RockAuto.com January Newsletter

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Another Happy Customer!

I purchased parts for my 2006 Honda Accord from RockAuto, and their prices were half of what I found on other websites! And the shipping was extremely fast.

Definitely the best combo of price and service on the web!

Harvey in New Jersey

 

Upcoming Events
If you would like your event featured here, e-mail us with details.

Drag Racers Association of Manitoba
1/26/2013
Winnipeg, MB
e-mail

Cops & Cars for Kids Car Show
1/26/2013
Oviedo, FL
e-mail

East Mesa Eagles Winter Car & Bike Show
1/26/2013
Tempe, AZ
e-mail

Car Show
1/27/2013
North Palm Beach, FL
e-mail

2013 Car Rendezvous
1/30/2013
Albany, CA
e-mail

Pontiac G8 Club
1/31/2013
Oshawa, Canada
e-mail

Todd Harding & Son's Phoenix Car Swap Meet
2/1/2013
Apple Junction, AZ
e-mail

The John Bunte Memorial GEAR Heads 4 Car-Truck & Bike Show Family Festival
2/1/2013
Yuma, AZ
e-mail

KAARC Annual Swap Meet
2/2/2013
Kalamazoo, MI
website

The David Calleja Memorial Car Show
2/3/2013
Victoria, AU
e-mail

Midtown Manatee 2013 Car Show
2/6/2013
Bradenton, FL
e-mail

70th Anniversary Car/Motorcycle Vendor Show
2/9/2013
Lake Jackson, TX
e-mail

Wedgefield Firewise Community Annual Car Show
2/9/2013
Orlando, FL
e-mail

Bainsdale Motor Expo
2/9/2013
Victoria, AU
e-mail

9th Annual Cars for the Cure
2/9/2013
Orlando, FL
e-mail

Dr. George Car Show 2013
2/9/2013
La Quinton, CA
website

2nd Annual Classic Car Cruise
2/11/2013
Lithia, FL
e-mail

ÜRO Parts Suspension Kits

See what we have from URO Parts

ÜRO Parts Suspension Kits are now in the RockAuto catalog for select BMW (E30, E32, E34, E36, E38, E39, and E46 chassis) and Mercedes-Benz (W123 chassis) vehicles. ÜRO Parts suspension kits ensure all major wear items such as control arms, tie rods, bushings and sway bar links are replaced simultaneously. This maximizes improvements in vehicle safety and handling and reduces wear on other parts like the tires and steering gear. Find ÜRO Parts Suspension Kits in the "Suspension" category.

BMW and Mercedes-Benz Suspension Kits

In addition to suspension kits, RockAuto offers ÜRO Parts' other diverse product lines covering body, electrical, suspension, steering, cooling, air conditioning and more. ÜRO Parts products fit vehicles by Audi, BMW, Jaguar, Land Rover, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, Saab, Volkswagen, and Volvo. ÜRO Parts offers quality products at competitive prices. Every part undergoes one or more of the following measures in order to make certain that each part meets or exceeds OE standards for fitment, function, durability, and design:

1. Installation and extended use of the part in real world conditions
2. Laboratory testing of rubber and metal compounds for tensile strength, shear strength, compression strength, elasticity, stiffness, etc., under extreme conditions
3. Intensive factory and local inspection including verification using original samples and engineering drawings to ensure consistent quality every time

Find the ÜRO Parts you need in the RockAuto catalog today!

 

 

Forum of the Month

Hummer Forums

Hummer Forums is an enthusiast forum for Hummer owners. You are invited to share your wisdom and learn from the knowledge of others. Registration is 100% free. After registering, introduce yourself in the "New Member Area" and tell us about your ride. Enjoy your stay!

If you are the administrator or member of a forum and you would like to see your website featured in an upcoming newsletter and receive a discount code to share with your members, contact cynthia@rockauto.com.

 

 

Repair Mistakes & Blunders

Ouch!

I bought a 1990 Ford F-250 several years ago for a great price because it had this weird problem with the brakes. Every time you stomped hard on them, one of the rear wheels would lock up completely. I consider myself a pretty decent shade tree mechanic, so I thought I would solve this problem quickly, and get the truck back on the road.

