Buying a new car is a great feeling. The smell of fresh leather as you The fresh smell of leather as you enter the car. The paintwork is gleaming and waxy smooth. You might even catch yourself stealing a glance at the reflection of your pride and joy as you drive it out your house.
Skip ahead by 12 months and see how your car looks now. Is it still gleaming new or does the paintwork look tired, dull and "old"? How can some cars look brand new even though they are already 3 years old? Why do others look "old" when it just rolled out the showroom 12 months ago?
The secret is in how you care for your car. It is easy to keep your car like new if you know how.
1) A Wash A Week Keeps Your Car Clean & Slick
Much as you wish that your car will remain clean by itself, it just won’t happen. Dust will accumulate even if you just keep it in your garage. There’s only one thing to do. Wash your car! It’s very important that you wash your car especially after you’ve driven in the rain. If you let the water droplets dry naturally, especially under the hot sun, there will be tough-to-remove watermark stains on your paintwork.
The first thing you need to wash your car is a clean and soft terry cloth. Alternatively, you can use cloth diapers as well. You can get these easily at the baby’s section in your local departmental store. They’re cheap and it works. Of course, if you want to be posh, then get the Ultimate Wipe cloth from Meguiar’s (http://www.fdcars.com/newsletter/n2-1.htm). You’ll need a good car shampoo next. I personally use Meguiar’s NXT Generation Car Wash (http://www.fdcars.com/newsletter/n2-2.htm). It’s reasonably priced and a 64oz bottle will last you quite a while.
Start off by hosing down your car to remove any dirt, mud or grime. Then mix 3 caps-full of shampoo with around 20oz (a small bucket) of water. Apply the shampoo mixture to your car using the cloth/diaper. Hose off the shampoo once you’ve finished shampooing the car. Use your cloth under running water to wipe off any remaining shampoo residue. It is VERY important that you wipe your car dry with another clean terry cloth/diaper. Make sure your entire car is wiped dry.
Next, clean your rims. Brake dust normally accumulates there and cleaning it will make a huge difference in how your car looks. It’s pointless to have clean paintwork you’re your rims are dirty. It’s also advisable to vacuum the inside of your car every week or every other week. You spend your time inside the car, so cleaning the interior just makes sense.
2) A Monthly Wax Keeps The Shine To The Max
Waxing your car will keep your paintwork gleaming new. You can either send it to an auto detailer or do it yourself. It’s actually not that difficult to wax your car. If you have an hour or so of spare time, then try waxing your car yourself.
It’s important that you wash and wipe dry your car before waxing. NEVER wax your car before washing/drying it! It’s best to park your car under in a shady area when waxing. It makes sense to use a good carnauba wax like Meguiar’s NXT Generation Tech Wax (http://www.fdcars.com/newsletter/n2-3.htm). Use the included sponge and apply the wax in a small circular motion. Wax your car one section at a time, remembering which section you started with. Finish applying wax on the entire car.
Wipe off the excess wax using a soft terry cloth/cloth diaper. Start with the first panel that you applied the wax and continue from there. You’ll find the wax residue accumulating on your cloth. Shake it off periodically and continue to remove excess wax until you’ve finished all panels.
Look carefully and check for remaining wax residue. Use your cloth to clean any remaining residue.
To prepare your cloth for your next wax, wash it with a liquid softener. It’s fine to use the liquid softener that you use for your clothes. This guarantees there isn’t any remaining dirt/grime that may scratch your car during your next waxing session.
3) Wax Your Tyre Next O’ Sire
For that shiny, wet look, wax your tyres after every wash/wax. Use Meguiar’s Hot Shine High Gloss Tyre Spray (http://www.fdcars.com/newsletter/n2-4.htm). The trigger spray makes it easy to apply. You literally need less than 5 minutes for this but applying tyre spray/wax makes a big difference.
4) Condition That Leather To Help It Fight The Weather
Make sure you clean and condition your leather seats at least once every 2 months if you car comes with leather seats. Use Meguiar’s Medallion Premium Leather Care conditioner (http://www.fdcars.com/newsletter/n2-5.htm). Apply the conditioner with a clean cloth/cloth diaper, leave for 15 minutes and wipe off excess conditioner. Your leather will look and smell like new if you do this every month.
While you’re at it, clean any vinyl surface of your car using Meguiar’s Vinyl & Leather Cleaner/Conditioner (http://www.fdcars.com/newsletter/n2-6.htm). This maintains the interior looking like new.
