3 Signs Your Ford Needs a Brake Repair

Over time, the wheels of your car can slowly become misaligned due to impacts with curbs and potholes, improperly inflated tires, worn suspension components, and uneven tires. Once pushed out of position, misaligned wheels hinder the steering and handling while damaging the tires and roughening your ride. It's important to know how to identify crooked wheels as explained in this article. You can have wheel alignment promptly carried out at your local Ford dealership today. more Your Car's Vibrating Too Much When your tires or wheels are out of their factory positioning, your drives will become noticeably rougher as the added rolling friction generates extra vibrations and road noise. As a result of all this friction, your gas mileage is also likely to diminish, raising your gas costs. Your Tires Are Wearing Excessively Misalignment is a major cause of uneven tire wear which can prematurely wear out a set of tires, creating a further safety hazard. And when tires become uneven, they exacerbate the misalignment. So if you find yourself needing more frequent rotations to equalize the condition of your tires, have your suspension and alignment checked as well. You're Having Trouble Steering When wheels become seriously misaligned, the steering system is impacted. The wheel will feel less firm in your hands; it might even get pushed into a permanent off-center position. You're likely to lose confidence in the accuracy of your steering. Your Car Pulls to One Side All road vehicles go in the direction their wheels are angled. So if one or two of your wheels are unintentionally pointed slightly to the left or right, your car may veer in that direction. This will make it harder to drive in a straight line and will lessen your overall steering precision. You Can See That Your Tires Are Crooked Eventually, misaligned wheels become noticeable to the naked eye. Your vehicle will clearly look like something's amiss. You can stand in front of your car now and look straight down the side to see if any of your wheels are angled outward awkwardly at the back, front, top, or bottom. Schedule Routine Alignment Checks at Your Ford Dealership As the aforementioned symptoms tend to develop slowly over time, it's not always easy to detect misalignment at first. A safe procedure is to have the angles of your wheels measured twice a year. Our technicians can use computerized alignment machinery to precisely check and correct each wheel. Without perfectly parallel wheels, your safety and driving enjoyment is reduced. Fortunately, it's an easy issue to fix. Visit Pohanka Ford of Salisbury in Salisbury, MD, today to have your wheels measured and realigned to their original factory positioning.

When the time comes to maintain your Ford vehicle, the choice of replacement parts is critically important. OEM parts will fit your Ford perfectly, and they'll preserve its performance by working exactly as expected. One way to ensure original parts are used is by letting a Ford dealer service your vehicle. Buying and fitting aftermarket parts can harm your driving in various ways. more Precision Engineering and Fit Whether they're made by Ford's auto parts division, Motorcraft, or supplied by one of many other trusted brands, your Ford vehicle is designed to accept OEM components. These will be precision-engineered to precise tolerances, whereas cheap aftermarket parts are often reverse-engineered less precisely, roughly fitting as many vehicles as possible. Precision in vehicle parts is essential, as even minor discrepancies can lead to performance issues and potentially expensive damage. Whether it's related to the engine, transmission, or braking system, each part must work harmoniously with the next and fit precisely into place. Poorly fitting parts cause accelerated wear, degraded performance, and sometimes irreversible damage to major components. Durability and Safety Ford parts and those of its suppliers are rigorously tested and subjected to stringent quality control. Cheap aftermarket parts don't typically have a well-funded R&D department behind them, so they're made with poorer materials or in a less nuanced way to maximize profits. A prime example of this is aftermarket brake pads, which are often made from substandard materials that can cause abrupt failure. Many aftermarket parts could compromise safety, including brake, suspension, or steering parts, or passive safety equipment like seatbelts and airbags. An aftermarket ECU (Electronic Control Unit) that isn't fully compatible can also create issues, as it oversees vital functions like airbag deployment, anti-lock braking, electronic stability control, transmission control, and critical engine tasks. Optimum Fuel Efficiency Various aftermarket parts can adversely affect fuel efficiency, including air filters (either through poor filtration or poor fit), exhaust systems, wider tires that increase rolling resistance, suspension lift kits, fuel injectors, fuel pumps, engine tuner chips, body kits, and spoilers. Some of these parts are designed to enhance performance, which may or may not work, but it'll often be at the expense of fuel efficiency. Preserve Your Warranty with a Ford Dealer All new Fords come with a bumper-to-bumper 36,000-mile, three-year warranty, and longer for powertrains, diesel engines, and hybrid/electric unique components. You can't invalidate these warranties merely by installing an aftermarket part, but your claim may be invalidated if that part subsequently creates problems. Avoid this hassle and potentially save money by using your local Ford center for servicing. Contact Pohanka Ford of Salisbury in Salisbury, MD to schedule your next Ford service using OEM components. Image via

The battery is a vital component of your Ford, as it provides the electrical charge that starts your engine. As time passes, a battery will weaken or could become damaged by the failure of other electrical system components. As your Ford dealer, we'd like you to know a few signs that you may need to visit us for a new car battery. more Slow Cranking When you start your engine, the battery sends a strong electrical charge to the starter solenoid. The solenoid then powers the starter, which cranks your engine, and your engine will come to life. If your battery is healthy, this process should take only a few seconds. If you hear the sad, laboring sound of the crank instead of the smooth purr of your Ford engine, your battery could be failing. The most common cause of slow cranking is a weak battery. Cranking the engine requires a specific amount of electricity, and a failing battery may not have enough juice to supply it. As a battery ages, its storage capacity drops, reducing the power level it can provide. We'll test your battery and install a new one if the original fails. Alternator Overcharging The alternator is a mini electrical generator in your engine. It supplies power to all your car's systems when the engine is running and recharges your battery. Recharging is a carefully controlled process to protect the alternator and the battery. The alternator charges a battery at full power for ten minutes, then switches to charging at reduced capacity until the battery is replenished. if your alternator is damaged, it might continue to charge the battery at full power. Charging a battery at full power can damage the copper plates and cause the electrolyte solution to boil and evaporate. If this happens, the battery warning light will illuminate, and you'll smell a hot burning smell. We can replace your alternator to fix this problem. Phantom Drain A phantom drain is caused by a damaged switch or relay that doesn't cut off power to a system when it's supposed to. The two most common sources of this issue are the trunk light and the glove box light. In both cases, the light comes on when you open them and should immediately go out as soon as you close them. Neither of these lights draws a large amount of power, but they can cause a significant drop in your battery's electricity reserves overnight. If your battery worked correctly the previous night and then struggles to supply enough power to start your engine the next day, a phantom drain could be the problem. Our technicians will identify the cause of the problem and repair it. ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​If your battery shows signs of failing, contact us right away at Pohanka Ford of Salisbury in Salisbury, MD. Image via