Car Care: Waxstation.com for all your needs

To put it bluntly, Waxstation.com:

• Is a great small business run by great people
• Are experts in all things car care related - interior, exterior, newer cars, older cars, show cars; scratches, washing, waxing, painting, etc. etc.
• Sells only the highest quality products from the industry leader in car care products - that would be Mothers.

Many folks are loyal to Meguiar's and I can understand that. Some folks prefer Turtle Wax, which I think is more of a trendy company, but nonetheless, there's lots of quality products to be had at Auto Zone or Napa. Where you strike out in a franchise store is the personal touch offered by Waxstation.com and the fact that they won't sell abrasive cloths, brushes, or applicators.

Here's where Waxstation.com fits in: if they sold Meguiars products, they'd still sell a great assortment of non-abrasive snow & upholstery brushes, wheel waxes, and other products that allow for great car care. They don't just stock bottles of waxes and polishes and call it a day; they can advise you on how to take care of your vehicle based on make, paint type, age, condition, and your particular wants & needs. As a result, I have no choice but to plug them here after years of dealing with them. The first time I had a question and was referred on a Benz board to Waxstation.com for proper vehicle care, the manager/owner asked me to call him rather than discuss over email. That was back in 2004. He spent a half hour with me on the phone and I wrote down notes that I still have on car care. When David W. took over, he kept the personal touch and I didn't miss a beat in terms of which microfibre cloths to mate to my great Mothers products. Even for something as small as a wheel spoke brush, David spent the time to help me pick the right one; or which detergent to use with microfibre cloths.

They truly are a great American small business and I am proud to be a customer of their business. If you have any car care needs, do yourself a favor and email their sales dept (sales at waxstation dot com, or mail at waxstation dot com). Even if you're nervous about changing brands to Mothers, simply buying microfibre cloths & the proper brushes for your vehicle to apply your other brand will impress you in terms of the order process, the ease of use of their site, the great descriptions of products, and the responsiveness of their sales team.

Tips & Tricks: Aftermarket brakes for German vehicles

Most Honda and Toyota owners have a vast array of options for aftermarket brakes. There are plenty of Honda/Acura and Toyota/Lexus products on the road, as well as the newer Korean brands, such that a ton of different options exist when it's time for new brake pads and/or rotors.

German vehicles can be a bit tricky. They are finicky, and many of them have brake wear sensors (many Japanese vehicles do too but only in their luxury brands). Also, what if it's time for pads but not rotors? Do you go the OEM (original equipment manufacturer, for those not familiar with the term) route, or do you go aftermarket?

All I can tell you is that my experience with aftermarket brakes has been great, and I've used - twice now - BMAParts.com. Sure, this is partly a shout-out to them, but it's also to ease your mind about using aftermarket brakes on a sophisticated luxury car. Note that in both cases below, we used OEM rotors with aftermarket pads, with positive results.

When my E-class needed new brakes, I was ready to go OEM. I had been told by my alignment specialist that OEM is the way to go with any car, when I had a Honda Accord, but I wanted to save money as well as get something without as much brake dust on my Benz wheels (the Benz OEM brakes, on both the W210 [1997-2002 (sedan) or 2003 (wagon)] and W211 chassis [2003 (sedan) and 2004 (wagon) to 2009] produce tons of brake dust). It seemed like I was washing the entire car every week just so I could clean the wheels. This isn't a bad thing - once a week wash is nice in the summer, especially, when one in cold climates has access to an outside hose that often - but it still was causing extra work, despite the great performance I got out of the brakes.

I spoke to a gentleman by the name of Yves at BMAparts.com, and I got the referral from a friend. I told him I didn't want to invest in parts for my Benz that I wouldn't be happy with and he completely understood, and walked me through my options. I told him I was more concerned with performance, though the brakes didn't have to be "track-ready", meaning I wasn't racing the car or anything - they just had to be as safe in terms of 'bite' while also lasting a while, as the OEM brakes.

He recommended the following for my vehicle:

- Brembo discs all around, PBR Metal Masters rear pads, Akebono ceramic front pads

A year later it was time for brakes on my wife's 2000 Lexus ES300 Platinum Edition. Here's what we did on hers. Note that these still having amazing bite a year later because she doesn't drive aggressively and they have been amazing thus far:

- Brembo discs all around, PBR Metal Masters rear pads, Akebono Ceramic front pads

Noticing a pattern yet?

The point is, it's always worth it to explore aftermarket options even on items as important as brakes. Just do your research and work with a well-informed business like BMAParts.com or Autohausaz.com. There are plenty more out there but use your model's preferred forum to get the specific answers you need, or even talk to your parts specialist at your local dealership - they are usually more willing to work with you and answer questions, even about aftermarket parts, than you think.