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Schedule Service The Phoenix area is known for its warm to hot temperatures all year round, with nearly every day in the summer topping 99°F. While driving, it’s important to be cautious about the effects extreme heat can have on your vehicle. For a safe drive, our Phoenix area Volkswagen dealership encourages you to follow these six warm weather driving tips: 1. Check Your Battery In the hot weather, car batteries are more susceptible to damage. Constant heat and vibration can cause the battery to suffer an internal breakdown, eventually leading to failure. You can protect your battery by making sure it is securely attached to prevent vibration. If your battery is three or more years old, get it tested by a technician in our VW service center to determine how much longer it will last! 2. Maintain Your Car’s Cooling System When temperatures rise, extra pressure is put on your vehicle’s engine. Additionally, the rubber cooling system parts can also deteriorate when exposed to extreme heat. Have a technician inspect your cooling system to make sure it can properly protect your engine from overheating. 3. Inspect All Fluids Your car requires a few essential fluids to keep it running. High temperatures will evaporate your vehicle’s fluid levels and reduce their cooling effect, which leads to overheating. You should inspect all of your car’s fluids, including: Motor oil Transmission fluid Power steering fluid Brake fluid 4. Check Tire Pressure Always make sure your tires are properly inflated, as under-inflated tires can overheat and increase the likelihood of a dangerous blowout. Maintaining the correct tire pressure is also very important for getting the best gas mileage and a long life out of your tires. 5. Make Sure Your Air Conditioning Works When a heat wave hits, a cool environment is crucial to keep you safe and protected. Make sure your air conditioning system is maintained to sufficiently cool down your car’s interior. If your air conditioning isn’t working as well as it should, it could be due to a blocked or broken condenser, low refrigerant, or electrical faults. 6. Be Prepared For a Breakdown Even if you properly maintain your vehicle, there is still a chance it could breakdown on a hot day. Stay prepared for this possibility by storing an emergency kit in your car with these items: Water Non-perishable food items Jumper cables A flashlight with extra batteries Road flares Emergency beacon Basic hand tools First aid kit Maintain Your VW Model For Phoenix Area Weather You should always make sure your vehicle can handle the weather conditions you live in. Stay on top of your car’s recommended maintenance schedule, and get repairs fixed immediately. Face it, the last thing you want is to be stranded somewhere in the heat! For more warm weather driving tips, please don’t hesitate to contact the team at our VW dealership near Phoenix today! Schedule Service

Why is There Brake Pedal Vibration in My VW? When you step on the brakes, a vibrating pedal is never a good sign. This motion can vary from slight shaking to severe shuddering, depending on the problem and its severity. If you’re experiencing this unsettling feeling when you hit your brakes, it’s likely caused by one of these four underlying issues: Schedule Service VW Brake Service Specials 1. Brake Pad Issue If your brake pedal shakes when braking, it may be contaminated with dirt, oil, or another substance, causing vibration to occur during the clamping of the pads onto the rotor. Additionally, damaged or excessively worn brake pads can also be one of the causes of a vibrating pedal. Our Glendale area Volkswagen dealership encourages you to check out your VW model’s maintenance schedule to see when your brake pads should be inspected. 2. Brake Disc (Rotor) The rotor functions to slow and stop the vehicle. When you apply the brakes, the spinning rotor slows the car using friction from direct contact with the pads. If your rotor is in poor condition, the brake pedal can vibrate when stopping. If this part of the system is scarred, warped, cracked, or rusted excessively, it can cause an uneven grabbing of brakes, which produces a pulsating feel when the brakes are applied. 3. Improper Wheel Alignment If your tires aren’t properly aligned, they can produce squealing sounds or vibrations when the wheels rub against the brake pads. This issue must be resolved at an early stage, or else it can worsen the functioning of the brake system. 4. Worn Out Components Besides the mentioned causes of brake pedal vibration, components such as worn out ball joints, tie rods, wheel bearings, and other parts of the system can also lead to brake problems. Schedule VW Brake Service With Lunde’s Peoria VW in Peoria, AZ Still wondering why does my brake pedal vibrate when stopping? No matter which component is causing your pedal to vibrate, it’s important that you get it fixed as soon as possible before further damage occurs. Make your way over to our VW auto repair center near Glendale to receive brake service. Our technicians will find the root of the problem make sure that your brake system is back in working order. If you have any questions or would like to schedule a service appointment, please don’t hesitate to contact our service professionals at Lunde’s Peoria Volkswagen! Schedule Service

Spring has sprung, which means that hot, sunny days will be here in no time. While air conditioning in your vehicle is a luxury for some folks, it's an absolute essential when summer comes to our desert climate! Don't get caught unprepared when the thermometer spikes. Instead, visit our Phoenix area Volkswagen service center now to ensure that you're ready for the heat that summer is sure to bring. Maintaining Your A/C and Condenser For most drivers, the air conditioning is just a knob in the dash that makes cool air pour out of the vents. If you're a bit more savvy, you might be familiar with your vehicle's refrigerant or even know how to recharge it. What you might not know, though, is the importance of your vehicle's air conditioning condenser. Located at the front of the engine bay along with your radiator, your condenser actually serves a very similar purpose to the radiator it's next to: it allows refrigerant to release heat. Then, the condenser does exactly what it's name suggests and condenses the refrigerant from a gas back to a liquid state so that it can continue efficiently cooling your car's cabin. If the air conditioning isn't blowing air as cold as it should be, or if you're finding that your windows are fogging up when the a/c is on, it's an indicator that your refrigerant may be low or that your condenser might be leaking. Our experts can diagnose the root of the problem and, if you do need a new condenser, help you find the right fit in our Phoenix area Volkswagen parts department. The best favor you can do for yourself when it comes to your car's a/c is to check it and have it serviced before you need it. Next time your in your car, crank the air conditioning for a bit and see how it feels. If it's not up to snuff, simply contact Lunde's Peoria Volkswagen by calling (623) 745-8745 to schedule an appointment and get set for summer! Schedule Service

