Archive

Posts Tagged ‘Screwdriver’

Looking After Your Car: Car Covers, Tire Rotation and Other Hints

November 24th, 2009

You want your car to be in good running shape and looking good. If you do general maintenance on your vehicle regularly you will have a car that runs more efficiently; which means you will get better gas mileage. You don’t want to get stranded, whether it is in the sweltering summer heat or in the cold winter months.

Make sure your car is in good condition before planning a road trip. You should pay particular attention to your tires. If it has been over 7,500 miles since you had your tires rotated you should have that done before you go on a trip. You will also want to check and inspect your tires for any uneven wear.

At the same time you are inspecting your tires, you should also check the tire pressure. If you are unsure of what the pressure should be, you can look in your owner’s manual. Most of the time you can also find out what the tire pressure should be by looking on the inside of your car door. You will get better gas mileage if you keep the recommended pressure in your tires.

Before you get on the road you should make sure that your air conditioning system is working properly. You will want to make sure all hoses are in good condition and have no leaks or cracks. When you are inspecting the hoses make sure the clamps are tight also. If they are loose you can tighten them with a screwdriver. Before a road trip, make sure you make sure the car is full of coolant and will work properly.

Make sure you get a tune up before any type of road trip. The oil and oil filter should be changed. This is the time to replace worn windshield wiper blades and to make sure the windshield washer fluid is full. When you are getting a tune up make sure you have all fluids checked, including brakes, transmission, and power steering.

When you are not driving your vehicle you should use a car cover to protect it against the elements. Car covers are made of all types of materials that are designed to be used in all types of weather. You can find custom covers that are made of breathable materials and are also water resistant. You can find covers that are designed to protect your vehicle from harmful UV rays.

A car cover that doesn’t fit your car correctly can actually do more harm to your car than if you left it uncovered. A loosely fitting car cover can slap against your car and can cause severe damage to your car’s paint finish. That is why you should invest in a custom fit car cover for your specific car.

There are custom car covers that are made for all make and models of vehicles. No matter what type of car you have, you will be able to find a car cover that is perfect for your vehicle.

 

Tips and Articles , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Uses Of Battery Water In Car Maintenance

November 18th, 2009

Good car batteries could give your car the support it needs but every now and then that excellence doesn’t last long enough.  Failure of cars to start is a result of defective batteries and for some inexplicable reasons these breakdowns seem to occur on rush hours.  One technique to prevent this problem is to regularly examine the quantity of your battery water.

Be cautious when examining the fluid level, particularly if you have to detach the battery caps.  Keep in mind that the car batteries have sulfuric acid, a strong acid that damages the skin upon contact.  If this should happen, have water supply close by when you are checking battery condition.  Also as a preventative measure, you must wear safety glasses.  Since the accumulation of oxygen and hydrogen gas inside lead-acid batteries is a likelihood not to be ignored, it is absolutely advised not to smoke whilst doing the check up.

As what any automotive mechanic does, you can make use of a screwdriver or your fingers (depending upon the design of the cap) to dismount battery cap.  As soon as the cap is detached, you can stare down to catch a vision of the fluid reading.  If there is a fluid reading indicator, you may examine the correct reading of the water.  Shaking or tipping the battery lightly helps you see where the level is.  If the level has gone low, adding up vehicle water brings back the fluid substance to correct levels.  Be cautious when pouring in water for the reason that you cannot gush in simply any kind of water.  Ordinary water is not suitable for this use.  Because fluid batteries are susceptible to the ionic content as these fluids are electrolytic by nature, it is ideal to make use of DI or distilled water, which contains really low, insignificant ion substance.  The relatively excessive ion dilution of ordinary water changes the ion equilibrium within the battery.

It is advised to reload consumed battery fluid and to inspect it every three months if your battery is new.  However, the older the thing gets, the more regular you need to do your checking.  For instance, you may need to check a two-year old battery as often as once a week.  Water level should never go too low, otherwise the battery easily heats up and the battery plates simply wear out.

When replenishing the water content, ensure to fill up just to the ideal level as indicated by the enclosure.  Nevertheless, if your car battery does not contain this water level display, fill it with water to the height that does not reach the bottom tip of the cap (when the cap is in place).  Stuffing the battery with water outside the recommended level could cause spillage to the acid compartment, reducing the acid and rendering the battery less effective.

For your water requirements, opt for the ones from reputable water establishments that provide water solutions and pure water in relation to your needs.

Tips and Articles , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Speakers For Cars Tips

September 10th, 2009

The most important part of speakers for cars is installation forms. As per the sound set up and installation process, various specifications are be had by various cars. As basic car speakers for you, this small crash will act on the step by step procedure. Before starting installation, the firs thing you should do is equip yourself with a few essential tools like screwdrivers.

Related to the installation issues, which vary with factory speaker location, the height and depth for mounting, each vehicle has its own specifications that should you know. The car factory wiring is another factor to be taken into consideration.You need drill bits and a few varieties of screwdrivers along with torx drivers to install speakers for cars. Don’t miss out along with the wire cutter and stripper tool on the socket wrench set.

As well as connectors along with panel removal tool and a clip remover, solder crimping tools and soldering iron may be even required by you. However, you can always opt for a screwdriver covered with a shop rag if a clip remover is not available. Electrical tape, a knife, a file, they are the things that you may also require. As the installation may require, you’ll be needed to use solder, or crimp the connections, or the wiring harness to attach the new speaker.

