Thanks for stopping by. Our mission at UCR is to recommend businesses in the Utah County area that we know, like, and trust. But more important than that, we want OTHER BUSINESSES to do the same.
A client testimonial can carry a lot of weight with other potential clients. But how often do you question all the client “testimonials” a company has?
For this reason, we are reaching out to Utah County businesses and asking them to recommend the businesses they prefer to work with. After all, a business owner often has a different view of other businesses that the standard consumer.
Oil changes – those pesky check-ups that come around more often than you probably think they should.
Oil changes are so routine it isn’t difficult to find a great auto shop to schedule an appointment with. But perhaps you’re one of those people that likes to get this sort of thing done yourself.
The overall price of an oil change in the shop and a DIY change is roughly the same. But there can be a certain satisfaction in doing it yourself.
Important points to remember:
Always let the engine completely cool before changing the oil.
Be sure the car is parked on level ground.
Secure the car on jack stands for safety.
What you’ll need:
Something to catch spills – cardboard, plywood, a huge sheet of plastic or a bunch of newspaper if nothing else.
A wrench and/or ratchet that will fit your
A recycling container to catch the old oil in
A new oil filter
New oil
Clean rags
A large funnel
The oil change process:
Find and unscrew the oil plug, drain the old oil into the recycling container. Then clean and replace the plug. (DO NOT DRAIN HOT OIL.)
Remove the old oil filter using a wrench. Be careful when removing, it may still be full of oil.
Take the new oil filter and lubricate the rubber gasket with some new oil and fill it about 2/3 full with new oil.
Trying not to spill, screw on the new oil filter with your hand (not a wrench). Don’t over-tighten the filter or it may leak.
After determining how much oil your engine holds, use the funnel to pour new oil in.
Screw on the cap and warm up the engine. Wait a few minutes and check the oil levels.
Congratulations, you have now successfully changed your own oil!
If this seems like too much to handle, schedule your next oil change in South Utah County.
Provo, Utah is a pretty popular city for auto mechanics and rightfully so – with thousands of naive kids who have come from across the county to attend school, there are quite a few opportunities to make a quick buck fixing cars.
As a student or resident of Provo, have you ever wondered if you’ve been the victim of a scam when it comes to getting your car serviced?
We’ve been to a few local auto repair shops and really did feel they “up-sold” us on things we truly didn’t need.
So what can a person do?
Luckily, we’ve found some great advice from Reader’s Digest about what to look for in a good auto repair shop. Here’s a summarized list:
15 Important Things to Look for When Selecting an Auto Repair Shop
Look out for scare tactics. ie. “I wouldn’t drive this another mile.”
Don’t be afraid to get a second opinion.
When you do get a second opinion, don’t tell the mechanic what the first diagnosis and price were.
Does the mechanic have AAA or ASE certifications (National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence)
Make sure the mechanic thoroughly explains your repair options. We’ve used Clegg Auto in Provo and they have been great and telling us as much as we want to know.
How clean is the repair shop’s garage? (A garage cluttered with worn tires and empty oil cans is a bad sign.)
Don’t sign ANY blank authorization forms! A shady shop will ask you to sign a blank form or try to sell you an unnecessary transmission flush.
Ask for your old parts back so you know if they’ve been changed and if they are really “worn out”.
Consult your dealer before you have work done on a catalytic converter or emissions parts: some of these items carry long warranties and possibly free replacements.
Don’t be lied to about double labor: if a mechanic offers to change your timing belt and water pump, ask them how long the job will take. Some will charge double the labor even though the second task is essentially done once the belt is removed.
All brakes are not equal. Ask for estimates on brake jobs. Many mechanics will use cheap parts and mark them up. Good mechanics who understand cars won’t ever skimp in this area.
Bring your car into the shop early in the week. If you take it to the shop on Friday, mechanics might rush the job to get out for the weekend.
Be familiar with Utah state tire tread specifications. Make sure you have the mechanic measure the old tread with a gauge and show you the results.
Beware of ads for $100 brake jobs – no mechanic can make money on that – it’s a false promise with up-sell written all over it.
