A Woman's Guide to Basic Tire Care
Women certainly are not helpless. But sometimes we are a little overwhelmed working a 40-hour week, taking care of the children, cooking, cleaning, and doing laundry. The car is just another added burden when there isn’t a man around to tinker with it. For the woman who finds herself in this situation, this is a short primer on routine tire care that will extend the life of your tires and hopefully make your life a little bit easier. Check Tire Pressure Regularly: Tire pressure should be checked whenever you suspect a problem or at a minimum, seasonally. Symptoms of improper tire pressure include excess wear and squeeling when going around a corner (for under-inflated tires) and reduced traction (for over-inflated tires). Even the temperature can affect your tire pressure. Check your owner’s manual to find where they’ve posted the proper tire pressure (usually on one of the doors) and be sure to keep it at that level. An improperly inflated tire not only wears quicker, it can also be dangerous when stopping and can cause tread separation. You can purchase a tire-pressure gauge at your local auto parts store, use a gauge at the gas station or ask your tire dealer to check it for you. Have Your Tires Rotated: Tires should be rotated every 5000 - 6000 miles. For various reasons, all four tires on a car do not wear the same. The purpose of the tire rotation is to allow for even wear and an extended life for your tires. Some manufacturers recommend “cross-rotation” (moving the right-front tire to the left-rear, etc.). Check your owner’s manual for it’s recommendations. Have your tire dealer rotate your tires regularly. Check Your Wheel Alignment: If you’ve hit a pothole or scraped your tire on a curb, your wheels may have been thrown out of alignment. Symptoms of wheels that are out of alignment are excessive wear (one tire may wear more than the others) and steering problems. You may notice that your car veers to the side when you’re on a straight road or the car doesn’t steer properly in a turn. Unless you notice any of these symptons, you should have your alignment checked annually. Have Your Wheels Balanced at the Same Time They’re Rotated: An improperly balanced wheel will cause a vibration at higher speeds (50-70 MPH) which is noticable in the steering wheel (if a front tire is out of balance) or in the seat (if a rear tire is out of balance). It will also increase wear of shock absorbers, struts and suspensions. If you notice any of these symptoms, you should have your tire dealer take a look. He will need to locate the heavier part of the tire and attach a lead weight opposite it to counter-balance it. Unless you notice any of these symptoms, you should have your wheels balanced every time you have them rotated (every 5000 - 6000 miles). Debbie Pettitt Everything Tires http://everythingtires.com Debbie Pettitt is webmaster for Everything Tires. For additional articles and information regarding tires, visit http://everythingtires.com.
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Some Things To Know When You Get Speeding Tickets
No one likes being pulled over and getting speeding tickets, but chances are that you will at least once during your car driving days. When this unfortunate event occurs, it is best to be prepared ahead of time. Knowing how to act when you are receiving speeding tickets may make the experience a lot less painful and keep you from being charged more due to inappropriate behavior and comments. Things to know when you are being pulled over for a speeding ticket: 1. Get to the right shoulder as soon as possible. Never pull to the left shoulder, even when in the left hand lane. This will keep you and the officer from being in the path of oncoming traffic, making the experience safer for you both. (A happier officer is a more generous officer when it comes to getting speeding tickets!) Pull as far over onto the right shoulder as is possible. 2. At night, with unmarked police cars (and even marked ones), continue driving to a lighted area. A gas station or all night convenience store is a good place to travel to, as there are other people around. Officers should not have any problems when you do this, as it keeps everyone involved safer. 3. Keep your hands on the steering wheel in plain sight at all times. When the officer arrives at your window to give you the speeding ticket, this shows the officer clearly he has no reason to be aggressive. In reality, this officer has no idea who you are, and even with something as simple as giving a speeding ticket he or she can be taking a big risk. 4. Keep all your movements while you are interacting with the officer to a minimum. The officer may be able to see you are moving, but he or she has no idea what you are going for. State what you are doing and keep your movements slow at all times. 5. Don t insult the officer s intelligence by calling him or her sir or ma am constantly. The officer will not be flattered or impressed, and this can show on the amount charged on your speeding ticket. 