AUTO I • GM • FORD • CHRYSLER • HONDA ALL DOMESTIC FOR 1!‘9f° LESS! IMPORTS FREE LOANER LA5S11111111 SEE TODD McDADE OR ALLEN CHARNES THE LEASING PROFESSIONALS LEASING, INC. 28000 Telegraph at Tel-12 Mall, Southfield 354-0570 c alls of town accepted) DAVID BIBER "The Cadillac Man" SUBURBAN MOTORS TROY, MICHIGAN 643-0070 FINEST PERSONAL SERVICE SPECIALIST Ask My Customers • Unbeatable Service and Price Combination! • 1991 Allante Lease for under $40,000 • Pick Up and Drop Off Service • Cadillac Loaner Cars Joe Stamell's Dynamic Wearitiaster 851.3883 FOREIGN CAR SERVICE WHY PAY MORE? FRONT OR • REAR BRAKES • All Brake Work Guaranteed • Turn Drums and Rotors • Semi metallic pads extra $995 • Check Hydraulics t? • Test Drive Car MOST AMERICAN CARS Al2 FRIDAY, JANUARY 4, 1991 • Free Roadside Service For New Car Owners Alignment Wheel Balancing Brakes - Shocks Suspension - Exhaust Foreign & Domestic Cars OPEN MON.-SAT. brakes mufflers shocks macpherson struts & more 32661 Northwestern Farmington Hills FRONT END ALIGNMENT Starting at $ 1995 most cars Parts and Other Service Extra EXHAUST SYSTEM Small & $ 7995 Compact Mid Size $ 8995 Full Size $ 99 95 Single Exhaust, Resonators and Wide Pipes Extra MOST AMERICAN CARS Maintenance Is Key To Car's Look, Feel STEVEN PARKER Special to The Jewish News T here was a time when turning the hose on the trusty family beater was all it took to get your car ready for a night on the town. But paint and tire care for cars has gone high- tech. And today's braking systems, using new materials and computer-controlled elec- tronics are so sophisticated that most of us can barely comprehend how they operate, much less how to maintain them correctly. So the three basic systems that keep your car or truck in tiptop shape — paint, tires and brakes — deserve a bit more of your attention than you may have paid them in the past. FINISH FIRST You might be surprised to learn that car and truck paints have been completely reformulated over the last decade, and these new chemical processes have made paint care something that might be more suited for a chemical engineer than a typical car owner. But lacking your own personal chemist, here is a look at how and why paints have changed — and how to care for them. The enamel paints that were used widely in the auto industry until the start of the 1980s had a lot going for them. Mostly they had a lot of paint going for them. Cars and trucks were painted by being sprayed with layer after layer after layer of colored paint. This made for a great finish on the vehicle if cared for properly, but it also created lots of problems. The process added con- siderably to air pollution pro- blems, and automakers spent time and money developing a new method for painting cars that would cut down on pollution. That method is called clear- coating. Instead of painting with many layers of colored paint, only a few layers of col- or are sprayed on. Then they are covered with several layers of clear-coat paint, which serves to seal the paint and protect the surface. Clear-coating's main pro- blem is that if scratched or damaged in any way, the clear coat tends to show off that damage much more vividly than the old enamel paints. This is because the clear coat, when abraded or scratched, reflects that sur- face problem in a much more pronounced way than the old and polluting enamel paint methods. Clear coat, simply put, is delicate. How to care for clear-coat paints? First, determine the condi- tion of the paint. Has your vehicle been waxed in the past year? Do you live in a bad environment for the clear coat (heavy pollution, high heat, salt from snow-coverd roads, acid rain and factories in your area)? If the paint is generally in bad condition, it is probably best to start the cleaning pro- cess with a moderately abrasive cleanser. Now, do not rush to the kitchen and get out the scouring powder. You need to use products specifically formulated for cleaning the clear coat without scratching the delicate finish. Harry Robinson, a con- sumer relations represen- tative for Armor All Products Corp. of Aliso Viego, Calif., says his company and others like it offer several different kinds of waxes and cleansers