Sterling Automotive

18/06/2023

05/09/2022

Nissan ZD30 engine rebuild

24/12/2020

*Wrong Way To Park Your Car That Will Damage Your Gearbox*

A wrong way to park an automatic transmission car can damage the gearbox and send you looking for a replacement sooner than is expected. This is a common mistake many drivers make on regular basis without knowing it. When the car is stopped many people push directly from *D* to *P* then apply the handbrake and turn off the engine. This parking is not correct. Pushing directly into the *P* gear puts the stress of the whole car on the *P* locking hole not on the handbrake. If you continue to do this for a long time, this will damage your gearbox.

The correct method is when the car is stopped, first push to the *N* gear and then apply the handbrake so that the force point of the car is on the handbrake. Next, push to the *P* gear then turn off the engine.

*I am aware many of us don't know this and have been gradually damaging our vehicle gearbox without knowing it*

08/12/2020

We now supply & repair Nissan Zd30 injector pumps. Contact us for amazing deals

24/05/2020

11/10/2019

Good evening.... Aa the rainy season approaches it is wise to contact us for a free check up of your vehicle

01/12/2018

Worn shock absorbers are dangerous and potentially life-threatening. Here is a guideline for identifying worn shocks. Leaking oil is another indicator of worn shock absorbers. Oil in old shocks will heat up faster than newer shocks. If the oil reaches boiling point, which it does in an old shock, it will make the shocks ineffective and potentially dangerous.

25/11/2018

Lighten up your key holder

Does your car key share a chain with a dozen or more other keys? That’s a pretty heavy load hanging off the car key when it’s in the ignition. The weight, combined with bouncing while you drive, can wear out the tumblers inside the ignition and eventually lead to ignition switch failure .To add years of service to your ignition switch, purchase a lightweight keychain that allows you to separate your ignition key from the others. Drive with only the ignition key in your ignition. If your ignition key “sticks” when you try to turn on the car, it’s a warning that your ignition switch is about to fail. Replace it before you get stranded

06/09/2018

breaks.............FRONT BRAKES VS REAR BRAKES – WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE?

Is there a difference between front brakes vs rear brakes? The front brakes are in the front, and the rear brakes are in the rear. That’s all you need to know, right? Perhaps, on the most basic level, that would be “correct,” but entirely misleading. The front brakes vs rear brakes comparison has everything to do with friction and heat.

Front Brakes vs Rear Brakes - Hot and Heavy Metal!From a physics standpoint, the brakes on your car are designed to convert the kinetic energy of your moving vehicle into heat energy, via friction. The result of that energy conversion is what brings your car to a stop. Then, vehicle design, including that of the brakes themselves, helps to dissipate that heat to the air.

Now, here’s where the major difference arrives: the amount of heat generated. Taking a look at the front brakes and rear brakes, especially the size and weight of the brake rotors, brake calipers and surface area of the brake pads, it’s obvious that the front brakes are a lot heavier than the rear brakes, enabling them to take the heat.

Front Brake Design — Hot Stuff
Back to physics for a moment, to further understand why the front brakes need to handle so much more heat. When you’re moving forward and you hit the brakes, the center of gravity of the vehicle effectively shifts forward, putting more weight and more momentum on the front tires. The front tires therefore gain more traction, and they can take more braking force to stop the car. Because the front brakes generate up to 75 percent of the vehicle’s stopping force, they generate much more heat, over 500°F in heavy braking.

This has necessitated the development of a few common design features:

High hydraulic pressure, split by the master cylinder, delivers more clamping force.
Larger and multi-piston brake calipers develop more clamping force.
Larger brake pad surface area increases friction.
More aggressive brake pad material also enhances friction.
Larger diameter brake rotors for more stopping torque.
Thicker brake rotors maintain their shape at high temperatures.
Ventilated brake rotors dissipate heat faster.
Aerodynamic features in the body and under the car drive air through the brakes, aiding in heat dissipation.
Rear Brake Design — Stability
Overall vehicle design determines front brakes vs rear brakes bias, but most rear brakes should never provide more than 40 percent of the stopping power at any given time. As such, they don’t develop nearly as much heat as the front brakes. If they weren’t designed for this lesser load, the rear brakes would lock up every time you stepped on the brake pedal, or at least the anti-lock braking system (ABS) would be activating all the time.

Providing just the right amount of braking power and vehicle stability requires the following:

Low hydraulic pressure, split by the master cylinder, has less clamping force.
Smaller brake calipers also give less clamping force.
Smaller brake pad surface and less aggressive brake pad material for decreased friction.
Smaller diameter brake rotors for less stopping torque.
Thinner brake rotors are lighter and don’t have to endure that much heat.
Solid brake rotors don’t have to dissipate that much heat.