Winter Weather and Your Car, Is It Ready?

Have you prepared your car for the winter weather that’s fast approaching? Here are some tips to make sure you are fully prepared for whatever this year’s winter weather decides to throw at you.

Regular Maintenance

Now’s the time to get your car up to speed on all of its regular maintenance. That means taking care of any fluids that may have been neglected while you were out enjoying the summer sun or going in for that 60,000-mile tune-up if you’re due. Check, change and/or top off your oil, coolant, brakes and transmission fluid as needed. In the case of your oil or automatic transmission, make sure you get a high-quality filter, too.

When looking at your car’s brakes, check to see if your rotors are warped or cracked. Do they have deep grooves or are the pads worn close to their minimum clearance? Your vehicle will be experiencing harsher conditions soon, so avoid any potential problems as soon as possible. Make sure all your lights are working properly to ensure good visibility. New bulbs are easy to install yourself or easy to have installed when getting your vehicle serviced. The same goes for windshield wipers. If your blades are more than six months old, odds are it’s time to swap them out for new ones.

Check Your Tires

Go ahead and have your tires rotated and inspected. The last thing you need in cold, wet weather is to be driving on bald or dry rotted tires.

Consider looking into snow (or winter) tires, depending on your location or length of time you’ll be spending in the snow. Winter tires are made with special low temperature resilient rubber compounds and have deep treads that grip unplowed snow and ice.

Don’t forget to make sure your spare tire has enough air in it. Once you’ve made sure everything looks good, take a look at your tire pressure.

Stock Your Car

Stranded by the side of the road can be dangerous in the best of conditions, but when sub-zero temperatures or bad weather is involved, it could become deadly. Try carrying these helpful items in your vehicle:

- a blanket
- jumper cables
- a flashlight
- chains
- a first-aid kit
- a small knife
- flares
- water gloves
- small shovel
- waterproof matches
- ice scraper
- a bag of sand or kitty litter to help provide traction if your car is stuck in the snow

What The Halloween Candy You Give Out Says About You

Every Halloween millions of Americans purchase their favorite candy to hand out to trick-or-treaters as they make their way around the neighborhood Halloween night. But, does the type of candy you give out say something specific about you as a person or your personality? Check out the infographic below to see what exactly each candy option says about you. Let us know if you agree in the comments section!

The best 2+2 sports car for $30,000, or $40k with tech

The sleek and compact $30,000 Mercedes-Benz CLA you saw in the Super Bowl commercial is real. The CLA is fabulously good-looking at the cost of rear-seat comfort. At the same time, it’s a genuine Mercedes with a lot of safety tech in the base model. Equipped for comfortable long-distance cruising, you’re closer to $40,000 than $30,000.

The hallmarks of the all-new seven-passenger 2013 GL-Class

Find your tires here and schedule a service appointment with our excellent staff today!

Let us help you ensure a safe, comfortable ride with a set of Mercedes-Benz-recommended tires.

Weekly Car Care Tip: Park in the shade

Of course, a garage is always the ideal place to park your car. But if one isn’t available, minimize interior damage from UV sunlight and heat by always trying to park your car in the shade. If no shade is available or if you find parking under a tree results in bird droppings, use a car shade to minimize the sun’s impact. As a bonus, you’ll have a cooler car to step into on hot sunny days. Car shades come in two basic types: those that you unfold and place on the front windshield and rear window, or pleated types that attach to the windshield posts (with adhesive), window frames (with Velcro), or the windows themselves (with suction cups).

Mercedes-Benz will build a ‘super S-class’ sedan in 2015

Mercedes-Benz may have given up on the ultra-luxurious Maybach sedan, but apparently not on very high-end luxury cars.
Dieter Zetsche, CEO of parent company Daimler-Benz, told Automotive News that a 2015 model “super S-class” will fill some of the over $200,000-space that Mercedes ceded when it killed the slow-selling Maybach.

The super S-class will compete with vehicles such as the Rolls-Royce Phantom and Bentley Mulsanne.

Some of Mercedes’ high-performance AMG models cost nearly $200,000, but Zetsche told Automotive News that the super S-class would give Mercedes “a bigger piece of that segment.”
The new luxury sedan will offer technology and interior features that top those of the standard S-class, he told the publication.

However, he said, it will be priced substantially lower than the Maybach, which cost about $470,000.