Testimonials
Newsletter - October 2008
Attention Import Truck Owners
Toyota, Nissan, Isuzu, and other import trucks and Jeep owners you’re at risk of having your catalytic converter snatched out from under you—literally. High-clearance vehicles make it easier on the thief’s back to shinny under and remove your catalytic converter. Toyota truck catalytic converters have more precious metals (palladium, platinum, and rhodium) so they’re worth more. They get about $100 at recycling yards. Keep an eye on your truck at night or leave your dog on a long enough leash to reach under your truck.
From the Mechanical Shop
A Tire Replacement Guide
A good starting point in any discussion about tires is; when should they be replaced? The Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 109 was implemented in 1968. Among other things, it required that “wear bars” be molded into the tire tread to show when the tread wore down to 2/32 of an inch. When the wear bar is even with the tread the tires are considered to be worn out. Another way to measure tread depth is the old penny test. Here you hold a penny in the tread with Lincoln’s head toward the center. If all of old Abe’s head can be seen, the tread is 2/32" or less.
With time we’ve experienced inflation and now it is suggested to do the same test with a quarter. When a quarter is used to measure tread depth, it reveals that there is less than 4/32" of tread left when all of George Washington’s head is visible. Honest Abe versus “I cannot tell a lie” George. Who’s right?
Here are some test results done on a 2006 BMW 325i and a 2006 Ford F150 2WD stopping from 70 mph on a road with a dime’s thickness of water on it. Three tests were done; one with new tires, one with tires at 4/32" of tread and finally 2/32" of tread.
| Vehicle | New Tires | 4/32" Tread | 2/32" Tread |
| F150 | |||
| Stopping distance | 256 ft | 378 ft | 499 ft |
| Time to stop | 4.8 sec | 6.0 sec | 7.5 sec |
| BMW325i | |||
| Stopping distance | 195 ft | 290 ft | 379 ft |
| Time to stop | 3.7 sec | 4.7 sec | 5.9 sec |
In the BMW test with the 2/32" of tread, the car was still going 55 mph at the point where the car had stopped completely with new tires. As you can see with 2/32" of tread it takes nearly twice as long to stop as with new tires and nearly 50% farther than the tires with 4/32" of tread.
Fortunately in Colorado the roads aren’t wet a majority of the time, but depending on the season it may be wise to replace tires when they get down to 4/32"
Don’t be penny wise and pound foolish. Replace your tires on time. That’s my 2 cents worth. Or is it 26 cents worth?
From the Body Shop
CARFAX - Reliable?
When a customer brings a used vehicle in for a pre-purchase inspection, they often have obtained a CARFAX report and believe the car hasn’t been in an accident if the Accident/Damage section of the report reads No Issues Reported.
As this is being written, we have a 2005 Subaru in our shop that had shoddy repairs prior to the current owner purchasing the car in 2006.
There’s plenty of back and forth on the reliability of a CARFAX report but I wanted to find out for myself. We set up a study by randomly selecting eight vehicles we have performed repairs on that were over $4000 and completed more than six months ago.
Frame Damage Reporting
Four vehicles included frame repair but on the frame damage section of the CARFAX report it read No Issues for all four vehicles.
Accident/Damage Check Reporting
Of the nine vehicles under the category Accident/Damage Check, there was an Accident Indicator listed for four of the vehicles. For the other five, CARFAX read No Issues Reported including the ’05 Subaru. One of the vehicles had been in our shop for four repairs totaling $12,600 and CARFAX had detected none of them.
Overall Results
Of the nine vehicles, CARFAX missed frame damage 100% of the time and accident damage 55% of the time. If the four accidents on the one vehicle are factored in, accident damage was missed 67% of the time.
CARFAX reports provide good information about owners, titles and mileage and when an accident has been detected it is valuable information. However according to our study, the lack of an accident indicator on the report doesn’t mean the car hasn’t been in an accident.
If a vehicle has been in an accident and has been repaired properly, this should not be considered a negative factor when buying a used vehicle. All used vehicles should be inspected before purchasing by someone familiar with both the mechanical and body systems.
Affiliations & Awards
Addison Auto Repair & Body Shop
2005 South Holly Street • Denver, CO 80222 • 303-691-9484