With winter just now starting to get harsh, it is a good time to make sure your car is prepared for the conditions to come. Taking a little bit of time and money to prepare your car for winter will almost always pay off in the long run. It is always possible that you can make it through the winter without doing any of these things and have no problems, but if something does happen to come up, you’ll be wishing you had spent a few minutes preparing instead of waiting hours in the freezing cold for help. We have assembled a short list of preparation tips for winterizing your car here, and hopefully with a little bit of prep you can survive another winter trouble-free.
1.Check your coolant
Coolant levels and dilution are of paramount importance when temperatures drop. You should be able to pick up a hydrometer or refractometer for measuring the ratio of coolant:water at most auto parts stores, and by making sure the ratio is correct for the temperatures you will encounter you can prevent the coolant from freezing in your system and causing problems. If you have any questions about how to measure the coolant mixture or what mixture to use in your area, don’t be afraid to ask the folks at your auto parts store or look up charts online.
Local municipalities in New Jersey have made headlines recently after several media outlets (read: media outlets not under the heavy thumb of Nunzio - newspaperman, restaurateur, used car dealer, and waste disposal extraordinaire) discovered that certain governments have begun following the Tony Soprano model of public service. Apparently, many resort communities located along the Jersey Shore are now charging motorists a fee for any public services rendered in relation to a traffic accident. In Cape Many County, NJ, the local government of Wildwood began charging for nearly every accident-related service from fluid clean-up to emergency medical care, with fees ranging from $750 to $2,500. So how successful has the seemingly ludicrous campaign been? Although the policy has only been effective for about a year, as of August 2008, the city of Wildwood has banked roughly 10 grand. Defending what citizens outside of NJ state lines would call an almost criminal practice, Wildwood Commissioner William Davenport explained that the new program was actually aimed at helping locals. “We are a tourist town,” reasoned Davenport, “Rightfully so, if a tourist has the accident, why should the local taxpayers foot the entire bill?”
As if the BMW 3 Series didn’t have enough accolades and history and positive press about it already, now they’re officially the most reliable car in the UK. This according to the annual Fleet News FN50 reliability survey of all the car leasing companies in Britain.
The survey takes into account the reliability history of 881,000 vehicles. Japanese automakers have traditionally been on top, but this year, BMW took the top spot. In addition to the #1 position, BMW also has two other spots in the top ten with the 1 Series and the Mini.
The survey assessed vehicles by the number of breakdowns per 100 of each type of model on each leasing company’s fleet, that gives them a simple percentage. Easy peasy… now check out the official press release and the complete top ten list:
CerMet Labs has introduced CerMet-Auto, a ceramic nanotechnology coating that supposedly reduces friction in engine parts. That reduced friction in turn translates into improved fuel economy. That’s the claim, at least. It’s designed to go in with the engine oil, then it’s carried to the areas of friction and bonds with the metal surfaces.
The company says it can improve your gas powered engine’s fuel efficiency by 5 to 15%. It comes in 10ml syringes for almost $200 dollars. CerMet CEO Dean Rose said: “Our product represents the meeting of nanotechnology, green initiatives, and the urgent imperative to reduce fuel consumption costs. It’s easy to apply, and provides a very high return-on-investment for the user.”
Closed-circuit television footage from a security camera mounted in the lot of a Volkswagen dealership filmed the unfortunate result of a poorly maintained eighteen wheeler with improperly greased bearings. First seen in the distance hurtling off the expressway, the enormous, smoking tire bounced through the dealership parking lot before slamming into a parked car.
Seen later off camera: two understandably startled salesman discreetly changing their undergarments.
A federal judge ruled today that NYC can’t force taxi operators to switch to hybrid technology. The city has over 13,000 yellow taxicabs. Nearly 1,500 of them are already hybrids because their owners decided, because of market pressures instead of government pressures, to use hybrids.
The rule that NYC was trying to enforce would have required all taxicabs coming into service achieve a fuel-efficiency city rating of 25 miles per gallon or higher, rising to 30 m.p.g. by Oct. 1, 2009. The Crown Vic, workhorse of the taxi fleet, gets 13 mpg.
There’s no shortage of aftermarket wheel accessories available out there today, and despite the presence of a few designs significantly lacking in taste, sometimes the perfect wheel can be the cherry on top (or -erm- on the bottom) of an absolutely delicious ride. As Chris from Automoblog pointed out, however, choosing the perfect set of shoes for your old metal lady shouldn’t be approached casually and actually requires a small amount of research in order to be done correctly.
Sure, the guys at your weekly basketball game might be impressed when you cruise up to the half court Wednesday night with a sweet set of 20″ Giovanni’s on your ‘98 Crown Vic, but you’re going to have a mighty tough time looking fly later on when you have to cruise on over to Pep Boys with roughly $2,000 in transmission damage. Over-sized wheels (typically defined as anything exceeding 15″ in circumference) have a tendency to throw off the OEM wheel-to-hub ratio, which can lead to anything from snapped ball joints to speedometer inaccuracies. In addition, incorrectly sized tires will alter your final drive ratio, producing more “roll out” and placing essentially the same amount of stress on your transmission as would be caused by constantly towing a trailer.
In Canada, two Kitchener men suffered minor burns on Friday night after a seemingly routine auto repair job caused an explosion inside Lisbon Automotive Services on Sterling avenue. According to police who responded to the scene, the explosion was caused by a cutting torch the two men had been using to remove a rusty bolt from the gas tank of an automobile. The cutting torch reportedly ignited fuel that had pooled beneath the vehicle, as well as a bucket of fuel that had been sitting nearby.
For anyone interested in auto detailing or even if you just love cars, you have to go over the Detailing World forums and see a write-up of the job done on this Lamborghini Gallardo. This is, without a doubt, the most amazing detailing job I have ever seen in my life. The guy, Clark Aitken, is from a company called Polished Bliss in the UK, and I’m completely blown away by this guy’s work ethic.
This is apparently a new service the business offers called the Ne Plus Ultra treatment, which means ‘the ultimate, nothing is better than”. Every single microscopic swirl on that car was eliminated. It took him 32 hours of machine polishing and over 55 hours of work in total to get it done. His write up of the whole job is a great read and he posted 191 high quality pictures of the process as it happened. It’s mind blowing.
Check out a few choice pictures from his write-up:
We’ve all been in this situation before… your car begins smoking or making noises you only thought were possible when small animals die, and now you’re stuck trying to find a decent shop. You’ve heard all the horror stories, you’ve seen the outrageous amounts dealerships charge, so you’re looking for a nice local shop where you won’t get taken for a ride. One problem…most of the local shops are run by gang members or men so old you’re pretty sure they have no idea how to operate Microsoft Paint, let alone try to delve into the computer issues on today’s vehicles. Here we have assembled a list of 20 easy-to-spot signs that you may be better off having your 3 year-old attempt a fix than have work done at such a shop.
1. Your friends have had bad experiences at the shop. Okay so this may seem like a no-brainer, but in all seriousness when you need to choose a shop for work on your car, ask your friends. Let their experiences help you in finding a good quality place and a good price.
