How to Clear Frost off Your Car Windows Faster

Tired of running late for work only to find that this Rochester weather has AGAIN frosted up your car windows? Don't take the risk of hoping your heater will warm up in time for you to hit the main roads; otherwise, you may end up needing collision repair. To help you avoid an accident and get to work on time, here are...

4 Ways to Clear Car Window Frost

1. Prevent Window Frost with an Overnight Covering

Before we get into tips on HOW to quickly defrost, we'll give you a way to prevent frost in the first place. The key is to COVER YOUR WINDOWS overnight. Take a large TOWEL or CARDBOARD and tightly press it over your windshield and use your wiper blades to hold it in place (you'll need weights or a clamp for the other windows). 

2. Remove Window Frost Using Deicer Spray

Purchase or mix your own deicer spray and keep it in your car (unless it's below -20 degrees F). To create your own, mix together rubbing alcohol and a little bit of dish soap inside an empty spray bottle. Spray and soak your frosted windows and scrub off the ice with ease. 

3. Remove Window Frost Using Lukewarm Water

While showering in the morning, fill up a BUCKET with lukewarm water. Splash the water over the frosted windows – this will quickly soften and melt the ice away. If any is left, brush away the slush with your glove or scraper. *WARNING* do not use boiling hot water; opposite temps colliding may cause your windows to crack. 

4. Remove Window Frost Using Credit Card

If you're all out of resources, a credit card or some sort of strong plastic with a long narrow edge could give you some help. This method is probably going to be the least quick of the four, but if you have no access to water or a deicer, it may be faster than waiting for the car defroster to warm up. While using your card to scrape away the frost, go ahead and turn on your car's defrost and spray some of the windshield fluid to soften up the ice. This should help scraping with your card to be as quick and easy as possible. 

On behalf of Brothers Collision & Mechanical, thanks for reading! Share these tips with your friends and fellow drivers to keep road-vision as clear as possible during this Rochester winter! 

How To Jump Start a Car’s Dead Battery

Step 1: LOCATE JUMPER

If you heeded the advice in our last article about items to keep in your car for winter, then you probably already stored a set of JUMPER CABLES in your vehicle. To any of the stragglers, you will have to find someone who has a set of jumper cables and is willing to spend the time giving your car’s battery a jump.

Step 2: PREPARE VEHICLES

After you locate jumper cables and another car with a charged battery, align the vehicles close enough together for the cables to reach each battery. Next, SHUT OFF the ignition to both vehicles and make sure they’re both in PARK. Then, pop both hoods and LOCATE the positive (+/POS) sign on the batteries (usually under a red rectangular covering).

Step 3: ATTACH JUMPER CABLES

After attaching the first jumper cable, BE CAREFUL to NOT touch any of the clamps to each other (to prevent electric shock).

1. Attach RED cable clip to the POSITIVE (+) terminal of the CHARGED battery
2. Attach BLACK cable clip to the NEGATIVE (-) terminal of the CHARGED battery
3. Attach other end of RED cable clip to the POSITIVE (+) terminal of the DEAD battery
4. Attach BLACK cable clip to a motionless, unpainted METAL SURFACE away from the battery

Step 4: IGNITION  

After securing the jumper cables, START the ignition of the CHARGED battery’s car. Rev the engine slightly by gently tapping the gas pedal to SPEED UP the charge. After a few minutes, START the ignition of the DEAD battery’s car and, with luck, the battery will be live.

Step 5: DRIVE

After jumping the dead battery, DRIVE around for at least 15 minutes before shutting off the engine. This will help ensure it’s holding the charge. Enjoy and be safe this winter! If you have any troubles, contact Brothers Collisions & Mechanical for all of your auto mechanic needs in Rochester!

Top 3 Items to Carry in Your Car during Winter

Well friends, winter is in full swing and we’ve already seen some icy damage at our car repair shop in Rochester. As a result, we would like to offer you some ideas on how to be prepared in case of emergencies out on the road. Below is a list of items to fill up on and leave in your vehicle during the winter months.

