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About Wallowa County chieftain. (Enterprise, Wallowa County, Or.) 1943-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 27, 2019)
14 • Holiday Gift Guide 2019 • Wallowa.com WINTERIZATION TIPS Kevin Neal, of Kevin’s Tires in Wallowa, helps customer Guy Journot, of Promise, load a repaired tire. Neal can get nearly any tire a customer needs for winter, he said. Photos by Bill Bradshaw J.J. Johnson, of JNS Automotive Services in Wallowa, stands with a couple of pickups that did not come with today’s conveniences for winterization — a 1938 Dodge, at left, and a 1935 Dodge. Shops in Wallowa, Lostine make recommendations By Bill Bradshaw Wallowa County Chieftain J.J. Johnson, owner/operator of JNS Automotive Service in Wallowa, says the first thing he recommends motorists do to prepare for winter is to make sure their antifreeze will protect their engines to 35 degrees below zero. “That’s standard to check for,” he said. “Most coolant is designed to be good to minus 35.” He also recommends having a car’s bat- tery load tested to ensure it’ll hold up to the strain of cold weather. “Cold weather is hard on batteries,” he said. “If it’s going to go bad, it’ll go bad on that first cold, cold morning.” From left, Leonard Post, owner of SPS of Oregon, Bill Robb, diesel technician at SPS, and Bryan Makin, of Makin Enterprises in Wallowa confer under the hood of an SPS customer’s vehicle. He also recommended making sure washer fluid has a de-icer, windshield wip- ers are in good condition, tire pressure is up to normal – cold weather can cause them to lose pressure – and to check for exhaust leaks. Johnson said if there is such a leak, it could accumulate in the passenger compart- ment while being warmed up. Kevin Neal, who owns and operates Kev- in’s Tire Shop in Wallowa, is the only tire shop in Wallowa County other than Les Schwab in Enterprise. He receives ship- ments of tires each Friday. Naturally, he recommends motorists make sure their tires are up to winter needs. While he may recommend all-terrain tires, he’s not unmindful of the cost. “You could get a good set of studless snow tires and run them all year around because people with a limited income can’t always afford two sets of tires,” he said. He also offers other service in addition to
