When you own cars like BMWs, Mercedes Benzs, Volvo’s, Porsches, and Audis, you’ll need a special breed of automotive repair shops. Driving your car into any generic shop can be very risky. You may end up with a car that’s in a worse condition than when you brought it in. Only establishments with the right equipment, tools, and personnel can give you the assurance that maintenance and repairs will be carried out precisely as intended. What exactly are the advantages of taking your car to a specialized service and repair shop? For one, you can be assured that the replacement parts they’ll be using are OEM or original equipment manufacturer products. Some cars won’t function optimally when affixed with generic parts or imitations. What’s worse is that they can even damage other adjoining parts that may have been functioning perfectly well before.In most cases, these specialized automotive repair shops have their own extensive supply of OEM parts. Thus, a complete selection of parts coupled with factory-trained mechanics & state-of-the-art tools will result in fast and efficient service. That means, you’ll be able to drive your tuned-up vehicle out of their premises much quicker.A typical brand-authorized establishment will have a computerized wheel balancing and alignment apparatus, computerized diagnostic systems, and specially designed tools for fast and efficient assembling and disassembling of parts. They’ll also have a complete roster of certified master technicians and factory-trained mechanics.If you’re looking for specialized automotive repair Atlanta has service and repair centers that cater specifically to Japanese or European cars. Hence, you can find authorized dealers and certified mechanics who specialize in specific brands like Toyota, Honda, BMW, Volvo, and Audi.In the case of German auto repair,Atlanta has certified establishments like Global Imports BMW along North Parkway, Volvo of Athens along Atlanta Highway in Athens, Nalley Audi Services in Roswell, and Mercedes-Benz of Buckhead along Piedmont Road. Atlanta automotive services and repair centers are scattered all over the city. But if you want top-notch specialized services, make sure that you only trust your car to certified experts. Only they can take your car apart, do the necessary tinkering, and reassemble it just the way it was or even better.
Specialized Automotive Repair Right In The Heart Of Atlanta
August 20th, 2011Quality Paint Booth – Solutions for All Requirement and Sizes
July 7th, 2011There are professionally managed manufacturers fabricating quality paint booths for all purposes and sizes. These booths are capable of painting metal, plastic and indeed any other surface with equal ease. The pre-engineered booths come in a variety of sizes meant for painting of smaller parts to those for painting automotive trucks, vans and cars. The accessories for paint booths include filters and exhaust fans.
There are multi-stage powder coating booths which involve the use of multiple filters designed to trap the excess spray of powder thereby ensuring recirculation of clean air into your plant. In order to ensure a clean process each time, such powder coating booths use anti static technology for the walls.
Using CNC machines, each panel and beam is pre-punched for the precision assembly of bolt and nut combination. This not only ensures an excellent finish but also that you can erect your booth quickly. These paint booths do not use obsolete I-beams but the J-beams, which are both lighter and stronger. The steel panels use steel of 18-gauge size and are galvanized in order to ensure freedom from corrosion. Use is made of stiffeners of steel to add to the robustness in the construction of the booth so that it can withstand not only the rough daily usage but also the weight of the air make-up system, which maybe roof-mounted in order to economize space.
The options for automotive paint booths available range from the standard down draft, the semi down draft, the cross flow spray booth and the down draft side exhaust spray booth besides the special insulated variety. Similarly, in the range of paint booths for trucks there are the full down draft, semi down draft, side down draft varieties besides the front and reverse flow booths.
All paint booths come with modern filters of excellent quality, an efficient energy management system, adequate lighting and a total control over particulate matter, humidity, pressure and temperature within the booth. The environmental specifications are rigidly observed in the discharge of exhaust and effluents.
High Performance Doesn’t Mean High Price
March 24th, 2011When comparing high performance vs. standard replacement parts, it is of extreme importance to weigh performance and durability against value and cost. Long term costs of replacing OEM items with low-priced “budget” items or after-market replacement parts can, in many cases lead to higher consumer long-term costs. It can also lead to irreversible damage to primary and connected related systems. Obviously, if a replacement part is of lower quality and of shorter durability, it will need to be replaced more often. There are costs associated with the labor to replace these parts more often, as well as time lost for actually doing the work of replacing an automotive component. There are other “hidden” costs as well associated with this practice. They may not be costs in cold, hard cash out of pocket, but they are costly, nonetheless.
