Useful Tips For Safe Winter Driving From the Folks at Auto Clinic of Franklin

We all know how challenging winter driving can be with slippery conditions, snow, ice and other winter related elements. Being aware of your surroundings when driving this winter and knowing what precautions to take will certainly help minimize any winter vehicle accidents. The folks here at Auto Clinic of Franklin are committed to providing superior services to all our valued clients and that includes these helpful winter driving tips. Our highly skilled and professional team wants to ensure that you are prepared for all types of winter driving conditions this season. Read More

Prep Your Vehicle for the Winter Weather

Vehicle Inspections

With winter quickly creeping up on us, it would be foolish to try to head into the cold winter season without properly preparing your vehicle. Performing a car care check is essential to safe driving and travelling in the winter. Winter driving can certainly be a bit of a challenge and struggle, but with proper routine maintenance and care, your vehicle will be ready to handle it all.

Before heading out to drive this fall and winter, take some time to perform these typical recommended service repairs to prep your vehicle for winter: Read More

Affordable Franklin Auto Maintenance Services

Auto Repair

Proper care and maintenance is vital to the performance and life expectancy of any vehicle. Here at Auto Clinic of Franklin we are committed and dedicated to providing top of the line Franklin Auto Maintenance services for all our valued clients. We take tremendous pride in our quality products and services and in helping our clients to properly maintain their vehicles.

Without proper routine maintenance of your vehicle, over time you will find yourself spending a great deal of money on costly vehicle repairs. Setting aside money regularly will ensure that you have the funding when the need arises to have maintenance or repairs performed on your vehicle. Further, we advise all our clients to get in the habit of scheduling routine maintenance appointments as well. Read More

Franklin Automotive Services with a Touch of Class

Auto clinic of franklin shop

We live in such a fast paced, hectic world. Getting from one place to the other is so important. Is it any wonder that our vehicles are so critical to our everyday life? Whether commuting to and from work each day or traveling for a vacation, a healthy maintained vehicle is essential. Here at The Auto Clinic of Franklin we are proud of our award-winning Franklin automotive services. We have provided all of our valued clients with our top-rated services and products here in Franklin over the past 10+ years. Read More

Extended Franklin Car Storage Tips

Franklin Car

Vehicles by design are meant to be driven regularly. If you are planning on storing away your vehicle for months at a time, you’ll have to take some additional steps to ensure that they remain in good condition over time. Here are some quick tips to help keep your stored Franklin car in excellent shape.

Change the Oil

You don’t want to store your vehicle with worn oil because it has acids and other harmful compounds that can do damage if they are left sitting in place for too long. Do yourself a favor and change both the oil and the filter before you store the vehicle. It’s a simple procedure that will help keep your engine in better shape. Make sure to drive at least a few miles with the new oil in your Franklin car to get it running through your engine.

Oil the Plug Cylinders

Remove each of the spark plugs in your vehicle one by one. While they are out, add a teaspoon of engine oil to the threads of the cylinders. Secure the spark plugs in place once again. This procedure will help prevent rust from developing on the cylinders.

Support Your Franklin Car on Jack Stands

If you’ll be keeping your vehicle stored for a year or more, you need to take weight off your wheel bearings and other key suspension components. The best way to do this is to life the vehicle up off the ground using a set of jack stands underneath its frame.

Pull off the Wiper Blades

Take the wiper blades off the Franklin car to keep them from getting stuck to the windshield. If the wipers are allowed to get stuck in place they can cause damage to the windshield when removed.

Flush the Brake Lines

Look at the brake fluid in the system and if it’s a brownish color flush the fluid out, replacing it with brand-new fluid. Old brake fluid has water in it and can lead to rust if it isn’t moving around.

Cover the Franklin Car Up

Finally, make sure that you cover your Franklin car entirely. Get a large cover, or put it in a windowless storage area to protect it from the elements. A good cover will keep off the weather which can be particularly harmful to vehicles. Sunlight fades paint and damages the interior materials, rain, sleet and snow can cause corrosion and other issues.