5) Your Car’s Now Shiny So You Can Be Happy
Your car will look like it’s brand new if you follow this routine. An hour or so every week pays huge dividends. Friends and family will think you’ve just bought a new car even though it’s 3 years old. The best thing is when it comes time to sell your car. A car with gleaming new paintwork and a clean interior makes a strong impression and will automatically raise the selling price of your car!
P.S. The writer does not work for Meguiar’s and only recommends the products as a satisfied customer.... Read more!
Over the last year the rates on automobile policies raised around 0.8% which may not seem like much but they are expected to continue to rise even more. Note that the less than one percent raise may not be much but it is the average. Some companies raised their rates up to 3% and they are amongst the top policy providers in the state.
Although the cost of Ohio auto insurance is among one of the compared the national average the state’s laws have one of the lowest requirements as well. This means that just because Ohioans pay the cheapest car insurance rates does not mean that they are the most protected. For this reason resident drivers should consider raising their liability limits to help further protect them future financial burdens.
The reason why it may be wise to raise limits or consider more extensive protection is because industry experts say that cost of coverage is rising due to the fact that there are more vehicles on the roadways which adds to the chances of traffic accidents. In addition to this the raise in premiums are also due to the higher costs of medical care and repair of vehicles. With this is in mind the current mandatory coverage may not be enough to cover the expense of being at fault in a collision.
If one were to take the time to compare quotes from various insurers they may realize that they can afford to protect themselves more extensively and even afford to purchase coverage for their property/vehicles. Comparison shopping is the most effective way to find the best protection for everyone’s unique situation and it does not cost a thing maybe only a little bit of time.
If you take a brief walk around a car model that you haven't seen before a few features will make a greater impression than others. The memory of these features will remain with you for a long time. The impact of these features will go a long way in deciding whether you like the car's looks or not. And if you liked the looks then how much you liked them.
It is very likely that one of these features that have a greater impact are the tail lights. And it is for this reason that leading companies vie with one another to come up with better performing and better looking tail lights. And an outcome of this intensive effort are LED tail lights.
As the name suggests LED tail lights are made with LEDs (light emitting diodes) providing the light. LEDs have been around for a long time and you would have seen them in many electronic products. For example they function as the small lights in your computer and camera. However with the development of LEDs that are powerful enough to work as tail lights new possibilities have emerged.
On the technical side the benefit of LEDs is that they are very reliable and last for a long time. Therefore they give uniformly great performance for a long time. At the same time they consume less power than the traditional incandescent bulbs. Therefore they are a lesser burden on car batteries.
On the style front they have the advantage that they are not a single bulb but are multiple small lights. Therefore you can get the glittering stars like effect as many LEDs light up at the same time. This gives LED tail lights stunning gorgeous looks. They therefore give stiff competition in terms of stylishness to other tail lights such as Euro tail lights.
Finally LEDs are not very expensive and for the quality and benefits of LED tail lights they give great value for money.
They are easy to fit and you can replace your existing ones within minutes. A great place to look for LED lights is online where you can browse options and compare process easily and quickly. You can find the latest tail lights at http://www.ilovebodykits.com.... Read more!
When you bought your car it came equipped with a lot of features that made it safe to drive. In fact over the years passenger safety has become a very important attribute on which cars are sold and reputations are established. You can therefore be justified in asking if fog lights are so important for safe driving how come they are not a standard feature on all cars?
Well for one thing an increasingly larger number of models now have factory fitted fog lights. And on the other hand in situations of extremely poor visibility even fog lights may not help. But there are often situations where the visibility is not good but if you could see the road immediately ahead of you then you could proceed cautiously till either the visibility improves or you reach your destination. Remember with poor visibility you can get stranded even if you are just a few kilometers from your home.
Fog lights are lights that have a special beam which is able to penetrate better through the mist and fog than a standard headlight beam. It is usually a yellow or a light purple colored beam. A third color red is not used because it can get confused with tail lights. These lights are mounted low on the car and aimed at the ground immediately ahead of the vehicle.
Therefore fog lights are able to illuminate the ground immediately ahead of your car. You are therefore able to move forward at a cautious slow speed. Since the throw of fog lights is not as much as standard headlights you cannot drive at high speeds using fog lights. But if you only need to drive a relatively small distance to either reach your destination or get out of foggy conditions then the slow speed does not matter.
Fog lights also look good on your car just as Euro tail lights do and let people know your car is capable of handling extreme conditions. Therefore if you want your car to have an off road capable sporty look then fog lights will help you get that look. Fog lights are easy to choose online and are easy to install. You can find the latest fog lights at http://www.ilovebodykits.com.... Read more!