A good example of this is simply shopping around for spark plug wires for my old Buick. I got in the habit of replacing the wires at least once a year, sometimes more if a problem arose. I go to the Internet and find several varieties of options online and I read the descriptions of what my choices are. They look like this:
Description: Taylor Cable 69.95
8mm Street, Ignition Wire Set, Custom Fit, SST, Blue, Tin Coated Copper Braid, Non RFI, Blue Double Spring Locking Spark Plug Boots, High Temperature Rated To 550 Degrees, Competition Looks, GROUND SHIPPING ONLY
Description: OEM 37.41
Premium Wire Set, Spark Plug Wire Set, OEM Fit And Quality 37.41
Description: Taylor Cable 29.95
8mm High Energy, Ignition Wire Set, Custom Fit, Blue, High Temperature, Oil Resistant, RFI Suppression, 100% Silicone Boot Ends, Double Spring Locks At Plugs, GROUND SHIPPING ONLY
The first thing I notice is the huge difference in price, and like any good spendthrift, I am drawn to the cheapest spark plug wires available. Ignoring the statements about temperature ratings and RFI, I immediately think to myself, without any further research, I may want to buy the bargain set of wires. But then I think I want good wires, and the OEM brand is only eight dollars more. These are the spark plug wires that came with my vehicle, so they must be what I need. I buy them online for $37.41, have them shipped to my house and install them on my vehicle.
I take my old car for a ride, to see how much better it is going to run with the new wires on it. I notice it doesn’t run any better, as a matter of fact, it now has a slight miss in the engine. So I turn off the engine, get out of the vehicle and make sure everything is connected properly. The miss isn’t there anymore when I start the vehicle back up, so I am happy. I turn the radio on to listen to some tunes on the way back to the house, and I can hear the sound of my engine “running” on the radio, like a whining sound, drowning out a portion of the music.
I get back to the house and look at the old wires I took off in favor of the new “original equipment” wires. They don’t look the same. The old ones look heavier and bigger. The next day, I start the car up and the “miss” is back, and the engine “whine” is still on the radio. Frustrated, I put the old wires back on the car and the problems go away. So I go back to my computer and look at custom and high performance plug wires for my old Buick, and here’s what I see:
Spark Plug Wires
Brand: Taylor Cable $108.95
8mm Street, Ignition Wire Set, Custom Fit, Full Metal Jacket, Black, RFI Suppression, Braided Stainless Covering To Polished Aluminum Covers Over Silicone Plug Boots, High Performance, Custom Appearance
Spark Plug Wires
Brand: Taylor Cable $25.95
8mm High Energy, Ignition Wire Set, Custom Fit, Blue, High Temperature, Oil Resistant, RFI Suppression, 100% Silicone Boot Ends, Double Spring Locks At Plugs
Spark Plug Wires
Brand: Accel $99.57
Custom Fit 300 Race, Stainless Spark Plug Terminals, Complete EMI/RFI Suppression, 600F Temperature Resistance, More Spark Energy, More Power, Spark Plug Wire Set, 8.8mm, Wires Routed Over Valve Cover, Black
This time, I do a little research to find out what I do not understand about the sales descriptions offered. Here is what I find out about the difference in spark plug wires:
OEM wires generally rely on carbon conduction and are also used in the majority of stock replacement wires. This form of ignition wire is cheap to manufacture and generally provides adequate initial suppression for both RFI (radio frequency interference) and EMI (electromagnetic interference). The conduction portion is generally made of fiberglass or kevlar over which resistance conductive latex or sometimes silicone is layered over top. This reduces spark current to provide suppression. This works well while the conductor lasts, but it has a limited life. This type of conductor quickly fails if a high-powered ignition system is used. Temperature resistance is generally in the 550 degree F range.
I also find out that EMI from OEM spark plug wires can cause incorrect signals to be sent to engine management systems and on-board electronic devices. This is why suppression is so important. It works the same way that RFI can cause unwanted signals to be heard on my radio receiver. Engine running problems like intermittent misses to a major loss in power loss can be the result. I also find out that the problem can get worse with age due to corrosion of the sensors and connectors. Also, high performance wires can protect in temperatures as high as 1000 degrees F.
I went back to my Buick and looked at the ignition system. It had not been replaced by a high-powered ignition system. I ordered the Taylor custom 8.8-mm wires with RFI suppression for $25.57.
$11.84 less than I paid for the OEM ignition wires. I installed them a few days later when they arrived and have had no problems at all. In fact, my gas mileage has increased and my responsive acceleration increased. I have had them on my Buick for two years now and they still perform as well as the day I put them on.
Replacing with high performance automotive parts are generally considered upgrades and higher costs are associated with better quality and higher performance. As this exercise taught me, this is not always the case. Higher performance means value-added in the long-term. This relates to better customer satisfaction, better performance and durability, sometimes even less expense, but always a better value and a lot less hassle.