Tucson Auto Repair

You wouldn’t believe how many times I’ve seen vehicles on the road with tires/wheels that are noticeably out of balance. To see this with the naked eye, the imbalance has to be pretty extreme, but believe me, I HAVE seen it! I’ve seen tires so badly imbalanced or damaged that they literally bounce up and down, some bouncing so high that they were lifting off the ground! We’ve had people come into our shop that were understandably upset about a vibration in their vehicle. This is frequently mis-diagnosed by some shops as bad brake rotors, but it usually turns out to be tires that are damaged or out of balance.  Simple tire balancing is very inexpensive or free in most cases because almost every place that sells tires offers free lifetime tire balancing.  One of the first questions we ask a customer when they deliver their vehicle to us with a vibration complaint is "When was the last time you had your tires balanced"?  No one ever really ... read more

Arguably a vehicle’s most important safety system is its brakes. Specific components, including brake pads, shoes, rotors, drums and brake fluid are maintenance items that need regular replacement. A pulsation or shaking during braking can be a strong indication that the brake rotors are warped from excessive heat caused by extended or hard braking.  It is important to change brake fluid every 20,000 miles or 2 years. As brake fluid ages, it begins to corrode parts such as brake lines, calipers, caliper pistons, and wheel cylinders. It can cause the ABS light to come on and will ultimately lead to reduced braking performance. It is not uncommon for the braking system hardware to move, become dislodged or even break. In Very basic terms the hardware is what holds the brake pads or shoes in place. This is very common on vehicles with drum brakes, but still happens on disc brakes.  Modern braking systems are more complicated than the old ones, they include sensors, compu ... read more

Your vehicle's cooling system serves a few very important functions. It maintains the engines optimal operating temperature which is where it works most efficiently, and removes any excess heat from the engine when its under a load or outside temperatures are high.  While your vehicle is in use, the coolant exits from the bottom of the radiator after it's cooled, where its then drawn into the water pump, to cycle it back through the engine where it absorbs the heat and travels back to the top of the radiator where the cycle continues.  A vehicles cooling system is basically made up of the engine, radiator, the water pump, cooling fan(s), circulatory hoses, and a thermostat and coolant temperature sensor.  During the engine combustion process (intake,compression,power,exhaust) the fuel energy is converted into heat, which is transferred throughout the cylinder head and block to the coolant, and cycled through the cooling system via the water pump. The hose carr ... read more

The importance of CV axle boot maintenance is greatly underrated. The CV (Continuously Variable) axles on modern vehicles have multi directional joints that are protected form the elements by flexible rubber boots. Over time and due to weathering, which is a huge factor in Arizona, the rubber breaks down and cracks open, exposing the inner components and allowing contamination of the joints/bearings with water, dirt and many other things. This can become a safety hazard over time as the CV axles become dry and can seize up or even come apart. This is very dangerous if it happens when you are driving. The CV axles connect the transmission to the drive wheels. It is very important to have a regular inspection of your vehicle,  by a reputable shop such as One Stop Automotive.  You would not believe how often we see compromised CV axles on vehicles because the owners have not been notified of their condition or importance.  We can help you keep your vehicle in tip top con ... read more

We have many very long term customers as well as new ones. Over the course of our years in this business we have noticed that people understandably do not like to spend money on automotive repairs. Who would? The problem with this can be multifaceted. A small repair, if not addressed in a timely manner, can blossom into a very expensive repair. We had a customer in the shop yesterday for an inspection. We found that all of his engine and transmission mounts are broken, needing replacement. Originally, when we had informed him of this last year it was a single mount and a minor repair that the customer chose not to have us take care of. Now because the single mount was not replaced, it over stressed the other mounts and they failed one after the other in a domino effect. In addition, the broken mounts are causing major stress on the axles due to the engine and transmission sagging.  Its crazy the way little things can snowball into such major things. This why we always try to kee ... read more