A transmission flush is one of the biggest scams in auto repair. Manufacturers don’t even recommend them and your car almost never needs one.
Is gas mileage an important part of your monthly budget? To many Provo, Utah drivers, we think it is.
Any idea what vehicle gets the worst gas mileage?
And the winner is…
….the Nasa Crawler.
Diesel Fuel Capacity – 5,000 gallons
Fuel Consumption – 1 gallon per 32 feet (approximately 165 gallons per mile)
165 gallons per mile
Aren’t you glad you don’t have that fuel bill?
We are always trying to get better gas mileage on our vehicles. Listed are three tips to improve your gas mileage.
1. Keep Tires Properly Inflated
You can improve your gas mileage by up to 3.3 percent by keeping your tires inflated to the proper pressure. Under-inflated tires can lower gas mileage by 0.3 percent for every 1 psi drop in pressure of all four tires. Properly inflated tires are safer and last longer.
The proper tire pressure for your vehicle is usually found on a sticker in the driver’s side door jamb or the glove box and in your owner’s manual. Do not use the maximum pressure printed on the tire’s sidewall.
Fuel Economy Benefit: Up to 3%
Equivalent Gasoline Savings: Up to $0.11/gallon
2. Keep Your Engine Properly Tuned
Fixing a car that is noticeably out of tune or has failed an emissions test can improve its gas mileage by an average of 4 percent, though results vary based on the kind of repair and how well it is done.
Fixing a serious maintenance problem, such as a faulty oxygen sensor, can improve your mileage by as much as 40 percent.
You can improve your gas mileage by 1–2 percent by using the manufacturer’s recommended grade of motor oil. For example, using 10W-30 motor oil in an engine designed to use 5W-30 can lower your gas mileage by 1–2 percent. Using 5W-30 in an engine designed for 5W-20 can lower your gas mileage by 1–1.5 percent. Also, look for motor oil that says “Energy Conserving” on the API performance symbol to be sure it contains friction-reducing additives.
Ryan Innes has always been one for breaking the ice. From his newsboy cap to his bold kicks, his personal style makes him “fat and sassy”, but it is his wit and boldness that will make you want to support him even more.
Ryan Innes has created his own brand of soul. If Michael Buble and Joni Mitchell had a love child raised by Jimi Hendrix and babysat by Norah Jones, that child would be Ryan Innes. His self-titled EP tastes like dark chocolate, smells like musk, and feels like silk.
Ryan’s voice will dig deep into your memories and help you release emotions long repressed in a way that is new and inspiring. Not only is his skill as a vocalist impeccable, but his ability to express emotion is the difference he brings to the table—then serves with a side of pie. His lyrics are infused with familiarity reminiscent of your mother’s lullabies.
In Beautiful Baby he says “when you give what you’ve got, a little is a lot” and truly, Ryan Innes has given “what [he’s] got”. His is a talent you hear once in a few lifetimes. His music makes you want to love harder, hurt deeper, and let go of all your inhibitions, leaving you speechless—until you learn the words well enough to sing along.
From the local news:
For a long time, music was something in the background for Ryan Innes.
In high school, he could only play football under the condition that he played the piano.
Innes graduated from Eastern Arizona College with an associate’s degree in pre-medical science and was planning on going to medical school to be a pediatrician. During school, he fell in love and was engaged.
But the engagement was broken off three weeks before the wedding.
“I was completely devastated and miserable,” Innes said. “I hated my job. I started to reassess why I was going into medicine. Did I really have a passion for it? No. I was just doing it because of the money and status and nobility of it all. I started to really look at why I hadn’t considered going into music. It was because I didn’t want to teach — that’s all I thought there was.
“Then, through a friend, I discovered the media music program at BYU and realized that was exactly what I wanted to do. I applied to BYU and got in. I auditioned and made it into the school of music. I took the aural skills test (having never taken anything like it in my life), and somehow passed. The doors opened up and I was on my way to BYU to study songwriting and contemporary voice — neither of which I’d ever done before.”
All of the high school choirs and battles with his mom about practicing the piano have paid off. Innes developed his solo voice in the a cappella group Vocal Point. He has honed his voice and songwriting to where listeners can sit back and be confident he will deliver.