I began by pulling off the drums and looking at the rear brakes. The shoes looked brand new, as did the hardware. Just to be safe though, I replaced the shoes and hardware, and had the drums turned. That didn't fix the locking up problem. I then replaced both wheel cylinders. That didn't fix it either. Next, I started moving on to the more labor intensive possibilities. I took all the brake lines out and flushed the entire system to remove any contaminants. No fix. Finally, I replaced the ABS sensor, master cylinder, and proportioning valve. Still not fixed!

I gave up and adjusted the rear brakes to where the wheel wasn't locking up on me anymore, but I never felt satisfied that I had really fixed the problem. Three years later, I was at a service station getting a state inspection and the inspector asked if I ever had any problems with my rear brakes.

It turns out the previous owner had changed the rear brakes right before I had bought the truck...and mixed up the shoes on one side! The trailing shoe was on the front, and the leading shoe was on the back! When I bought the truck and "fixed" the brakes, I simply replaced the brake shoes exactly as I saw them on the truck. That is the way I was taught. I replaced the brakes exactly as I removed them, not thinking that the previous owner could have mixed up the parts! I hadn't changed enough drum brakes to know that it was incorrect, but I know now!

I think the funniest thing is that it took three years of state inspections for someone to figure this out. For the first time in my life, I was actually grateful for a "picky" state vehicle inspector!

Joe in Virginia

You can see the only major difference on the Brake Shoes for a 1990 Ford F-250 is the length of the friction material
Editor's note: You can see the only major difference on the Brake Shoes for a 1990 Ford F-250 is the length of the friction material.

 

Tell us about your most infamous auto repair blunder or unconventional fix. Use your woe to help others avoid similar mistakes or share off-the-wall solutions that worked (at least for a while!). Please e-mail your story to flamur@rockauto.com. Include your mailing address and if you would like a RockAuto T-Shirt (please let us know your shirt size) or Hat if we publish your story. See the T-Shirts and Hats under Tools & Universal Parts in the catalog. The story will be credited using only your first name and your vague geographic location (state, province, country, continent, etc.) so you can remain semi-anonymous!

 

 

Automotive Trivia

Automotive Trivia

The ZAZ Zaporozhets was the Soviet Union's least expensive car. More than 3 million "Zappos" with air-cooled, rear mounted engines were built at the ZAZ factory in the Ukraine from the 1960s until the early 1990s. What was the Zaporozhets' unique innovation?

A. composite brake pads made primarily of ground poultry bones and melamine
B. the spare tire covered with an upholstered pad was the base and bottom cushion of the front passenger seat
C. the passenger side floor pan was a removable hatch for ice fishing
D. all of the above

ZAZ-965 Zaporozhets

Answer below

 

 

Charging Up for Smart Maintenance

RockAuto

A rare sunny, dry day in winter makes me want to take my almost classic 1986 Mustang GT out for a spin. Unfortunately, too often the fun is over when I discover the car’s battery is weak or dead. I disconnect the battery from the car, hook up my 30 year old battery charger and watch the sunny day slip away.

I have long needed some sort of trickle charger to keep my car batteries charged up. I got stirred to action when RockAuto recently started carrying battery chargers by CTEK Sweden AB. These “Smartest Battery Chargers in the World” have a maintenance mode that keeps batteries charged indefinitely. CTEK makes several fancy models that can rapidly charge batteries, provide power to the car without a battery, etc., but the model that I was most interested in is their inexpensive model, the CTEK US 0.8 (part number 56865).

I have a lot of car batteries to maintain so I did not want to buy a $100+ charger for every car. The CTEK US 0.8 currently costs about $36 at RockAuto which makes it practical to buy for multiple cars. Paying $36 to keep $100+ batteries alive makes sense and I might get to drive my cars more often on those sunny winter days.

I bought a CTEK US 0.8 and gave it a try. This model is designed to charge motorcycle, snowmobile and other small 12V batteries that have been completely drained. It can maintain big car batteries up to 100Ah (amp hours). All my car batteries would be dead long before they ever supplied 10 amps for 10 hours so the 100Ah limit of the CTEK US 0.8 was more than enough.

My new CTEK charger looks well made. It came with two sets of cables, one with battery clamps and one with ¼ in. (6mm) eyelets for smaller batteries. Cable connections are sealed with O-rings and roughly 12 ft. (3.7m) of power cord and battery cable is included. It has a nice carrying case and the manual is well written (English, French, Spanish) with only occasional slip ups where it describes features only found on the more expensive models.

CTEK recommends hooking one clamp to the battery and one clamp to the engine block. Not having to disconnect the battery from the car makes it practical to take this charger on and off quickly. The charger itself is not much bigger than a television remote.