Speak with us here at the Auto Clinic of Franklin, where we are able to help with the diagnostics, maintenance and repairs that are needed prior to putting your Franklin car in storage.

Washing your Vehicle is Vital When Visiting a Northern Climate

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While Tennessee doesn’t suffer from too much snowfall throughout the year, that’s not the case in some of the northern states. As temperatures dip down snow is a regular problem and ice is often applied to the roadways to help prevent snow buildup and problems with ice while driving around. If you happen to go up north to visit during the winter, it’s vital that you take the time to wash your vehicle while you’re up there, and also before you head back down to Tennessee once again.

How Often Should You Wash?

It’s tough to say just how often it’s necessary to wash your vehicle while up north, but a good rule of thumb is at least once a week when the roads are icy or have snow on them. Even when the roads aren’t too bad, they might still have ice on them regularly, so be sure to look out for ice each time that you drive to decide if you need to wash the vehicle or not.

Pay for an Underbody Treatment

Heading to a standard car wash while up north might not be enough to get your vehicle clean where it matters. The important thing is to ensure that the bottom of the car or truck gets washed thoroughly. The best way to make that happen is to pay for an advanced car wash that includes an underbody treatment as well. This might cost you a bit more money, but will ensure that all the salt and gunk is removed from the frame of your vehicle. That’s the best way to prevent your investment while up north and to make sure that you don’t end up with rust issues just because you decided to take a trip.

Even if you don’t make a regular habit of traveling up north, it’s still important to pay attention to the roads around you when temperatures drop down around freezing level. It’s common for salt to be used to prevent freezing rain and other dangerous driving conditions in the heart of winter, and you shoul wash your car whenever salt is laid down on the roads around you as well.

Spending a bit of extra money to keep your vehicle nice and clean throughout the winter is the best way to ward off problems with rust that can prematurely age the frame of your car or truck. Speak with the professionals at the Auto Clinic of Franklin to get winter upgrades and diagnostics to complete the vehicle care.

The Importance of Proper Nashville Tire Rotation

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Nashville, Tennessee and the surrounding area, has its fair share of rain showers, icy driving conditions in the winter, and many days that really test out tire quality while driving down the road. It’s during these days that rotating your tires frequently is most important. Taking the time to do Nashville tire rotation yourself, or paying someone else to do it for you is an excellent way to ensure that you have tires that you can rely on.

Slower Tread Wear

The main reason that you should get Nashville tire rotation is to keep the tires from wearing too quickly. By rotating the tires they all wear out at around the same speed, which means that you won’t have two tires that are all worn out, and two others that look relatively new. Instead your tires will degrade slowly, and eventually you’ll have to replace the whole set at once.

Even Grip with Nashville Tire Rotation

Since well-rotated tires wear evenly, you don’t have to worry about achieving a high amount of grip with two of your tires and a relatively poor level of grip with the others. This leads to driving imbalances and can make vehicles less safe to operate. Rotated tires all grip the road about the same, which means that the car is pretty balanced and offers you a good amount of grip everywhere.

More Modern Tires

Without Nashville tire rotation, you pretty much have to continuously match two new tires with a set of older tires that you are still using on your vehicle. The main problem that this causes is that you never get to get more modern tires that offer performance improvements. When all the tires wear out at the same time, you’re free to change to a completely new style of tire, and you’ll enjoy those performance improvements when you do so.

How Often Should You Do it?

It’s generally recommended to rotate your tires once every 3,000 to 6,000 miles, and many people simply have it done with every oil change. This is a task that you can do yourself if you take the time to research it properly and make sure you’re using a good pattern and not putting directional tires on your vehicle the wrong way, but it’s also something that makes a lot of sense to hire out to a garage. It’s a task they can complete in minutes, and something that won’t cost you much either when you work with an experienced garage in Franklin, Tennessee.

