Grand Prix Performance - Costa Mesa, CA

 

Brake squeak is common and can be caused by a number of conditions: Worn pads, glazed pads and rotors, broken anti rattle clips, lack of pad insulation or insulation shims, and incorrect rotor surface cut or no surface cut at all. It is important that they are fixed, otherwise the problem worsens.

Most of the time, brake squeaks are an indication that maintenance is required. Some common conditions that cause brake noise are:

 

-Heat cracked or worn "un-true" rotors

-Rough finish on resurfaced rotors

-Loose fitting brake pads in the caliper

-Lack of silicone compound on back of brake pad

-Missing springs or anti-rattle clips that should be on the caliper or pad

-Improper tightening sequence of lug nuts or caliper hardware

 

Changing your vehicle's oil is one of the most important things you can do to avoid spending loads of money of problems in the future that sprung from not changing your oil.

There are many factors at work that dictate how often you should be changing your oil like how you drive, the condition and age of the engine, the external environment you drive in, and stop-and-go versus highway driving. Owner's manual recommendations for oil and filter changes vary from 3,000 to 10,000 miles.

We recommend that you change your oil and filter every 5,000 miles. That's our best estimate. For the vast majority, 5,000-mile oil changes will help your engine last to a ripe, old age.

You may want to consider changing your oil more frequently if:

• -You drive like a knucklehead: jackrabbit starts, heavy acceleration or high-speed driving
• -You live where the climate is extremely hot or cold
• -You often drive on dirt roads
• -Your engine is old and burns oil
• -You frequently carry heavy loads (several mothers-in-law or other cargo)

Oil undergoes thermal breakdown due to high operating temperature. When this occurs, the oil becomes less effective as a lubricant. And without a good lubricant, parts of the engine rub together and wear each other out. If you don't change your oil frequently, your engine won't last as long as it could. Oil serves many crucial functions, and clean oil performs those functions better than dirty oil. Oil is relatively cheap, and changing your oil every 5,000 miles is a very cheap insurance policy against major repairs down the road.

Grand Prix is your one stop shop for all of your maintenance needs.

Grand Prix Performance wants you and your family to stay safe on the roads this winter. Many of you might be heading up to the mountains for some fun. By following these tips and advice, you’ll be ready for the winter driving.

 

1. Prepare Yourself: 

• Knowledge:  Before leaving home, find out about the driving conditions.  Safe drivers know the weather, and their limits.  If the weather is bad remember, Ice and Snow, Take it Slow, or just don’t go.
• Clear:  Remove any snow on your vehicle’s windows, lights, brake lights and signals.  Make sure you can see and be seen.
• Inspect:  Check your vehicle’s tires, wiper blades, fluids, lights, belts and hoses.  A breakdown is bad on a good day and dangerous on a bad-weather day.
• Time:  Leave plenty of time to reach your destination safely.  It’s not worth putting yourself and others in a dangerous situation just to be on time.

2. When You See Snow:

When driving in winter weather, watch out!  Mother Nature has some tricks up her sleeve in the winter.  Here are some to be on the look out for:

• First Snow or Ice:  Drivers often aren’t prepared for winter driving and forget to take it slow.  Remember to drive well below the posted speed limit and leave plenty of room between cars.
• Black Ice:  Roads that seem dry may actually be slippery – and dangerous.  Take it slow when approaching intersections, off-ramps, bridges or shady areas – all are hot spots for black ice.  Remember, Ice and Snow, Take it Slow.
• Limited Visibility: Stay attentive and reduce speed.  Know what’s going on around you.
• Four-Wheel Drive:  On snow and ice, go slowly, no matter what type of vehicle you drive.  Even if you have an SUV with four-wheel drive you may not be able to stop any faster, or maintain control any better, once you lose traction.  Four-wheel drive may get you going faster, but it won’t help you stop sooner.

It is an extremely important maintenance duty that extends the life of your tires and ensures safe driving and it is quite important to know the importance of rotating your tires.

 

Front And Rear Tires Wear Differently

All that parallel parking. All those three-point turns. With each turn of the steering wheel, pressure is brought to bear on the front tires. (This is even more accentuated in front-wheel-drive cars, where the front wheels also supply the main motive power for the vehicle.) Resistance causes friction, which in turn produces heat. The result? The front tires wear quicker than the rears. Because of this, it's necessary to rotate the tires front-to-rear several times during their life cycle to 1) equalize tread wear and 2) maximize the life of the tires. This is what we refer to when we say "rotate the tires." Rotating generally does not refer to either of the following actions:

• Exchanging tires on the same axle — for example, swapping the rear tires left to right
• Criss-crossing tires — moving a tire from the passenger's side rear to the driver's side front. There's a good reason for this. Tires develop wear patterns as they age. Some of these patterns are tied to the suspension system and the alignment. That's why we keep the tires on the same side of the car.

