Exhaust
The exhaust is made up of a few different pieces, the most expensive part is the catalytic converter or cat for short. The cat contains precious metals such as platinum and palladium.
How a catalytic convertor works.
Before catalytic converters were developed, waste gases made by a car engine blew straight down the exhaust tailpipe and into the atmosphere. The catalytic converter sits between the engine and the tailpipe, but it does not work like a simple filter: it changes the chemical composition of the exhaust gases by rearranging the atoms from which they are made:
- Molecules of polluting gases are pumped from the engine past the honeycomb catalyst, made from platinum, palladium, or rhodium.
- The catalyst splits up the molecules into their atoms.
- The atoms then recombine into molecules of relatively harmless substances such as carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and water, which blow out safely through the exhaust.
Inside a catalytic convertor.
Tracking or wheel alignment.
Tracking or wheel alignment is something you should keep an eye on and is not a gimmick to make you spend more money.
So what is Tracking or Wheel alignment?
This is the procedure that makes sure your wheels are aligned and set to the manufacture specification. Allowing your car or van to drive with misaligned wheels will result in accelerated tyre wear and normally irregular wear patterns. For example both inner or outer shoulders will wear a lot quicker than the centre of the tyre tread, resulting in you having to replace to tyres a lot quicker than if your tracking was correct. The procedure should not take more than 30-40 min once started.
If your tyres look like this then we would recommend having them changed and your tracking checked.
Car battery
Car battery can just give up at any time, you can park your car or van up at night and come out in the morning only to find you battery is flat. This is a scenario we hear all too much. We have a battery tester which will tell you why your battery has failed. Checking your battery’s life is a very quick and free procedure: a simple plugin, enter a few details and await the results.