1. Communication: Phone Charger

Auto Repair Shop Rochester NY

Make sure you have an adaptor and a charger so you can recharge your phone. In fact, it might be a good idea to keep it plugged in whenever it looks like a dangerous, snowy drive. Don’t get caught in a winter storm without having a fully charged phone to call for help.

2. Health: First Aid Kit

This should include some (if not all) of the following: bandages, adhesive tape, gauze, aspirin, antiseptic wipes/ointment. If an accident happens in a snowstorm, it may take longer for emergency services to reach your vehicle. During the delay, these items may help make the difference. Afterwards, to fix all other damages, you can have your vehicle towed to our auto repair shop, where we become the “First Aid Kit” to your vehicle.

3. Light: Flashlight & Flares

Light is a good thing to have when you’re caught in a black, stormy snowstorm. Pack a powerful flashlight with extra batteries. Also, stock up on some flares in case your vehicle is dead on a busy road. Even if it isn’t nighttime, a snowy day can cloud vision on the roads. Flashers will alert other motorists of your vehicle before risking a crash.

Other Ideas

Windshield ice scraper; jumper cables; duct tape; sawdust / sand for traction; snow shovel; blankets; warm gloves; poncho; water bottles; snacks.

What’s in your vehicle’s emergency kit?

3 Common Injuries Caused by Auto Body Accidents

Imagine riding your bicycle down a road at top speed. Now imagine a thick, wide frame of metal smacking you in the face while on your bike. That can give you an idea as to why even driving as slow as 30 mph can cause you serious harm. Sometimes we tend to think we’re as strong as the vehicle we’re driving. But we’re not; we’re soft and fragile humans zooming around in hard, fortified machines.  

Below are three types of auto body accidents and how they typically harm our bodies:

Frontend Collision  

Frontend, or head-on-head collision, means two vehicles smacking into each other from their front. This usually leads to chest, legs, and pelvis bruises or wounds. The forward motion of a head-on collision plunges a driver into the steering wheel. Injuries tend to be more severe when drivers aren't buckled.

Backend Collision

Backend collisions are usually caused by tailgating – when two cars are driving too close together. Body injuries typically include the head, chest, spine, and neck during rear crashes. The reason this collision tends to cause those injuries is whiplash. Whiplash describes when your head whips violently forward and back as a result of the impact.

Side-End Collision

When the frontend of a vehicle collides into the side of another, it can cause injuries to people sitting on either end. A person sitting on the side that was collided into may suffer injury in the chest and abdomen. One sitting on the opposite side of the collision may suffer a head injury and sometimes chest. If two are in the vehicle, the person on the struck-side will be hit by the door panel and smack into the person on the opposite side, which launches that person into the panel where the seatbelt is stationed.

If you or someone you know has suffered one of these collisions, let Brothers Collision & Mechanical get your vehicle back to looking its best with new parts at our auto body shop located locally in Rochester NY!

Slippery Leaves of Autumn May Cause Collisions

The NYS DMV reported 23,491 total crashes in 2013 were due to slippery pavement. While this factor only accounts for about 9% of the total crashes in that year, we thought it’d be useful to throw a statistic your way that we find has some significance to this season.

Autumn may not seem like a particularly dangerous season to go driving; however, it produces some factors that contribute to dangerous, slippery roads. What are those factors?

Beware of the Blinding, Slippery Roads of Autumn

Some road cautions caused by autumn include:

• frosty roads
• icy bridges
• slippery leaves

• foggy windows
• early sunsets

While it’s a trademark of Rochester to keep us guessing about the weather, the autumn season is perhaps when weather is the most unpredictable of all. This season shifts from warm, to cold, to rainy, to foggy, to frosty, and returns to warm in a matter of a few days. The rapidly changing weather doesn’t allow us to prepare ahead and know what to expect on the roads.

