Racial profiling is a law-enforcement no-no, but “automotive profiling” is a going concern in every state across the land. Drive a bright-colored car, or an obviously sporty/performance car, and you dramatically increase your chances of being issued a piece of payin’ paper - because your car stands out from the crowd. It’s not fair...
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Here’s a nice little vide that shows you the basics: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwJ0A…layer_embedded Here are a couple of things not discussed: * If you don’t have access to a lift, you will probably need a floor jack and (to be safe) jack stands to give you enough access to crawl underneath the car. If you’re cheap,...
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But what about us? Air bags and crumple zones make a car more crashworthy. But they don’t make it less likely we’ll crash the car. That’s still up to us, to a great extent at least. To avoid crunching the sheetmetal: * Stay awake - Some of us can stay alert longer than others,...
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What do all those numbers (and letters) really mean? Here’s a short primer on tire-related terminology that should help you get to know your four friends a bit better: * Contact Patch - As your tires rotate, only a portion of the total tread is actually in contact with the ground at any given...
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For decades, it has been pretty easy to visually pick out cop cars from the crowd. Even without a radar detector, alert drivers knew to slow down when they saw a Ford Crown Victoria (http://64.251.10.3/nimg/2007/04/thum…9894-img_0.jpg) or Chevy Impala sedan (http://www.flickr.com/photos/stuart166axe/1877925318/) up ahead. Because for the most part, only two types of people drove these...
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Two of the factors most people consider when shopping for a new car are its overall reputation for quality and reliability (as well as that of the company which built it) and the warranty it comes with. What’s interesting, when you think about it, is that some of the brands with the best reputation...
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Toyota’s troubles with run-amok cars is apparently related somehow to the drive-by-wire throttle control used in models like the Prius hybrid. With drive-by-wire, there is no physical connection between the gas pedal and the engine. Sensors tell a computer how far down you’ve pushed the accelerator pedal, and this information is routed to the...
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I have two “modern” vehicles – a ’98 and a 2002 Nissan Frontier pick-up. Both basically identical except one is 4WD (manual control, part-time) and one (the ’02) has intermittent wipers. The trucks have the standard four cylinder engine (sufficient for me), AC and heat, disc/drum brakes and a basic AM/FM stereo with two...
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Have you noticed how expensive tires – even basic tires – have become? Your run-of-the-mill radial now runs close to $100 (less mounting, tire stems and all that). It’s easy to drop $400 or more to replace all four tires – and that’s for an “economy” car. If you own a late-model family car,...
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“Bleeding” the brakes just means purging air from inside the lines, master cylinder and wheel cylinders. If the brake pedal feels spongy – especially after you’ve done brake work that involved opening any of the lines – you’ve probably got some air in the system. Air, unlike brake fluid, can be compressed. That’s is...
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