My Auto Shop Info Hub

Giving your car’s paintwork a wash is one of the easiest ways to take care of your vehicle. With most of the My Auto Shop team’s cars being covered with dirt dust from summer road trips, we’ve put together our tips on keeping your car’s paintwork at its best. Start by cleaning your wheels Before […]

There was a time in my life when driving around with the fuel light on with fairly common practice. Looking back now, I feel it was probably more an indication of my priorities at the time, of which keeping my car in good nick was pretty low on the list in those student days. There’s […]

If you’re towing a trailer or caravan, one of the worst things that can happen is for your trailer to wobble precariously back and forth, eventually falling on one side and dragging your vehicle down with it. Trailer sway can be a major problem for many trailer owners, especially with New Zealand’s winding roads, and […]

As the Velvet Underground song goes, “I got a foggy notion!” … but, I confess, when it comes to fogged up windows, I don’t have the foggiest. Having full understanding on how to stay safe when your windows mist up is essential driver knowledge. There are always things to learn in the automotive world, and […]

It’s fair to say we tend to take our tyres for granted. I might be speaking for myself, but I just expect to them to be there and to work when it comes to heading out for a spin. Sure, they’re super helpful, you know, gripping the road and basically saving your life at corner […]

I remember once upon a time, I’d just joined the local football team, and was driving my new team mates home after practice one evening. The car was packed, the music was up and so were the voices. As I edged left to slow down let a couple of the boys on the side of […]

Well to put it simply, “Revolutions Per Minute”. The follow up question you’ll have is, “what’s revolving?”. When your engine is running, the pistons travel up and down and rotate the crankshaft. The amount of full 360 degree rotations the crankshaft does in one minute. This tells you how the engine is operating at that […]

Your battery is the part of your car that is responsible for it starting and running. If you don’t have a battery, and you don’t drive a manual, you don’t have a way of starting and running the car. A battery is an expensive item, it’s also critical to your car’s electrical system, mainly to […]

Okay, so you’ve picked the car of your dreams (or at least, one that fits neatly into your budget), you’ve figured out the best negotiation techniques, and now you’re down at the card yard looking to pick up those hot new wheels for summer. Then the dealer throws in a last spar, “would you like […]

There’s a terrible joke that speed demons love to tell, which goes something along the lines of, “if you need to remove unnecessary weight from the vehicle, start with the brake pads.” We’ll let the laughter die down for a moment before we proceed… Or not? Your brakes are one of your car’s most vital […]