Remember, this quick and simple procedure will extend the tread life of your tires. It will also provide maximum gripping power to the vehicle. It should be done roughly every 5,000 to 10,000 miles.

Folks, its about time to finally check 'Tire Rotation' off your 2012 to-do list. No one does it faster and more efficiently than Grand Prix.

 

 

Heading up to the mountains for a White Christmas? Not so fast! Stop in to Grand Prix Performance for the widest variety of snow chains in this area. Our chains provide maximum traction when driving through the snow and ice. We will leave you feeling safe and secure for your jolly ride up the mountains.

 

We don’t mess around when it comes to going green. Every tire that is taken off at Grand Prix is

recycled. We understand that tires are among the largest and most problematic sources of waste, which is why we have stepped up and recycle every tire taken off at Grand Prix.

 

Grand Prix is proud to offer brembo products to our customers. As the world’s leading manufacturer of braking systems, they have each piece of equipment down to a sciencigh-tech brake calipers which maximize performance, and the number of pistons vary from 2 to 6 in size. Intrinsically lightweight, they offer benefits in terms of weight reduction and residual torque, which we all know translate to lower emissions and fuel consumption.

 

 

 

 

We pride ourselves on providing you with the best of the best when it comes to your vehicle. MINT Wheels, a division of Grand Prix Performance, is a luxury line of wheels fine-tuned by seasoned artisans that merges form with function. These are exclusively designed to complement your luxury vehicle’s quality, style, and performance. Each MINT wheel is custom made locally in Orange County. You can personalize your wheels with company logos, monograms or color preferences to ensure that your wheels are just your style.

Apple’s new iPhone 4s is most known for its popular feature” “Siri” which allows users to dictate text messages without typing and reading incoming texts aloud. Although this seems like the perfect solution for life behind a steering wheel, the problem is that texting is illegal in many jurisdictions. Car makers are also in on the trend that Siri has brought- Ford and BMW have designed speech-to-text systems for some of their newest vehicles, which allow drivers to hear messages as they are received and dictate messages for the car system to send. As more drivers acquire these new technological advances, lawmakers in states with more restrictive rules may need to decide whether Siri is any less distracting to drivers. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 34 states have banned texting while driving and nine states have banned the use of handheld phones while driving. Dave Grannon, CEO of Vlingo, believes that the newer technology will make drivers’ actions safer than trying to ban people from doing certain things. “We need laws that mandate safe technology solutions, not laws that are going to be simply ignored by people,” said Grannan. According to a white paper put out by the research group, drivers experience cognitive distraction even when they talk on cell phones hands-free. They claim this is because the brain is forced to switch back and forth between the two competing activities, causing it to “look at” but not “see” objects, which is properly known as “inattention blindness.” Contrary to this perspective, Virginia Tech University’s Transportation Institute came to a different conclusion about using hands-free devices while driving. They believe these drivers have a much lower risk of crashing, because the driver’s eyes stayed on the road. For now, the Governors Highway Safety Association, which is an advocacy group for improving traffic safety in the states, is recommending low-cost safety issues before reaching a conclusive decision about hands-free devices while driving. They are suggesting that states install rumble strips on roads to alert drivers who drift out of their lane and educating the public about the risks of distracted driving. The issue of distracted driving will always persist, so it is up to us drivers to ultimately make the smartest and safest decision.

Car batteries are an essential component to the overall performance of your car. The next time you bring your car in for maintenance, ask us to perform a battery test. If there is a problem, we will be able to suggest a new battery that will best fit your automobile and driving conditions.
Chances are good that you will experience a battery problem at some point. This is why it is always good to keep a pair of jumper cables in the car. Remember to connect the positive terminals first in both cars and to avoid touching the leads to any other surface. Negative leads may be connected to the car’s chassis or the negative terminal on the battery. Make sure the car with the charged battery is running before starting the car with the drained battery.
After you’ve successfully started your vehicle, be sure to drive it on the road to ensure a good charge. If you have any doubts about your battery’s condition at all, be sure to check its condition or obtain a replacement right away.