Greenwood Village Auto Repair

When winter approaches in Colorado, Centennial residents break out the sweaters, coats, boots and mittens. We want to be ready for Colorado winter conditions. Your vehicle needs to be ready for winter as well. The last thing Centennial residents want is to get stranded out in the cold. You need your vehicle to be safe and reliable. It's a good idea to get caught up on any neglected maintenance items anytime - but the stakes are higher in cold Colorado winters.There are some specific things Centennial drivers need to do to have their vehicle ready for winter. The most obvious is having the antifreeze checked. If the antifreeze level is too low, it can't properly protect your engine, radiator and hoses from freezing. If your car does not seem to be making enough heat to keep you warm, your antifreeze level may be low or you could have a thermostat problem. Get it checked out at Davis Automotive Repair in Centennial. If you are due for a cooling system service, now is a perfect time to ha ... read more

Safety should always be an element of your vehicle care. So even if you don't care about how your vehicle looks, you should practice preventive maintenance to protect yourself — and other Centennial drivers — on the road. And good safety starts with good brakes.Brakes need a regular inspection. There are  parts that wear out or wear down, and it's best to replace them before you have serious problems. Of course, if you are having trouble with your brakes, NOW is the time to fix them. If your brake warning light is on, that's a good sign that you need your brakes checked. You can also tell something is wrong with your brakes by the feel of the pedal or unusual sounds while braking. If the brake pedal is low, feels spongy when you press it or is hard to push, that indicates a problem with your brakes. If you hear squealing, grinding or clunking noises when you brake, that can also indicate serious problems. If vibrations accompan ... read more

The price of gas and the uncertain economy are both causing Colorado residents to review their finances. More and more Centennial drivers are opting to keep their vehicles longer and put off purchasing a newer car. It is estimated that two-thirds of the vehicles on the roads of North America today have over 75,000 miles/120,000 km on them. And the average age of vehicles is now over eleven years. That translates to some car care issues that many Centennial men and women haven't dealt with in the past. Older vehicles simply have different maintenance requirements than newer ones. Learning those requirements presents a challenge for people in Centennial because many owner's manuals only publish maintenance schedules up to 60,000 or 90,000 miles (96,000 or 145,000 km). Vehicle owners have to keep good records and be more involved in planning preventive maintenance if they want to keep their vehicles on the road. First of all, any service in your owner's manual that comes ... read more

Do you like to shop for shoes in Centennial?When buying a running shoe, is quality important?Does durability matter as long as the shoes look fabulous?Would you rather have one pair of long lasting shoes or two pairs of lower quality shoes at the same price?Is the warranty important when buying tires? Centennial drivers should also think about the safety aspect of tires. The tires do a lot of work – they carry the weight of the vehicle and you and your passengers. You want to be sure they hold the road and provide good traction on Colorado freeways and surface streets. If you carry heavy loads or tow a trailer on Colorado highways, the tires need a high load rating.Ask your friendly and knowledgeable Centennial tire professional at Davis Automotive Repair. I think it's important that Centennial residents understand the effect of price on a tire's quality, performance and durability. When I was a kid, my dad would say, “Pay twic ... read more

About 80% of the vehicles on Centennial roads today are behind on their preventive maintenance schedules. That translates to about 160 million vehicles in the United States that aren't performing as well as they could be - thousands right here in Colorado. Some of the maintenance issues are minor. Others represent serious safety concerns. There are many reasons Centennial drivers neglect their routine car care. Some of the more common ones are complacency, lack of confidence, lack of trust and budget issues. Modern vehicles are amazingly reliable compared to their older counterparts. They can run for years without any repairs, and we sometimes translate that to mean they don't need any maintenance. The trouble is that without maintenance, parts in the vehicle are gradually wearing out, fluids are getting dirty, oil is developing sludge — a lot of stuff is happening that we can't see, and it is destroying the vehicle. The first time we learn there ... read more

The team at Davis Automotive Repair in Centennial, and Colorado car owners are all talking right now. Better gas mileage. Fewer emissions. Centennial drivers want to save the environment and their pocketbooks.And we all know—or should know—that preventive maintenance will help maximize fuel economy. But is there something more people in Centennial can do? After all, some of us folks can't cut back on our driving, and others would like to do more to economize.Weight is one major enemy of fuel economy. The more you lug around in your vehicle, the more fuel you have to burn to get from point A to point B. And that means buying more gas in Centennial and producing more emissions.Of course, your vehicle's weight isn't negotiable. And you can't do much about the weight of your passengers. And this isn't an article about diet and exercise.But look around your vehicle. Are you hauling a bunch of unnecessary weight around? Do you really need your golf club ... read more

Remember snow tires? They were basically just regular tires with big, knobby lugs to get them through deep snow. They were loud and rode hard, and Centennial drivers couldn't wait to get them off the car. Then along came television advertisements for “all-season” radials. Colorado drivers ran out and bought some and we thought we were done with snow tires forever.Tires have come a long way since then. Modern winter tires sold in the Centennial area are much better designed for the wide range of conditions that come with Colorado winter weather. They are made with a rubber compound that helps them stay flexible in cold weather. Regular tires become hard and stiff at Centennial temperatures below 45°F (7° C) which reduces their traction. That's a concern in winter, especially with snowy or wet conditions. But it also means that Centennial drivers are better off with winter tires in cold weather even when it's dry.The tread design on winter tires has been improved to m ... read more

So you love your job, and your family life is great. Congratulations! You have achieved balance. But can you say the same for your wheels? Centennial drivers can tell if their tires are out of balance by vibrations at higher speeds on Colorado roads. If one of the front tires is out, you feel the vibration in the steering wheel. If it's a back tire, you'll feel the vibration in your seat.Tires and wheels are pretty heavy. When a tire is mounted on a wheel at Davis Automotive Repair, it is usually not perfectly balanced. So the technician will spin the tire on a machine to determine where it's too heavy. He will then place weights on the wheels in strategic locations to balance it out. When a tire is out of balance, it actually bounces down the road instead of rolling smoothly. Since the average size tire rotates at about 850 revolutions per minute at 60 mph/97 kph, it is actually slamming into the pavement 14 times a second. That's where you get your vibration.Most people in Centennial ... read more

We live in a disposable society. Everything from elaborate packaging to our clothing. Even cell phones are disposable. When replacement is cheaper than repair, the term "built to last" goes by the wayside. An exception is our vehicles. They're still a very big investment and Centennial drivers want to make them last as long as possible.  We also want to make keeping them running as cheap as possible. When talking vehicles, it's all about preventive maintenance. There is an old saying that says, "A stitch in time saves nine," and that is really true when it comes to taking care of your vehicle. A great example is coolant service in Centennial.Your coolant not only protects your engine from overheating and freezing, it must also protect cooling system components from corrosion. Over time, coolant becomes corrosive and actually starts to damage your radiator and other parts. That's why you need to have your cooling system serviced on a regular schedule.The same is true for your ... read more

High gas prices in Centennial increase the cost of living for Colorado drivers. You've probably budgeted a certain amount for vehicle related expenses. Increased fuel costs now consume a larger portion of our incomes, causing some Centennial vehicle owners to skimp in other areas – like scheduled maintenance.According to Colorado news reports and automotive industry studies, this is becoming increasingly more common. In fact, nine out of ten personal vehicles on the road have at least one maintenance or repair item that hasn't been done. Some of these items pose serious safety risks. Others are just more likely to make it more expensive to drive. In this area, we can take a lesson from professional Centennial vehicle owners. I'm talking about fleet owners and operators. You know, Centennial folks like the trucking companies and delivery services. Because their livelihood depends on it, they ... read more