Why are my tires turning brown? Protective ingredients in the rubber can work their way to the surface, leaving a brownish film known as blooming. Road dirt and brake dust can look similar. Blooming i
Washing a car in winter can feel wonderfully pointless. The bodywork is clean for perhaps half a journey. Then a truck passes in the opposite direction, the windshield receives a cold brown showe
A remarkably low odometer reading has a way of making every other detail fade into the background. The paint may be dull, the tires may look suspiciously old and the service book may contain a de
The woodgrain paneling on an old station wagon rarely fools anyone. Even when new, the printed vinyl was not likely to be mistaken for hand-finished mahogany. It was wood in the same way a kitchen
The parking brake has been released, but the red warning light remains on. The first reaction is usually to pull the lever again or press the parking-brake switch a few times. Perhaps the sensor
The car feels perfectly normal around town. At 35 mph, nothing rattles. At 50, there may be the faintest tremor. Reach highway speed and the steering wheel begins a steady dance between the driver&rsq
A car battery does not need to be completely dead to leave the car behaving as though it is. Sometimes the battery is charged and perfectly willing to work, but the electricity cannot get past the
Opening the hood and finding a low coolant reservoir seems like a straightforward problem. The liquid inside is pink. The parts store sells pink coolant. Buy bottle, pour liquid, close hood. Unfort
Fresh motor oil is reassuring stuff. It pours from the bottle in a clear amber stream, looking clean enough to belong in a kitchen rather than an engine. A few hundred miles later, the dipstick can
The reservoir under the hood is sitting close to the minimum line. There is a bottle of brake fluid on the shelf. The obvious response seems to be pouring in enough fluid to bring the level back to &l