Bosch is offering RockAuto customers an exclusive instant 20% rebate off their Oil Filters, Air Filters, Cabin Air Filters and Fuel Filters, throughout the month of November, 2025! All Bosch filters are designed to offer maximum efficiency in capturing dirt, dust and other contaminants.

Their HEPA (High Efficiency Particulate Air) Cabin Air Filters trap 99.97% of airborne pollutants including mold, dust, allergens and harmful bacteria. HEPA Cabin Air Filters are comprised of three layers (support, HEPA, and cotton) that provide outstanding filtering efficiency for the cleanest air possible.

Also through the month of November 2025, WJB is offering RockAuto customers an exclusive 10% off instant manufacturer rebate on the entire line of WJB Wheel Hubs, Bearings, Seals and more!

Since their inception in 1992, WJB has focused on and excelled at making automotive and industrial bearing products. WJB is recognized as a market leader with high-precision products and an ever expanding product selection. WJB has been an OE supplier to car manufacturers since 2012.

Find these parts listed in various categories (Fuel & Air, Brake & Wheel Hub ...) under your specific vehicle in the RockAuto.com catalog! Simply add qualifying parts (marked with a in catalog) to your cart and instantly save!

The clutch on my 1997 Ford F150 V6 started acting up. The pedal would get hard, and the clutch would not engage. I decided to replace the master and slave cylinder, and since that involved pulling the transmission, I decided to replace the throwout bearing, flywheel clutch disc and pressure plate while I was at it. I ordered everything from RockAuto and set to work. I put the truck on the lift, and following the Haynes manual, started the disassembly. Once all the old parts were off, I cleaned everything, set the manual aside, installed all the new parts, filled the transmission and clutch master cylinder, bled the clutch, and started the truck.

Bad news though ... with the engine running the transmission would not shift out of whatever gear it was in when started. Back to the Haynes manual for a review of what I might have missed. Turns out I'd assumed reassembly was the reverse of disassembly. It kind of was, but I'd missed one important step. The manual warned that with the self adjusting clutch it was critical to first ensure the adjustment springs were compressed to a certain value. I'd assumed, wrongly it turns out, the pressure plate was pre-adjusted. I assumed wrong. According to the manual I bled the clutch incorrectly as well.

Once I put everything back together a second time, the clutch and transmission shifted beautifully. I learned a valuable lesson that day. Fully read the manual/instructions, both disassembly and assembly, prior to starting work!

John in Arkansas

Why are sun visors failing sooner even when cars are lasting longer? Common symptoms of a failing sun visor include:

A broken hinge/swivel plate can easily be responsible for all these symptoms except for damaged upholstery. The sun visor's hinge/swivel plate bears weight and likely is integrated with the tensioner device that keeps the closed visor pressed against the roof.

Frequent use can wear out the hinge/swivel plate faster. Unfortunately, even rarely used sun visors may face extreme "frequent use" conditions when people do not bother to snap the other end of the sun visor into its retaining clip. Whether bouncing down the road or sitting in the garage, all the weight of the sun visor is always hanging on the hinge/swivel plate and its tensioner device. Plastic is likely to fracture sooner, and the tensioner is more likely to jam or tear away from its mounting.

Some car manufacturers' sun visor hinge/swivel plates are better than others, but if the designers included a clip/retainer at the other end of the sun visor, then the sun visor needed it. If you are skeptical, then grab one end of a modestly heavy book and hold it at arms length for a few minutes. Now rest the other end of the book on something like a table or shelf. The sense of relief you feel in your hand and wrist is what the sun visor hinge/swivel plate would "feel" if people started using the sun visor's retaining clip.

To try and understand why more people have stopped using the retainer clips, I did an unscientific study of the sun visors in my family fleet. I quickly was reminded that leaving the sun visor unclipped in my '71 Ford LTD will result in a smack in the face when the huge visor pivots the first time the car goes around a corner. The precisely designed and built sun visors on newer cars are less likely to sag and swing around wildly, so it is easier to get away with not using the clip/retainer.

There are clip-less exceptions. I noticed that the sun visors on my '79 Chrysler 300 (Cordoba) were designed with sturdy metal hinge/swivel plates that apparently do not need help from any retaining clips. After nearly fifty years, the interior's rich Corinthian leather is tattered, but the sun visors are still working perfectly even without retaining clips. (It may help that it is often cloudy where I live.)

See the replacement sun visors available for your specific vehicle under "Interior" in the RockAuto.com catalog. Replacing a sun visor is typically an easy DIY project; pry off a small trim piece, remove a few screws and disconnect the electrical connector for the vanity mirror. Remember to protect those new (or old) hinge/swivel plates by always snapping sun visors back into any available retaining clips.

Tom Taylor,
RockAuto.com

To read more of Tom's articles, choose from story titles on the Newsletter Archives page.