Essential Car Care

Ever noticed your neighbor’s dogs peeing on your all aluminum mag wheels, then wash it out immediately for the high salt content in their pee tends to eat away aluminum. This could lead to problems such as rusting at the wheel nuts and corrosion in the underside of the rims that can render them ugly and even lead to failure. Wash away debris and pee off the wheels so they don’t affect the appearance, you can also tell the neighbor so they get down to cleaning it for you as it’s their dog that did the thingy’.
Dogs have an insatiable appetite to mark their territory and having smelled scent from another dog triggers them to mark it over with their own product. This is bad news for alloy and aluminum wheels for it can find any kinks in the clear coat of the wheel rim (clear coat lacquer) that protects it from the elements. Getting some wiggle in your steering lately, might be some debris caught in the inner part of the rim you can’t see. Get the wheel taken out and better yet rotated so they wear out evenly. Have the service guy clean out the wheel to get rid of road tar and other contaminants which may be sticking to the other parts of the rim and wheel. Try some pepper oil and spray it onto the wheels, dogs hate it (produces a burning sensation onto their tender noses) and it’ll sure teach them not to do their business on your beautiful and shiny wheels.

While it may be quite expensive to maintain a car, there are just some problems that should never be disregarded. Delaying repairs can often lead to more problems, and bigger cost. Here are the top 5:

1. Brakes – these are the no. 1 safety item on your car. If your pads are worn down, or your hydraulic system is leaking, fix it immediately.

2. Oil – changing your motor oil can help prolong the life of your engine and transmission oil changes can save you from a costly transmission overhaul.

3. Timing belts – a failure on timing belts can ruin your engine.

4. steering – not only is a worn-out steering system a major hazard, it can also cause your tires to wear out faster.

5. water pumps – once you hear a humming sound, that is an indicator that the internal bearing is going bad, and should be replaced.

Image Source: www.importcarsfromjapan.blogspot.com
Yes Indeed. When people buy cars, one significant factor to think is safety. By that, we mean car features that can guarantee safety or at least minimize injuries during accidents and other road disasters.

MSNAutos.com reports that the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), a research and communications organization funded by auto insurers has come up with a list of safety picks for 2008 to conduct car shoppers in getting the safest vehicles possible. The safety picks were chosen from among the various car segments: small cars, minivans, SUVs and pickup trucks. The crash assessments were made in the front, rear and side of the cars and measurements were done on the intrusion into the passenger compartment, the injury on dummies, and the control of restraint systems.

Fourteen Japanese cars have completed it to the list such as Honda Accord, Subaru Legacy, Subaru Impreza, Honda Odyssey, Acura MDX, among others. Way to go, Japanese cars!