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As the holiday season approaches, many of us anticipate reuniting with our loved ones. If your upcoming travel plans include driving to states with severe winter weather conditions, you need to make sure your vehicle is equipped with the right tires. Understanding Winter Tires. In Virginia, most motorists get away with a set of all-seasons or all-weathers in winter. However, dedicated winter tires remain the champion when it comes to areas that see intense winter storms and driving cond...

Spring is finally here, and it's the perfect time to give your car the attention it needs after a long winter. Just like your home benefits from a good spring cleaning, your car requires maintenance to keep it running efficiently. This spring, consider a comprehensive maintenance package from North Point Sunoco that covers everything from an oil change to a brake inspection, all for one great price . . .

Owning a vehicle means making difficult, sometimes expensive decisions to get your car running again. When it comes to engine issues, taking the right measures to have it fixed is one of those daunting decisions. Basically, you have two options - rebuilding your engine or replacing it. While most catastrophic engine failures can be avoided through routine service and maintenance,  after years of use, your car’s engine inevitably deteriorates.    Having your engine rebuilt involves replacing al...

You’re driving down the road and glance up at the service sticker on your windshield from your last oil change. You notice the sticker says, “service at 46,345 miles”. After a quick glance down at your odometer, you realize 46,345 miles came about 1,500 miles ago! You need to find an oil change near you, and quick. At this point you’re probably wondering what’s so important about sticking to your recommended oil change schedule. Well, let’s find out! Oil Protects Your Car's Engine As ti...

There are so many tire designs on the road -- all-season, high performance, touring, light truck -- and even within a specific tire design, there may be several choices of tread patterns. What differentiates them, and what are the pros and cons of each tread design?    -- Directional tread has a pattern of grooves and chevron shapes, all pointed in one direction. This design makes it easy to direct water away from the tire's contact patch and prevent hydroplaning in wet weather, and also offers...

Let's talk about automotive performance. This term means a lot of things to a lot of people... from better handling, more speed, more off-road or track capability or even better fuel economy. For the purposes of this list, performance means one thing; getting where you are going sooner. Consider the following top pick performance upgrades if you want to put more power to the ground: Cold-air Intake - Factory air boxes are restrictive and are usually more about packaging under the hood than fe...

We are the land of the man (or woman) who has everything. We have electric dog nail trimmers, vacuums that work without your help and phones with more computing power than a fleet of space shuttles. With all this great and not so great stuff, it's getting harder and harder to give a great gift. Before you go flailing around for a gift nobody wants or needs just to say you have something to wrap, consider the gift of safety; a new set of tires for a friend or family member. Maybe you think this ...

It used to be as common as falling leaves in autumn for people to work on their own cars.  And while this red-blooded American pastime has not completely disappeared from our world, the expense and complexity of newer cars make some repairs best left to the professionals.  Here is a quick list of, "Don't try this at home"' auto repairs: 1.  Check Engine Diagnostics - With everyone from big box parts stores to smartphone app developers making it possible to talk to the computer in your car, many...

Few things typify the holidays like hitting the road to share the magic of the season with family and friends. But with the road choked with other drivers, winter weather hazards, and long empty stretches of sleepy asphalt, a holiday road trip can quickly turn ugly. Keep the joy meter pegged by taking a few precautions to prepare for your trip. 1.  Get Your Pre-drive ZZZZZs - Drowsy driving is a largely unheralded hazard, taking a back seat to more socially active no-no's like texting and drink...

North American roads cover millions of miles of landscape through habitats that vary from desert and grassland to mountain or forest and everything in-between. While we enjoy the freedom of the open road, we are nearly always crossing through the homes of wild creatures which may venture out on the road at the worst time possible.  Follow these tips to avoid a collision with our natural neighbors. 1.  Pay Attention - It may seem like the most basic of instructions, but in our tech-crazy world t...