That’s why we welcome everyone to come stop by our garage here at the Franklin Auto Clinic. We can ensure those tires are as safe as can be.

Caring For Your Franklin Car in the Cold Weather

Franklin car care in the winter is increasingly important.

When the cold weather strikes, you need to know how to care for your Franklin car. Not only does the cold weather mean harder to start cars, but if there is a light snow or ice possible, then this could cause further problems for the Franklin car that you own. Through the use of these tips, you can not only ensure that your Franklin car stays in great shape, but that you’ll be able to get to where you’re going with ease.

 

Tips for Cold Weather Franklin Car Care

 

When the cold weather comes calling, don’t be one of those people that are left without a car that is not able to run, make sure you’re caring for it the way it should be cared for.

 

  1. Always make sure to fully wipe off the Franklin car completely. Even if there is a small amount of ice or snow on the vehicle, this can be hazardous to the other drivers on the road.
  2. Warm the vehicle up before driving to your destination. This will ensure that it has enough time to become warm, to drive easier and to defrost the windows for safety.
  3. Go through the car wash if salt or sand is used on the roadways to clear the ice. This will ensure that the body does not rust out because of these materials that are commonly used.
  4. Keep up on any fixes that need to be done to the car. If the brakes need to be replaced, or the vehicle needs an oil change then these are things that should be done to ensure that the car is running as smooth as possible, especially in the winter months.
  5. Replace old tires that barely have any tread. This can also be dangerous, and with enough tread on the tires, you do not have to worry about slipping and sliding around the road and you can stay straight.

Make sure your vehicle is in tip-top shape when it comes to the colder winter months. Of course, some of these tips you might never have to use, and others might come in handy if you ever decide to go more north where snow, ice and sleet are possibilities.

 

If you need work done on your Franklin car, or you want additional winter tips, contact us here at Auto Clinic of Franklin, and we can ensure that you’re ready to go when the time comes.

Winter is Coming! It’s time to Winterize your Vehicle.

Winterizing your car infografic

Winterize your vehicle before it’s too late

Winterize your vehicleWinter is just around the corner. That means the temperature is going to be dropping. Cold weather can be hard on your vehicle. It’s important to winterize your car or truck ahead of time. If you don’t winterize your car, you may wake up one morning to discover it won’t start. Or, your vehicle may stall out while you are driving. The worse time to get stranded is when it’s freezing cold outside. However, properly winterizing your car or truck will go a long way in preventing these issues. Will a little planning, you and your car will make it through the winter without too many issues.

Check the Battery

If you have been putting off replacing your battery, now is the time to do it. Batteries need to be replaced about every three years in order to winterize your vehicle. A weak battery might still survive when it’s warm out. However, it’s a different story when it’s cold. When it’s cold outside, weak batteries will be one of the first things to go bad. This is an essential part to Winterize your vehicle

It takes more power to start your vehicle in cold weather. You can bring your vehicle to the shop and have it tested. A voltmeter can be hooked up to your car or truck. It will give a readout that displays how much energy your battery is producing. If it’s too low, get a new battery.

Keep Your Gas Tank Full

When its cold, don’t wait until the last minute to fill your tank up. In fact, I never let my tank get bellow three-quarters full in the winter. If you let your tank get low when its cold, condensation can build up in your gas tank. Then, water will start to make its way into your gas line. When the water in the gas line freezes, your car won’t start.

Check your windshield wipers

You want to make sure your windshield wipers are in good condition before it gets cold. If your windshield wipers are damaged, they might not work effectively. Snow could build up on your windshield and block your view of the road. This could result in a dangerous situation. Low visibility could cause you to injure yourself or someone else. You also want to make sure you have plenty of windshield washer fluid. Having new windshield wipers and plenty of windshield washer fluid will give you the best visibility and keep you safe.

Winterizing your car infografic