“I share my music (because) I can’t help but not,” he said. “It just comes out of me. It’s how I mourn, rejoice, cope, laugh, love. It’s my primary emotional outlet. That being said, it’s not just therapy. I love the craft of writing amazing and clever, but concise and emotive lyrics. I love the concept of creating something that never existed before. I love always having my antennas up for new ideas, lines, phrases. My goal is to make people feel something — to help them let loose and jam, to help them love a little more, to be confident in chasing their own dreams, to attempt the difficult.”
From personal experience, I can say that you can’t help but fall in love with Innes’ soulful voice and lyrics. It’s as though music is just running through his blood.
And it literally is in his blood. One of his ancestors, Peter Howard McBride, was called by Brigham Young to promote singing and music in the Gila Valley.
Although Innes may not have received a call from the prophet to go into music, he has had many experiences in life that have led him to follow this passion and this path.
“I’ve had specific instances where it was confirmed that I should do this, and I’ve never looked back or second-guessed since,” Innes said. “This is what I’m supposed to be doing; it’s what I was born to do.”
Innes has been putting his heart into recording an EP. On June 24, he will have his CD release concert at the Velour in Provo, Utah, with Truman and Jarrett Burns as opening acts
We’ve seen many questions in social media about the current status of the new Provo, Utah temple “on stilts” and what it will eventually look like.
So, our team decided to go check it out and here’s what we found:
We’re excited about the beautiful addition to Utah County and the new visitors it will bring to Provo, Utah businesses in that area.
What are your thoughts on the project?
Additional information about the new Provo Utah Temple:
Provo City leaders see the new temple as another great attraction to downtown businesses in the Provo Utah area.
“It’s an exciting thing for Provo, to see the movement there,” Mayor John Curtis said. “It was very important that the post office and any other entity that needed access retain that access, so we were able to find a portion of that street that worked well to sell to the LDS Church. I think it will be a great enhancement to their project.”
For now, people say they are eager to watch as the burned out shell of the tabernacle is transformed into a temple.
“We’re excited to see how it keeps going and how it is going to look like in the end,” one Provo resident said.
Church officials have said the restoration of the old Provo tabernacle into a new LDS temple will probably take 2 to 2.5 years.
This means it’s on schedule to be finished by the end of 2014.
Maybe you’ve heard this, maybe you haven’t – but we have some pretty reliable sources that tell us that Wal-Mart is coming to Spanish Fork, Utah.
Can you guess where?
Let us give you a few hints:
Know where this is?
How about these hints:
Do you know where that is?
We’ve heard that within the next year or so, construction crews will be “going to town” behind Food 4 Less and KMart in Spanish Fork to build a Wal-Mart, Zupas, and some other big-name businesses.
What are your thoughts on this?
Is it real?
Is it just a rumor?
Do you think it’s stupid to have a Wal-Mart in Spanish Fork when there’s one 5 minutes away in Springville and 10 minutes away in Payson?
Harsh walking conditions and rough foot activity can lead your feet to protect themselves by developing corns. Corns are calluses of dead skin that your feet create in an effort to protect themselves against friction.
Corns can develop on hands, but are most common on feet. They are especially found on toes and smooth, hairless areas of skin.
To treat corns:
Determine which specific activity (or shoe) is causing them. Avoid participating in this activity, if at all possible.
Consider shopping for shoes that will not cause discomfort. Sufficient room for toes is extremely important in shoes.
Soak feet in a solution of warm water and Epsom salts for at least 20 minutes. Be sure to moisturize your feet afterwards.
If the above remedies do not affect the corn positively, consult a foot expert for further expertise. In some cases, even surgery may be required.
Do not attempt to forcibly remove the corn yourself – this could easily result in a much deeper injury. You may be able to lessen the amount of dead skin developing with exfoliation and moisturizing, but be extremely careful with any sharp tools near the callus.
This is a guest post from our friends at Aspen Foot & Ankle. Find out more information about them at http://www.aspenfootandankle.com or call them at 801-465-1345. Doctor Dave Savage is a southern Utah County podiatrist who helps people stay comfortably on their feet.
