The Dyer & Dyer Volvo Cars Blog

Having a plan for when something goes wrong with your car will help make any roadside trouble easier to manage. From packing a kit to learning a few skills beforehand, there are ways to make a breakdown less aggravating.

Practice changing a tire on your vehicle so you know exactly what it will entail. Any tools you'll need should go into a kit that includes handy items like a flashlight, jumper cables, a first aid kit, snacks, drinks and batteries.  

Always check you have a working jack, spare tire, and a tire iron in the trunk. Slightly loosen the lugs on the tire before jacking up the vehicle. Make sure you have something behind the front tires to avoid the vehicle rolling. Jack the car high enough and then loosen the lugs and remove them from the tire.

Pull the tire off the studs, then set it aside somewhere out of the way. Place the spare tire on the studs and only hand-tighten the lugs so the tire is on straight. 

Cleaning your tires is a good way to bring some life back into an old set of tires when there is still some time left in the set. All it really takes is a couple of affordable tire products and about an hour of your time. Let's take a look at some simple tire cleaning tips that you can use on your vehicle:

Invest in a couple of products that you can use on your specific brand of tire to clean as well as brighten the tire color back up. You may also want to invest in a scrub…

Our entire family at Dyer & Dyer Volvo Cars wanted to pass along some important information about the tires that should be on your car this season. Although the all-season tires serve a purpose most of the year, this is the time you'll want the summer tires on your vehicle.

Summer tires are going to help with handling, reduce the distance on the road when braking, and help the treads get a better grip on the road. The all-season tires have grooves to move snow and ice off the road, summer tires have less to get more rubber on the…

There was a time when the underside of vehicles used a solid steel beam for the full length of the vehicle. With the fuel economy requirements that vehicles fleets are subjected to today, manufacturers have lowered the amount of steel used in their frames. Though this strategy satisfies the need to lower the vehicle’s weight, it also compromises the strength of the undercarriage, limiting the locations where a jack can be used.

Manufacturers locate strategic places where you can use a jack without harming the body in their owner’s manuals. 

There are a number of basic signs that your car battery is past its prime and needs to be replaced. If your battery is dead with increasing frequency, the time likely has come to get it replaced. This could be due to another issues. In either case, seeking professional assistance from a certified Volvo service professional is probably wise.

If your car struggles to turn over, the time may have come to replace your battery. If you find yourself regularly having to refill battery cells with electrolytes, the battery may be at the end of its useful life. 

The fluids and gases flowing through your car must be secured for the vehicle to run. Gaskets contribute to that effort by keeping substances in their rightful place.

Oil cannot mix with water and vice versa so long as the rubber caps that are the gaskets are intact. These small gadgets are made to stand against various acids and other fluids that would ordinarily burn through rubber. High temperatures are also nothing that a good gasket cannot handle as the devices are designed to expand as the heat intensifies. 

Life is full of unpredictable and varied situations. You may find yourself needing to jumpstart a car one day. If you ever find yourself in that scenario, you don't want to be unprepared. You want to be informed and ready to go. If you're looking to jumpstart a vehicle with the assistance of cables, these steps can help.

Confirm that the two vehicles are off. Attach a single end of the red jumper cable straight to the dead battery's positive terminal. The red cable is the positive one. Attach the next one straight to the functional battery…

If you have ever been driving down the road and felt as though your car was pulling to one side or another, it might be more than a tire losing air. If you are seeing this symptom and also feeling as though the steering wheel is vibrating in your hands, then you should know that the problem probably has to do with your alignment.

If you do indeed have issues with your alignment, it's something that needs to be fixed pretty quickly. If you ignore the problem, you are going to have to pay more money later. Bad alignment…

When you turn your vehicle at high rates of speed, it can generate significant sideways forces on your car. If your vehicle did not have a suspension system absorbing a great deal of that energy, your car would be much harder to control. Conventional suspension systems work with a series of springs and steel leafs, while newer or higher-end vehicles can have suspension systems that work with magnets. We are able to service both types here at our Volvo service center in Chamblee.