So how do we defend ourselves against dangerous road conditions caused by autumn in Rochester? Awareness. Take a look again at our bullet points above. One point that surprises some people is slippery leaves.

Fallen leaves and wet weather can cause slippery conditions because piles of leaves accumulate a lot of water. When you see them on the road, slow down and try to avoid wet leaf patches (maybe dry leaf piles too - just incase someone’s hiding in there).  

Also, the earlier sunsets of autumn may cause the sun to blind your vision as you drive home from work. Make sure you have a pair of sunglasses with you for your drive. Also, make sure your vehicle’s defrost system is working in proper condition to defend against the fog caused by chilly mornings.

Find out the most current issues that cause collisions by contacting us at Brothers Collision & Mechanical. Check in with us next month for another post! Also, please share with us your questions and concerns so we can address them for you and others who have the same questions. Thanks!

2 Important Things to Consider after a Collision

Say you’re driving around the autumny roads of Rochester - and BAM - you collide with another driver. Here are two very important guidelines to follow before you visit our collision shop at Brothers Collision & Mechanical:

1. Don’t Drive Off

No matter how small a car collision, it can actually be illegal to drive away without doing the following:   

• Stop & pull over (if possible)
• Check on the other driver
• Exchange car insurance
• Report accident

Not doing these things could get you in legal trouble in case the driver, nearby property owners, or general traffic has been influenced by your collision.

2. 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

   Call 911

   
   

If no one was hurt, and if both vehicles are in good shape, you may be tempted to avoid reporting the accident to the authorities. However, that’s a bad idea. Here are two reasons you should call 911:

• Have full report in case of allegations
• Medical assistance in case of injuries

You might agree with the other driver to keep authorities out of your collision. But there might be an ugly surprise waiting for you if the other driver doesn’t have proper insurance. USA Today reported that 1/7 drivers don’t carry car updated or real car insurance.

Don’t allow your car accident to snowball into legal trouble. Report the accident and do the right things to decrease later problems. Then take your vehicle to our collision shop in Rochester, NY for amazing restoration service!

Know What to Expect from a New York Car Inspection

Each year, every car in New York needs to be inspected. That inspection ensures every vehicle on New York roadways is safe. The safety of all drivers and passengers is at stake. Inspection centers take the process very seriously and so should vehicle owners. If you own a car in New York, you should be aware of what’s involved with a New York state car inspection.

Vital components of your car will be thoroughly inspected. The brakes are among those components. The brake drums, discs, and brake pads are all checked over. Brake lines and hoses are also inspected. This is done by removing one wheel and inspecting the brakes for that particular wheel. If your brakes have been making that dreaded grinding noise or you find you have to press harder to get the car to slow, you may have to have the pads and discs replaced to pass inspection.

Lights save lives. Without properly working headlights, brake lights, and tail lights, you are just asking for an accident. Each light has to be operational. If you are pulled over for not having working brake lights, you could face steep fines and you certainly won’t pass inspection. Lights that have blown out are an affordable and easy fix. It is much cheaper to pay for a new tail light than a traffic citation for driving an unsafe car. If you’re in an accident because someone didn’t realize you were stopping, you’ll pay higher insurance premiums.

The steering and suspension components are also important to the safety and operation of your vehicle. If your steering wheel is tight, leaks, or doesn’t smoothly return back to a center position, it may be leaking power steering fluid or have loose ball joints. If it rotates smoothly, there are no visible leaks, and there is no shaking when you drive over certain speeds, you’ll have no issues passing state inspection.

Other parts of the car are just as important. The horn and mirrors all need to be present and working correctly. The windows must be free from cracks to pass inspection.

When the time comes to have your yearly New York state inspection for your car, let Brothers Collision and Mechanical (auto mechanic Rochester NY) take a peek at what is going on. We will inspect the vehicle and fix any issues, both large or small. Your safety is riding on each of those components and we take that responsibility very seriously. Our inspection process can eliminate ugly surprises.