A complete component speaker system is consists of tweeters, separate woofers and crossovers which provide a surround sound while in the car. There are things that you should regard and consider to help you in the long run; You may have to deal with vehicle differently, because each and every vehicle is different. Identifying your vehicle is the first basic step lies in. Identify the location where you want to mount your speakers once you have grown comfortable with your car. Choose the size and speaker that fits in your car comfortably once you have selected the location.

While fitting in your speaker, make use of the factory grills and brackets. In the factory speaker openings, speakers for cars labeled E Z will fit in. To fit the available space, try use the magnet, and to interfere with the grills, do not allow the tweeters. Brackets come free with the purchase of the speakers for cars, the speakers labeled P fit with the help of mounting which. You can go ahead if that does not help and do a few alterations like cutting the required area of the metal or the pressboard to make room for mounting the speakers for cars that are larger than the factory speakers, ore cutting a new screw hole.

In the location where the factory speakers were located, the component woofers can be installed in a setting of component speakers. If you have them too, you may have to think of a place where you can install a set of tweeters. Custom installation is required by the tweeters. In the door panels or on the dashboard, thus to do that, custom installation involves drilling holes either. To avoid scratches on the surface, use your tools carefully, if it is an area like the dashboard.

Tips and Articles , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Volkswagen Polo GTi – no extra costs, even for DIY enthusiasts

March 27th, 2009

It’s amazing what people will do if they feel it is socially acceptable.  For example auditioning to be locked in a house for three months surrounded by cameras is the gateway to ‘stardom’, jumping off a tall building to your imminent death before a piece of cloth catches the air is seen as ‘fun’ and jumping into a freezing cold Scottish lake on New Year’s Day is ‘tradition’.  People also think nothing of taking a screwdriver to the family Volkswagen Polo and having a bash at ‘improving’ it themselves.

 

I must admit that I’m guilty of having a go at modifying my current and previous wheels with mixed success.  It’s funny to think that despite the millions of pounds spent designing the car you own; people automatically assume a few hundred quid here and there will improve it.Just imagine if you applied this to your household items.  Your washing machine for example spins at 1,000 a minute.  Have you ever thought of turbo-charging it to boost spin power by 50%?Of course you haven’t as the professionals who built it would’ve done that already if it improved the cleanliness of your clothing.

 

I’ve got a toasted sandwich maker loving stored at the back of one of my cupboards that’s never seen the light of day.  Do I have the urge to mould grooves to make it cook faster on the hot-plate?  Clearly not.My PlayStation 3 doesn’t come with a spoiler fitted to make it load quicker and my bed hasn’t been lowered to impress the ladies.

 

The furthest extreme I’ve seen car modifying taken was courtesy of my mate who quite frankly I keep as a friend purely for his humorous antics.  Not content with buying a Volkswagen Polo from eBay of all places and then travelling 300 miles to collect a car that clearly wasn’t as specified in the advert, he’s spent a large amount of time flushing his money down the drain modifying the poor car.Let me take you through some figures.  He bought the car for £3000 and has since spent £750 on a exhaust, £100 on silver door pin covers for when the door lock pops up, £150 to have the rear boot handle spray painted, £500 on a sound system that flattens the car battery in five minutes, £150 to have the front grill replaced and the icing on the cake – £200 to have the engine re-mapped.

 

Now re-mapping isn’t changing the location of the engine parts, but having a boffin with a laptop plugging up to the engine and magically generating more power from it.  This sounds great and for £200 you can’t go wrong you must be thinking.  Only problem is that Volkswagen are German and no-one designs machinery better than them, particularly when you consider the people employed to do the tricky calculations under the bonnet barely see daylight and instead see numbers flashing before their eyes.  As a result, £200 laptop man has managed to confuse the sophisticated computer that controls all facets of the engine working correctly and my mate now drives around with so many warning lights on his dashboard it’s permanently Christmas for him.

 

What he should’ve done if he wanted a Volkswagen Polo with more oomph is to have purchased the GTi version.The Polo GTi comes with the same turbocharged 1.8 litre engine found in the Audi TT; albeit one that produces 148bhp rather than 237bhp.  Clearly Volkswagen have put their sensible hats on as anymore power than the 148 would quite frankly be scary, so no need to get the laptop out then.

 

Thanks to this relative restraint under the bonnet the chassis can cope with the power, giving you the confidence to throw the car into any corner and feel confident you won’t end up in a hedge.  It’ll still race to 60mph in just 8.2 seconds bear in mind.  The Polo GTi is what made the original Golf GTi so exciting before it got bloated with age – it looks like the standard hatchback save for a few subtle tweaks to the front grill and ride height, but it has real spirit and the feeling that there is nothing superfluous to distract from the joy of driving it.

 

It’s far closer to the cost of the original Golf GTi too with a new Polo GTi costing under £15,000 which taking into account inflation is marginally more than the original GTi’s £5,700 price tag in 1981.  Compared to the massive £22,000 the Golf GTi now commands new this really is a no brainer.  It would save my friend a fortune in time and money – especially a second hand version.

 

The Volkswagen Polo GTi is perfection – so keep your hands off.

 

  

Tips and Articles , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

8 in 1 Tool Screwdriver LED Light AAA Batteries Car Truck Sports Home

January 14th, 2009

8 in 1 Tool Screwdriver LED Light AAA Batteries Car Truck Sports Home




Multifunction screwdriver with 6 powerful LED bulbs and pocket clip.

This one you can work with in the dark no problem, since the LED is in the same direction of the screwdriver, works either way.
Keep one in your car, Truck, home, work, Tool box, take it wherever you go.
Uses 3 AAA Batteries: Included

Buy/More Info

Tools and Hardware , , , , , , , ,