Don't let your brakes break

BY RAFFY BOUDJIKANIAN

raffy.boudjikanian@transcontinental.ca

You might find it frustrating to have your car go through its tune-up routine, but according to Pierrefonds-based mechanic Frank Kontos, who runs Centre d'Auto S & F, we have it good these days.

"A tune-up is only necessary every 100,000 kilometres, this is a big change from the older cars," he explained.

Barring an encyclopaedic knowledge of vehicles, you will likely not be able to get out of this task alone. "The only thing you could check on your own if you wanted to was maybe the sparkplug or the brakes, if you were really familiar with the car," said Kontos. Even then, he added, he has heard of brake pedals appearing to be fine one moment completely break down in a rather catastrophic manner once on the highway.

"Check the car thoroughly through and through," said the mechanic of many years. Besides the brake lines, gas lines are also important. With the pothole panic Montreal has been through this past winter, he estimated that about 40 per cent of his customers came in during the last few months for problems related to the latter.

"The car takes a beating from the winter, so go thoroughly through the car and see what it needs."

However, the largest reason that people came to see him this year was their car's suspension, said Kontos. Essentially a mechanical system of springs designed to lessen the impact and feel of your wheels on the body and frame of your car when you are driving, without a healthy suspension system you might be looking at severe tire problems down the road.

Kontos, who used to work with his father at an Esso station/garage on the corner of Cartier and Lakeshore long before he opened up his own shop, has seen vehicles go through many changes over the years. He popped open the hoods of a '67 Chevrolet and one of his clients' Ford Explorers to compare, showing how many more components go into them nowadays.