Automobile

Somewhere under your car, dozens of small rubber-and-metal parts are quietly doing one of the toughest jobs in the automotive world. They’re called suspension bushings, and they connect the metal parts of your suspension together — control arms, sway bars, struts, and subframes. They’re small, they’re cheap, and when they wear out, your car feels…

Somewhere between a vat of glowing liquid metal and the smooth, gray foundation under your hood lies one of the most impressive manufacturing stories in the world. Making an engine block means taking molten iron or aluminum and turning it into a part with holes measured in microns, passages you can’t see, and surfaces flat…

You’re cruising down the highway, everything feels smooth, and then it starts: a subtle vibration in the steering wheel that grows into a full-body shimmy. Or maybe your car shakes when you hit the brakes. Or perhaps it only shakes when you’re sitting at a red light. Car shaking is one of the most common…

There’s an old joke among car buyers: “How long will the engine last?” The salesman says, “How long do you need it to last?” It’s a funny line, but behind it is a real question every used-car shopper and owner asks: how many miles can an engine actually survive? The honest answer might surprise you….

Here’s a fun question to break the ice at a party: why are car tires black? After all, natural rubber — the stuff tires are made from — starts out looking like pale cream, almost like milk or a stick of butter. So why does every tire on the road end up jet black? It’s…

You’ve probably heard the term “control arm” thrown around by mechanics and car enthusiasts, usually attached to words like “bushings,” “ball joints,” and “replacement.” But what exactly is a control arm, and why does it matter so much? It’s one of those parts that silently keeps your car glued to the road, and when it…

Every time you hit the brakes, a spinning cast iron disc has to survive temperatures high enough to glow in the dark — and it does it thousands of times, for years, without complaint. That disc is the brake rotor (or brake disc), and making one is a fascinating industrial process of casting, machining, drilling,…

Picture this: you’re driving on a wet highway, and the car ahead slams on its brakes. You stomp the brake pedal as hard as you can… and instead of screeching and skidding, the pedal starts pulsing rapidly under your foot, like a drumroll. That buzz you feel is your anti-lock braking system — ABS —…