes stored in your engine computer when your check engine light comes on will specifically identify a problem. It’s really more like pointing to the symptoms of a problem.

Think of taking your temperature. Say it’s 101. Your heat sensor – the thermometer – tells you that your temperature is out of the normal range. But it doesn’t tell you why you have a fever. Is it the flu or a sinus infection? You need more information; more tests.

For any given trouble code, there could be a number of causes. So your trained technician takes the trouble code as a starting point and begins a diagnostic process to determine the cause of the problem. And some problems take longer to solve than others.

When your engine management system logs a problem and illuminates the check engine light, our service technician will plug in a scanner, download the trouble codes and go to work tracing the cause of the problem.

That’s just the first step. That’s when your technician’s training, equipment, databases and skill get put to work diagnosing the problem and fixing it.

If your check engine light is flashing it means that the problem could lead to serious damage and should be checked immediately.

Oil Change

Sounds simple, but there’s some pretty important things to know about preventing oil sludge.

Oil eventually starts to turn into jelly. Literally – petroleum jelly. Sludge clogs up oil passages and keeps oil from getting to some areas of the engine, causing parts to wear out prematurely. And that means expensive engine repairs.

That’s why you need to change the oil and oil filter on schedule – to get the old oil out before it turns to sludge. Your manufacturer will have a recommendation for how many miles you can go between oil changes. They also usually have a number of months between recommended oil changes. That’s because the detergents and other additives in the oil break down over time.

Your owner’s manual will have a recommendation for time and mileage, but you need to remember that it’s based on using the recommended weight of oil. And if your vehicle came from the factory with synthetic oil, the recommended intervals assume you continue to use synthetic.

Also, how you drive can have a big effect. Most owner’s manuals will have a list of driving conditions that are harder on your vehicle. Things like stop and go driving, short trips, driving in very hot or very cold weather, heavy loads and towing. If some of your driving fits this, you may need to change your oil and do other maintenance on a shorter schedule.

On the other hand, some vehicles also have an oil life calculator that takes all of these factors into account and tells you when you should change your oil.

Brakes

Your brakes are extremely important as you drive around town. Having good brakes just keeps you out of trouble. You’ll want to carefully maintain your brakes. With disc brakes, brake pads rub on a disc – or rotor – to slow the wheels.

The brake pads are attached to a caliper that squeezes the pads against the rotor. It’s kind of like how squeezing the handbrake on a bicycle pushes the brake pads against the wheel of the bike.

Now pads just wear away with use – kind of like a pencil eraser wears out. The good news is that replacing brake pads is a straight-forward repair. If you hear squealing or grinding when you use the brakes, have us check them out. We’ll have a technician perform a thorough brake inspection to see what needs to be done. We’ll check for signs of brake problems and go over other brake components to see that they’re working properly.

We can tell you if it’s time to replace the pads or if there are other issues with your brakes that should be addressed. Some people ignore the warning signs and keep driving long after the pads are completely worn out. When that happens, metal brake components will grind on the rotor causing further damage.

Rotors can also warp or crack, in which case they’ll need to be replaced. Brake calipers also wear out over time. They can develop leaks or the caliper pistons can freeze open or closed – either way it’s not good. When this happens it’s time to replace the calipers. A thorough brake inspection will reveal worn bearings or seals as well.

The new brake pads we put on your vehicle will restore your brakes to manufacturers’ specifications. Or, we can install upgraded parts to increase your stopping power and reduce brake noise and brake dust. We have several options to meet your braking requirements and your budget.

Taking care of your brakes keeps them working safely – and you could prevent premature brake repairs down the road.