6. Don t hurt yourself by volunteering incriminating evidence. Answer questions with a yes or no and keep answers short and too the point. The only time you should expand on speeding is when there is a medical emergency, and in that situation the officer can actually be of assistance. 7. If your license and registration are in your glove compartment, tell the officer that and ask if you can retrieve them. Once you have taken them out, leave the glove compartment open. If it happens to be in the compartment between the front seats, tell the officer that and ask if you can retrieve them. Once you have taken them out, close the center compartment. With the center compartment, the officer may be concerned there is a weapon inside, so closing it can give the officer a more secure feeling while writing out the speeding ticket. 8. Never argue about your speeding tickets on the side of the road. The officer will not listen, as the court will decide if the speeding was justified. 9. Keep paperwork dealing with your speeding tickets! a. A copy of the ticket. b. License plate and ID number of the officer s car. c. Make and model of the radar gun used. d. A personal account of events, including place, time, weather conditions, amount of traffic, officer s attitude whatever detail that you think might be relevant. If you follow the first several tips on this list, the officer may let you get off with just a warning. By being cooperative, the officer may give you a break. However, if the officer is definitely going to write up the speeding ticket, follow the end of the list to make the experience as quick and easy as possible.Jeremy Thompson is the owner of SpeedingTicketDefenseFight.net. This site will teach you <a href="http://www.speedingticketdefensefight.net">how to beat a speeding ticket</a>.
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Tips on How to Save Gas
Fuel economy-maximizing behaviors or more popularly known as gas saving tips have been at the forefront of most drivers’ concerns thanks to the looming oil crisis. Basically, it is defined as a set of methods that drivers can utilize, in order to optimize their automobile’s fuel economy. There are many ways that energy is spent needlessly through driving. These include inefficient engine use, aerodynamic drag, friction, excessive braking, and many more. However, there are two general categories on how to save gas, which can be either basic or advanced. The former can be done by most drivers with little or no professional help, while the latter ought to be done by an experienced hypermiler. Basic Techniques The first thing that every driver should do in order to improve gas mileage is to inflate the tires to the maximum. This way, a smaller amount of energy is needed to move the automobile. In line with this, there should be minimum cargo as much as possible to remove the burden off the engine. Additionally, maintaining optimum speed should help significantly, which is usually measured in the 35 to 55 mph range. Aside from that, the driver should also pay attention to braking and acceleration. That means braking and acceleration should not be sudden and they should be minimized as much as possible. Another way to save gas is through coasting. That means the engine is still running, although the transmission is set to neutral. Bear in mind that fuel is still consumed when coasting, although far less than the driver would in normal driving conditions. These basic techniques are recommended for the average user and these are also far simpler to execute as opposed to the advanced techniques that are discussed below. Advanced Pulse and glide is one of the most commonly used fuel saving tips by the advanced hypermiler. This method consists of driving to a certain speed limit called pulsing, which is then followed by a period of gliding. These two steps are repeated in order to maximize fuel economy. However, it is advised that the gliding stage should be done when the engine is not activated. Another sophisticated fuel saving tip is called drafting, which is otherwise known as slipstreaming. This technique involves two or more vehicles that are aligned in a close group, in order to decrease the overall effect of drag. This happens because the lead vehicle’s slipstream is utilized by the ones that follow it. Drafting is an effective way to increase gas mileage both for the lead and tail automobiles. Most hypermilers use this method when trailing larger vehicles and has was shown to increase Miles Per Gallon(MPG) efficiency by at least 11 percent. Overall, it is imperative for each driver to learn different ways on saving gas without having to spend on another part or accessory to accomplish it. However, enough caution ought to be considered whenever these techniques are used to prevent accidents or costly engine damage.
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