Using your reasoning, it's easy to assume that antifreeze is important when the weather is cold and that coolant is important when the weather is hot. The truth, though, is that antifreeze and coolant are one in the same! No matter what the weather is like, the experts at our Phoenix area Volkswagen service center know that your car typically runs at somewhere around 200º once it's warmed up. As such, it's important that coolant runs around the engine to channel heat away to the radiator, where it's cooled off. Water does this job well, but is susceptible to boiling or freezing under many circumstances. This is why most vehicles run on a 50:50 mix of water and antifreeze. If you're filling your reservoir, though, be sure to take note of whether you're buying pre-mixed, or pure antifreeze. If you buy pure antifreeze, you'll need to dilute it when adding it to your vehicle. How Often to Change Your Coolant at Our Phoenix Area Service Center Asking how often you should flush your coolant and replace it, unfortunately, is a simple question that doesn't have a simple answer. The team at our Phoenix area shop recommends consulting your vehicle's routine maintenance schedule, found in your manual, which varies from one vehicle manufacturer to the next. Most modern vehicles have a longer coolant life, some being marked for changing as high as 150,000 miles or even with a “lifetime” designation. Even these should be changed when they degrade, though; our experts can test your coolant to see how it's holding up. If your car is overheating, if the coolant is leaking, or if the coolant is visibly discolored, you should come in for service right away. To learn more about your vehicle's coolant, how to maintain it, and when your specific vehicle needs it changed, be sure to contact the Lunde's Peoria Volkswagen team at (602) 714-3968! Schedule Service

The sound of your vehicle's engine starting up can be music to your ears, and many motorists even spend time modifying their vehicles to get the perfect exhaust note that they're after. Cars, by their very nature, tend to make noise when in use. We take many of these sounds in stride and let them blend into the backdrop of driving. But what about when a new noise pops up? Just like something that goes bump in the night, a new noise coming from your car can certainly be a cause for concern. While your instinct might be to turn up the stereo and hope it's nothing serious, the more practical response is to pay us a visit at our Phoenix area Volkswagen service center to figure out what's going on! Common Sounds and the Issues That Cause Them At Lunde's Peoria Volkswagen, our experts have years of experience that means we speak your car's language. Those mystery noises aren't so mysterious to our team, especially thanks to all of our advanced diagnostic equipment. Whether the issue is overdue vehicle maintenance or an unexpected repair, our Phoenix area team can get you back on top of things. If the sound tends to pop up while you're cornering, it's almost always related to your steering linkage. It could be as simple as a need for lubrication, or it could be more serious. Only an expert can tell you which! Squeaking, squealing, or grinding when braking is--you guessed it--typically caused by your brakes. The sooner you address this one, the less damage is done to your brakes and rotors. If you've got a hissing sound, this is typically some kind of leak. Whether it's a faulty hose or coolant escaping under pressure, it's important to get to the bottom of things before the problem worsens. Unexpected noises almost always denote trouble, but the best thing you can do for your vehicle is to have the problems diagnosed and corrected sooner than later. At the first sign of trouble, be sure to contact Lunde's Peoria Volkswagen by calling (602) 714-3968 to schedule a service appointment! Schedule Service

When it comes to your vehicle, coming to a stop is even more important than getting going! After all, if you can't safely slow your vehicle down, an accident is inevitable. To ensure that you always have the stopping power you need, good brakes are a must. So, how do you know when it's time to change your brakes? The team at our Phoenix area Volkswagen service center is here to fill you in. What to Look Out For The first sign that your brakes are wearing out will often be a squeaking or squealing when you apply pressure to the brakes. In itself, this squeak isn't so much a problem as it is a warning; brake pads are made with indicator tabs that make this sound when the brakes wear down. If you've got a squeak, it's time to service your brakes at our Volkswagen service center near Phoenix. If you ignore this sign, though, then the next sound you'll hear will be more like a grinding or screeching. This means your brake pads have worn out, and what you're hearing is the backing of the pads rubbing directly on the rotors. Not only does this impact your stopping power, but it also damages your rotors very quickly. That's why it's important to service your brakes at the first signs of wear to avoid more costly repairs! Of course,  there are other senses besides hearing that can tell you your brakes are low. If you feel like your car is taking longer to stop, or if you're noticing that the brake pedal itself feels different when you press it, it certainly couldn't hurt to have an expert at our shop double check your brake system. For more information on your vehicle's brakes, or if you think you're due for service, don't hesitate to contact us online or to call the Lunde's Peoria Volkswagen team directly at (602) 714-3968. Our team is here to help! Schedule Service