Suspension systems will continue to operate effectively for many years and tens of thousands of miles. Eventually BMW components do wear out, but how long that takes depends a lot on how you drive in Fairfield.

As you can imagine, if most of your driving is on smooth CA highways, your shock absorbers will last a lot longer than if you do most of your driving on bumpy roads or hauling heavy loads. In addition to just wearing out, BMW suspension components can be damaged in an accident or by a hard impact – like a pothole, hitting a curb or a rock in the road. Because the life span of shocks can vary so widely, your BMW manufacturer recommends periodic inspections.

During an inspection at Motoring Specialists, your honest Fairfield service technician will check for worn, broken or missing parts. Let me give a rundown of the major suspension components.

First there are the springs. The springs hold the weight of the vehicle. There are several kinds of springs. Springs are obviously heavy duty parts that rarely break or wear out. Shock absorbers work in conjunction with springs to smooth out the ride and help keep the tires on the road. The shocks are key to handling performance and ride comfort.

You’ve probably heard of struts. They combine a shock absorber and a coil spring in one unit. Shocks and struts will wear out over time. There are some signs that shocks or struts are wearing out. The tires may have a cupped wear pattern. This is from the shocks bouncing unevenly. You may notice a floaty or drifting sensation when cornering. If the front of your BMW dives excessively when stopping, or rocks back and forth after you stopped, your shocks may be worn out. And if they are leaking fluid, it’s definitely time to replace them.

If you are experiencing any of these symptoms, visit Motoring Specialists for a suspension inspection. Same if you’ve been in an accident that involved one of your wheels. If your BMW suspension actually fails, it could lead to a serious accident, so take care of these things.

When you replace your shocks, it’s usually a good idea to replace all four at the same time. That’ll give you more even handling. Talk with your Motoring Specialists service advisor because you don’t want a big difference between the performance of your shocks from wheel to wheel, and replacing all may be the safest bet.

There different grades of shocks and struts. You always want to use a replacement shock or strut that equals the one that came as original equipment when your BMW was new. But remember, they were designed to meet the expected needs of the broad range of Fairfield people who buy that particular vehicle. Your needs may be more specialized.

For example if you want increased handling performance for your BMW, your honest Motoring Specialists advisor can recommend an upgraded shock or strut to give you what you want. If you haul heavy loads or trailers, you can get a more heavy duty shock absorber.

Welcome to the Motoring Specialists blog. Today, let’s talk about the effect of tire tread depth on braking. When talking about stopping power, most of us Dixon drivers tend to focus on our brakes. But our tires are where the rubber meets the road. So having good brakes isn’t enough. Safe Dixon drivers need to have tires with enough traction to translate braking power into stopping power.

Let’s focus on stopping in wet Dixon conditions. In order for a tire to have good contact with the road, it has to move the water out of the way. If it can’t move the water, the tire will actually ride on top of a thin film of water.

That’s called hydroplaning. If it’s really bad, Dixon drivers can actually spin out of control. At best, you won’t stop as fast.

So how does a tire move water? It has channels for water to flow through. Look at your BMW tire and you’ll see channels: channels that run around the tire and channels that flow across the tire. They’re designed to direct water away from the tire so it can contact the road better.

And the deeper the channel, the more water it can move. A brand new Motoring Specialists tire has very deep channels and can easily move a lot of water. As the tire wears down, the channels become shallower and can move less water. When it wears down enough, it can seriously affect your ability to stop your BMW on wet Dixon roads.

So that’s why it’s so important to replace our BMW tires when they get worn. Consumer Reports and other advocate groups call for a standard of 3/32 of an inch and they have the studies to prove it.

By comparison, you’ve probably seen the wear indicator that’s molded into tires. When tires are worn 3/32 of an inch, the tread wear bar is visible. So the recommended standard has twice the tread depth as a completely worn out BMW tire.

At Motoring Specialists, we want our customers to know that the deeper recommended tread depth makes a big difference. Stopping distances are cut dramatically on wet Dixon roads. A safe stop from CA freeway speeds with 4/32 of an inch of tread would result in a crash with worn out tires.

There’s an easy way to tell when a tire’s worn to 4/32 of an inch. Just insert a quarter into the tread. Put it in upside down. If the tread doesn’t cover George Washington’s hairline, it’s time to replace your BMW tires. With a Canadian quarter, the tread should cover the numbers in the year stamp.

Many Dixon car owners have heard of this technique using a penny and Abe Lincoln’s head. That measure gives you 2/32 of an inch – half the suggested amount. Of course, BMW tires are a big ticket item. Most of us in Dixon want to get as many miles out of them as we can. But there’s a real safety trade-off. It’s your choice.