Honda of Serramonte Blog

As an integral part of your car starting each day, you rely on your battery performing reliably. While it can go years without a problem, there are ways to get the most out of the battery you buy.

Keep its posts clear of corrosion, and if it's an older battery design, top it up with distilled water if its fluid evaporates due to high temperatures. If your car doesn't start one morning, it could be a faulty alternator that's the culprit, so you'll want to rule out other causes before putting the blame on the battery…

At Honda of Serramonte, we like to help our customers keep their cars in top shape. Washing your vehicle on a routine basis is important because it increases resale or trade-in value and keeps your vehicle looking sharp.

How often should you wash your car? If your vehicle is exposed to heat or you have a long daily commute, then washing your vehicle once a week is an important preventative maintenance step. Newly splattered bugs and bird droppings should be washed away swiftly to prevent long-term damage to the paint. 

Most people don't think of rodents as a factor that can damage the performance of their vehicles. As manufacturers turn to more plant-based biodegradable materials to reduce waste in construction, this problem could become very real for you, as rodents could invade your vehicle and damage various parts.

One solution to deter rodents from chewing through essential parts on your vehicle is using a special tape treated with capsaicin and placing it on essential parts. You can also try placing metal harnasses or mesh around hoses or around openings where rodents can enter. 

It can be really annoying to be driving and suddenly have your windshield chipped from another vehicle or something on the road. Rest assured, though, that it’s not the end of the world because there are ways to repair the windshield and prevent having to have the entire windshield repaired. At Honda of Serramonte, we want you to know what you can do to repair your chipped windshield.

Windshields that have small chips in them can be repaired with a liquid resin that’s injected into the windshield. The resin forms a hard bond along the chip or crack…

Oversteer is an old issue in cars with rear-wheel drive. While vehicles with front-wheel drive tend to understeer, cars with rear-wheel drive tend to oversteer. This issue springs from the source of propulsion. With the rear wheels pushing a car, the natural forces involved create inertia that runs from rear to front daring your motion to change. The action tends to stay in motion.

When driving through town, your vehicle is moving slow and turns do not seem to be much of a problem. However, it is the slower speed that is hiding the issue.  

Have you checked your differentials lately? This is an important piece of your vehicle and can be found on all cars and trucks. It helps to split the engine torque and keep your axles in line, allowing the axles to spin at different speeds. So what happens when your differential doesn’t work properly? Typically, this isn’t an issue if you are taking your car in regularly for maintenance and tire checkups. Your axles will be checked as well as differentials.

In some cases, the differential can lose oil and make it difficult for axles to turn properly, causing…

It is important to get to know your vehicle very well when you first purchase it. This will allow you to notice a problem when it first occurs. It is important that you get any issues fixed on your vehicle when you observe something going on. This will prevent larger and more involved issues from occurring later on down the road. When it comes to problems with your muffler or exhaust, there are some signs that you might pick up on. This can include:

• A loud rumbling sound coming from the engine bay of your vehicle, or from under your…

As with other types of fluids that go into vehicles, there are different types of brake fluids. Knowing the different types of brake fluids can help you make the right choice when it comes to buying the brake fluid.

In order to understand the different types of brake fluids available, it is important to know that there are two chief types of brake fluids. These two chief brake fluid types are glycol-based and silicon-based. The glycol based is for vehicles that have anti-lock braking features. 

The alternator in your car is doing all the work that you think the car battery has been doing. If the alternator fails, the features and systems you have come to depend on in your vehicle will no longer be working.

The alternator is charged by a belt that is attached to the engine, and spins as the engine is running. Te alternator should be checked by a service station often to ensure it is operating effectively. Without the alternator, you might be surprised how many features won't operate. 

Because of differences in rubber compound and the shape and depth of tread, all-weather and summer tires excel in different types of weather conditions. The stiffer rubber and shallower tread of summer tires leads to increased performance in warmer temperatures, and they can out-perform all-weather tires in wet conditions.

All-weather tires are generally found on passenger cars, SUVs, CUVs, and light trucks. Higher performance cars and luxury SUVs tend to have summer tires for increased performance during acceleration, braking, and cornering.