Automotive News & Information - Stuart Rolfe Muffler & Auto Service

Can you say for certain all the tires in your fleet, or on your commercial truck, are roadworthy and ready? Proper attention to tire condition is so important, but how do you properly care for your tires? From Stuart Rolfe Muffler & Auto Service in Midlotian, VA, here’s what you need to know.

At Stuart Rolfe Muffler & Auto Service in Midlotian, we understand that safety and driving comfort are largely dependent on truck maintenance. Driving in the rain can be a hassle, especially if your vehicle isn’t prepared.

If you own or manage a fleet or commercial truck, you know what a headache it can be to take the same vehicle in for maintenance over and over, wasting valuable time. At Stuart Rolfe Muffler & Auto Service in Midlotian, VA, we have the technology, equipment and technicians necessary to get the job done fast, and get it done right.

Automatic transmissions are the default now - with efficiency approaching or surpassing that of manual transmissions, and automatics with 8 or 10 electronically controlled gears, it’s no surprise they’ve gained so much popularity over the past few decades. But where did it all start? Stuart Rolfe Muffler & Auto Service in Midlotian, VA has the answers.

Your brakes have a lot to do with how your car drives. Brakes are a frequently neglected item on a lot of people’s checklist, and many drivers on the road have subpar brakes and don’t even know it. A car that brakes well and brakes correctly are just as important as acceleration, handling, or any other aspect of a vehicle’s drivability. A car with brake issues has the potential to be a far more enjoyable ride when fixed.

While your exhaust system helps reduce noise output from your vehicle, it also significantly reduces harmful emissions from being released into the air. When your muffler and exhaust system are functioning properly, it significantly reduces your vehicle's harmful impact on the environment. It also significantly improves the functionality of your vehicle and improve fuel mileage for your car, truck, SUV or Jeep.

An exhaust system is made up of numerous parts that work together to rid your car of the exhaust gases that are created during the combustion cycle, as your engine burns fuel. Each part of your exhaust system has an important role to play in removing exhaust gases away from the engine as quickly as possible, allowing another cycle of combustion to begin. The more quickly and efficiently an exhaust system does this the more efficiently an engine can run. The main parts of an exhaust system are an exhaust manifold, catalytic converter, oxygen sensors, exhaust pipes, and the muffler.

Here at Stuart Rolfe Muffler & Auto Service in Midlotian we often do diagnostics and sometimes the problem is obvious after hooking the car up to the computer and reading the codes. However, sometimes it isn't obvious during a test drive or after hooking it up to all those computer programs! You know there is a problem and a Check Engine Light is on with the fleet customer telling you the car has been having issues starting and the light has been going off and on depending on several factors. No pattern, no simple answer but the problem becomes obvious when you start following the "threads of the issue" thanks to all that ASE Technician training.

Judging by the number of near-rear-endings we witness on our morning commutes, the typical attitude toward brake maintenance appears to be, “Brakes: Don’t let them stop you!” This puzzles us because monitoring your braking system’s health is one of the most straightforward aspects of car ownership. You do have to know what to look for, though, or rather, what to listen and feel for. So let us, uh, break it down for you. Here are the top three signs that your brakes need fixing.