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At Star City Tire and Battery Service, of course we want your auto repair business…but not everything qualifies as auto repair! We ran across a few fun tips that can make your life go a little easier when it comes to your car and thought we’d share them with you.

• Over time, the battery in your remote-entry key fob will weaken and the fob won’t be as effective. If you’ve noticed its range decreasing, try holding the fob against your head or under your chin. It sounds weird, but the idea is to couple the fob’s signal with your head; all the capacitance in your skull will serve as a conductor and turn your head into an antenna. It can extend the fob’s wireless range by 10 or 20 yards!
• A frozen car lock can be a real nuisance – the alcohol in hand sanitizer can cut through the frost and thaw it.
• If your doors ever froze shut on a cold morning, try spraying some cooking spray on the rubber weather stripping surface and wipe it down. It’ll condition the rubber and prevent the doors from freezing shut again.
• Ever shredded a fingernail trying to pry apart the double rings of a keychain so you can slip another key onto it? The teeth of a staple remover work pretty well for this, and can easily give you enough space to add the key or whatever else you want to put on the keychain.
• While we’re speaking of keys and keychains, your keychain shouldn’t really have anything more than the ignition key and the fob on it. Your ignition switch will be used tens of thousands of times over the life cycle of the vehicle, and the extra weight of additional keys and other junk puts pressure on the switch’s contacts. You can easily end up with an ignition switch that needs replacement…why pay for an expensive auto repair that’s completely avoidable?
• Got to get home with a hot pizza before it gets cold? Put it on your heated passenger seat!
• Do you keep banging the car door on the wall of a tight garage? Take a kid’s foam pool noodle, cut it in half down the middle and screw it to the wall as a bumper!
• If your car has a small dent, you might be able to pull it out again with the suction of a toilet plunger without damaging the paint. If it’s a hail ding on the roof, trunk or hood, you can sometimes put a cube of dry ice on the ding on a blazing-hot afternoon and it will pop out on its own (this one works better with dark-colored cars).
• Need a cheap air freshener? A couple of dryer sheets can do the job, without the overwhelming smell of many air fresheners.
• Ever tried keeping a bagel in a CD spindle case? They fit perfectly and stay fresh!

These simple, ingenious end-runs around everyday problems can help…and they work! When it’s time for real auto repair, though, give us a call at Star City Tire & Battery Service at 6802 Peters Creek Road in Roanoke, VA and let us help you out.