I hooked it up to the cold but mostly charged batteries in my Mustang and my son’s Lincoln Mark VII. The Lincoln is loaded with electronic luxuries and the battery is nearly twice as big as the Mustang’s even though they both have the same 5.0L engine. I also tried it out on my wife’s Ford Tempo that has few electronic luxuries, is stored in a heated garage and is driven daily.

This charger has six charging modes it goes through. Small lights tell you which charging mode it is working on. The first is a series of pulses for “desulfation” of a low battery. That can last up to 8 hours, but was over in seconds with my already mostly charged batteries. The second step is charging the battery up to 14.4V for a maximum of 20 hours. That took roughly 15 minutes with the Tempo’s battery and a couple of hours for the Lincoln’s battery. Step 3 is the “absorption” phase where the current gradually is ramped down while maintaining the battery at 14.4 volts. Step 4 is a three-minute analysis to see if the battery voltage drops to 12V or below when the current is shut off. Step 5 is “float” mode where the charger maintains the battery at 13.6V for up to ten days. The final step is pulse mode where the battery charger turns on periodically to keep the battery charged between 12.7V and 14.4V indefinitely. The charger turns off and lights an error lamp if the battery cannot be charged or if the clamps are hooked to the wrong battery terminals.

CTEK Manual & Charger

The CTEK charger is what I needed and I plan to buy more. I was especially impressed when my voltmeter confirmed that the Mustang’s battery was indeed at 13.6 volts during step 5. That is surprising accuracy and indicates the various charging modes really are making the batteries healthier. The battery in my Mustang is close to five years old and I would have been satisfied at anything 12V or above. It is a smart “maintenance” charger using feedback from the battery rather than just a dumb trickle charger constantly doling out the same current. I also was happy that the charger and cables never got hot. There were no signs the charger was working too hard. Just connect it to the battery, plug in the power cord, watch the lights until you get bored and then find a fully charged battery the next time you want to go for a drive. CTEK chargers are found under "Electrical" in the Tools and Universal Parts section of the RockAuto catalog.

Tom Taylor,
RockAuto.com

 

 

John's 1949 Dodge Truck
John's 1949 Dodge Truck

I’ve been a car guy my entire life and my wife and I have been buying and selling cars and trucks as a hobby for our entire 28 year marriage. We have restored some, parted out some, enduro raced or bracket raced some, “fluff & buffed” some, and generally just have had a good time going to car shows, charity events, participating in parades with our old cars, scrounging around in junk yards, and pushing the non-running ones around the driveway and into the garage.

The blue truck started life as a 1949 Dodge 1 Ton stake bed truck. I found it in a junk yard near Richmond, VA and decided to put the body and flatbed onto a 1995 Dodge Dakota chassis and drivetrain to make a “made up barn-find” auto parts store delivery truck. The body will be left as-is so that we can drive the wheels off of it rain or shine and not worry about the paint! RockAuto was VERY helpful with new rotors for the front (to eliminate the strange original 6-bolt lug pattern), brake pads and parts, bearings, seals, A/C parts, and more. It’s about 90% done, so you’ll see it on the highways soon!

John in Virginia

 

Share Your Hard Work

Do you purchase parts from RockAuto? If so, RockAuto would like to feature you & your car or truck in our monthly newsletter. New, old, import, domestic, daily driver, trailer queen, classic, antique, we want to see them all! Please e-mail flamur@rockauto.com with your vehicle's history, interesting details, your favorite images, and what parts from RockAuto you have used.

 

 

Let RockAuto Help

Let RockAuto Help

Are you organizing a car show or other auto related event? From goody bag stuffers to gift certificates...we can help. We can even publicize your event in our newsletter.

Just send us an e-mail with information about your show.

 

 

Automotive Trivia Answer

Automotive Trivia

The ZAZ Zaporozhets was the Soviet Union's least expensive car. More than 3 million "Zappos" with air-cooled, rear mounted engines were built at the ZAZ factory in the Ukraine from the 1960s until the early 1990s. What was the Zaporozhets' unique innovation?

A. composite brake pads made primarily of ground poultry bones and melamine
B. the spare tire covered with an upholstered pad was the base and bottom cushion of the front passenger seat

Answer: C. the passenger side floor pan was a removable hatch for ice fishing
D. all of the above

ZAZ-965 Zaporozhets

 

Back up to trivia question

 

 

 

 

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