Santa Cruz Auto Repair

Subaru Brake Service in Santa Cruz, CA Goodyear Tires and Auto Repair is a full service Santa Cruz auto care facility. In addition to tires, we offer complete range of automotive repairs, including Subaru brake service. Brakes are the most important safety system of a car. Our highly skilled mechanics service your Subaru’s brakes, as well as diagnose and repair any brake problems it may exhibit. Regular brake service gives one the peace of mind that comes from knowing that brakes were serviced by highly trained, highly experienced professionals. In addition to the feeling of safety, regular brake service saves you money as well – some brake conditions, if not serviced in a timely manner, will result in damage and higher repair costs. Here are some signs that it’s time to bring your Subaru to an auto repair shop for brake service: Everyone wants peace of mind in knowing that their brakes will not fail. A regular brake service ensures that you are ab ... read more

The Rain Is Coming – Wheel Alignment and Tire Check in Santa Cruz, CA Even though California is suffering from a drought, there are still many rainy days each year. That’s why at Goodyear Tires & Auto Repair we recommend bringing your vehicle in for a wheel alignment and tire check.    We recommend wheel alignment check once a year – properly aligned wheels extend tire life and improve vehicle handling, which is important on wet roads. Our Santa Cruz auto care facility uses state-of-the-art tire alignment machine to get your vehicle’s wheels properly aligned. These machines can detect and correct misalignment so slight that it is not noticeable to the human eye.    We also recommend tire check – we can inspect your vehicle’s tires for signs of age related deterioration, as well as check the tread depth. Tread depth is vital during rain, because tires have to evacuate prodigious amounts of wat ... read more

Avoid Unexpected Engine Repairs Last thing anybody wants is to get stuck somewhere on the road with an engine problem. While there are no guarantees, there are 3 simple things you can do to minimize the probability of such an event: 1. Give your vehicle regular oil changes – it’s a simple maintenance task, but when performed at our Santa Cruz auto repair shop, it can make huge difference in the reliability of your vehicle. Oil change extends life of the engine, and improves performance.  At Goodyear Tires and Auto Repair it also means that we get to see other subsystems of your vehicle, and can often spot impending problems – before they become breakdowns. 2. Do not ignore warning lights – when your car’s computer turns on a warning light, it means that something is not working correctly. Ignoring the warning light can cause further deterioration of the subsystem that caused the computer to tur ... read more

Drive belts transfer power from the crankshaft to an AC compressor, alternator, or the power steering pump.  Friction between the belt and the pulleys provides the power transfer. In order to increase friction, pulleys and belts have grooves that line up so the contact area between the belt and the pulleys is increased – generating more friction. As time goes by, the belt will wear down, and may begin to slip – not a good thing. That’s why we recommend regular service, including drive belt inspection for signs of excessive wear and cracks. At Goodyear Tires and Auto Repair in Santa Cruz we offer wide range of services and repairs. Including drive belt(s) inspections. If we find any issues with the drive belt(s), we will let you know. Any repairs performed by our ASE nationally certified technicians are covered by 24 month / 24,000 mile warranty. So bring your vehicle to our Santa Cruz auto repair shop. You can make an appointment online, or call the shop direc ... read more

This is no an April Fool’s joke - Goodyear is partnering up with the US Department of Defense to make tires out of dandelions. More specifically, a variety of dandelion that was originally discovered in 1932 in Kazakhstan, and is known as TK. Apparently, it’s a pretty good substitute for a rubber tree. During the World War II, when supplies from South East Asia and South America were threatened, it was cultivated as a rubber tree substitute in the United States, the Soviet Union, England and Germany. If you remember your high school chemistry or biology lessons, when you pick a dandelion off your lawn, the milky white sap that comes out of the stems is latex – same stuff that comes out of the rubber tree and is used to make rubber. Yes, you need a lot of dandelions, or you need to find dandelion species with more latex. Or you could genetically engineer one – according to Mental Floss, German scientists came up with a genetically modified dandelion that produce ... read more

When it’s time for a professional brake inspection and repairs, there are usually warning signs, here is an abbreviated list: “Spongy” brake pedal - if you press the brake pedal and it feels “spongy” or soft, it can indicate brake problems – time to get the brake system checked out by a professional mechanic. Brakes that squeak – usually a sign that something is wrong with the brakes, time to get your vehicle to a repair shop asap. Car shakes during braking – shaking or strong vibrations during braking usually indicate problems with warped rotors. Rotor replacement is the likely solution. Modern rotors tend to be too thin to allow for rotor resurfacing. “ABS” warning light – anti-lock brake warning light indicates a problem with the ABS / anti-lock braking system. We recommend visiting a professional mechanic to diagnose and repair this problem. Good ... read more