Car care tips before you hit the road this summer


GREAT FALLS — April is National Car Care Month, and Memorial Day – the unofficial beginning of summer and the summer travel season – is just a few weeks away.

Mechanics say this is the time to get your car into the shop. There are several things you need to have checked out to make sure your car is ready to hit the road and mechanics were already very busy.

Inside Gear Grabbers Garage in Great Falls, there was no shortage of work to do Thursday.

“Most people are quite a ways out. Lack of help and just the way things are,” Gear Grabbers Garage owner Luke Cote said.

The backup could get worse once summer travel gets into full swing.

“Our business really picks up about Memorial Day and on Fridays,” Cote explains. “When you get your oil changed, make sure that they’re checking your coolant. If it’s due to be changed, change it out.”

Tire tread and wheel bearings are also important to check.

“Wheel bearings on trailers especially. There’s a lot more traffic on the highway all summer long. A lot more horse trailers, boats. Make sure your wheel bearings are packed or at least inspected,” said Cote.

Another reason to get your car inspected for the summer travel season early, parts may be hard to come by.

“Just a break job on certain vehicles that before you could get them right now, it takes three or four days to get break parts anymore,” said Troy Weninger, Carnahan’s Towing and Repair Shop Manager.

When you do hit the road keep an eye on your gas gauge.

“We do see a lot of fuel pumps during the summer. I always tell people ‘Keep your tank full as much as you can.’ A lot of vehicles nowadays, the fuel pumps are in the tank. So fuel does help cool the electric motors of the fuel pump,” said Weninger.

Click here for more car-care tips on the AAA website.


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Power Rankings: RBC Heritage



Jordan Spieth, Kevin Na, Jason Kokrak, Tommy Fleetwood and defending champion Stewart Cink will be among the notables reviewed in Tuesday’s Draws and Fades.

DL3 scattered his Ws at Harbour Town over 17 editions (1987-2003) and in his 20s and 30s, but both Irwin (24) and Cink (22) stretched longer from the first to their last. What’s more, Irwin was 48 years old for his third; Cink was 47. That’s part of the magic of the place. It doesn’t discriminate against age.

Or relative lack of muscle off the tee.

Or putting.

Ranging just 7,191 yards and with 18 of some of the PGA TOUR’s smallest greens on average (at 3,700 square feet), the par 71 rewards the shot-makers among the ball-strikers. It’s not as much about finding fairways as it is paying off finding the most strategic angles on approach. But with bermuda rough, which is overseeded, extending just three-quarters of an inch high, accuracy off the tee is secondary to piling up greens in regulation. Because targets demand precision, hitting it close is the default of getting it on.

Cink ranked T57 in fairways hit last year, but he co-led the field in averaging 14 GIR per round. He also finished 11th in proximity, so it was no wonder why he paced the tournament in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green.

Cink also was T4 in scrambling en route to his four-stroke margin of victory. While the parlay of tidy into- and around-the-green work should be rewarded handsomely, the latter is the softest underbelly of Harbour Town. Small greens usually surrender high rates of salvaging pars after missing them in regulation. Furthermore, because the overseeded bermuda greens are ready to run up to 12 feet on the Stimpmeter, which essentially is the TOUR norm, talents who don’t profile as superior putters can circle this week as an opportunity to make a dent.

The 2021 field averaged 70.332 on the scorecard. That’s second-lowest in recorded tournament history (1983-present) to the special June date of 2020 (when the course doesn’t require overseeding) and reflective of how a gathering worthy of a strength-of-field rating as determined by the Official World Golf Ranking of 481 can make a difference. (The SOF in 2020 was 712.) However, slightly higher scoring should be expected this week as the two easiest holes on the course are longer.

New tees at the par-5 second and fifth holes have extended the pair. No. 2 is 48 yards longer at 550 yards; No. 5 now tips at 569 yards after a 20-yard increase. Also, for the record, after the new expanded tee box at the par-3 17th introduced an additional 22 yards last year, even newer modifications bumped it up again, this time by two yards to 198.

The most challenging of the weather conditions will be the swirling winds that will blow a bit at least through the first two rounds and as energy threatens rain and storms that will linger into the weekend. Otherwise, comfortably cool air blankets the week as daytime highs extend into the mid-70s.

 


ROB BOLTON’S SCHEDULE

PGATOUR.com’s Rob Bolton recaps and previews every tournament from numerous perspectives. Look for his following contributions as scheduled.

MONDAY: Power Rankings
TUESDAY*: Sleepers, Draws and Fades
WEDNESDAY: Pick ’Em Preview
SUNDAY: Medical Extensions, Qualifiers, Reshuffle, Rookie Ranking

* – Rob is a member of the panel for PGATOUR.COM’s Expert Picks for PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf, which also publishes on Tuesday.



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