Top Ten Everyday Things You Do That Damaging Your Car #2

This is the second part of the article. Click here to view the first part of the article.

6. Starting Your Car The Wrong Way
It seems simple, but you can make a big difference by turning off your radio, wipers, climate control, all of those accessories, when you start the car. Most of the wear on the engine happens when you start the car, and by turning off those accessories, your engine doesn’t have to work as hard when starting.
Another thing people do is revving the engine in the winter. This actually doesn’t help “warm up” the car. Although it does technically make the engine hotter, it’s not the kind of “warming up” that you want. Revving your engine in the winter causes extreme temperature changes right away, which is actually the opposite of what you want. When you start the car, the oil hasn’t yet worked its way through the system, so the engine is working without lubricant. The right way to do it is just let the car sit and idle for about 30 seconds to a minute at the least.
7. Ignoring Your Car’s Sounds
Every sound your car makes means something, if you pay attention, your car can usually tell you exactly what needs fixing. Those squeaking brakes mean you need new pads, and if you ignore that sound, eventually you’ll hear scraping metal, which means you need new rotors, and if you ignore that, you’ll eventually hear the sound of your own scream as you lose your brakes completely and fly off a cliff in a spectacular fireball of death. It’s more common than you think. Listen to your car.
8. Letting The Interior Go
You’re in a rush again, and you eat most of your disgusting egg and cheese bagel, and toss the rest in the wrapper on the passenger seat. Lovely. You know who you are, your car is filthy, never been vacuumed, 15 air fresheners hang on the mirror, and yet, no air freshener made by mortal man can stop the sickening wind within your car. You need to clean it. If you don’t vacuum your carpets and clean out the garbage every so often, you’ll develop a smell that is impossible to destroy. There will exist smells that are so obscene, so inhuman, that no shampoo can vanquish them. The only way to stop them is to never let them develop. Clean your car!
9. Running Your Car Down To Empty
There’s actually a bit of a debate about this one. The old wisdom says if your car gets down to E, the sediment in your tank will get sucked into the system and foul your fuel injectors. Although some mechanics says thats not true. Either way, running down to E does pose other problems. You cut the life of the fuel pump considerably, since the fuel actually cools the pump.
Little knowledge for you: Most cars can drive another 60 miles+ after they hit Empty, automakers call this extra gas the “buffer zone”. US cars have the largest “buffer zone” of any vehicles. German drivers, for instance, like to know exactly how much gas in is the car, so their “buffer zone” between the gauge’s E and the actual empty tank is much smaller.
10. Driving Past Attractive Women
Admit it! This is a common mistake, especially if you are male drivers. Attractive women can be incredibly damaging to your vehicle, they can cause the driver to install bizarre over-sized woofers or 22 inch rims, or even spontaneously crash the car into a nearby tree or telephone pole. When you’re driving, be careful to avoid swimming pools, beaches, college campuses, anyplace where beautiful girls assemble in any significant numbers. Your car will thank you.

Source: carclubtalk.com
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Top Ten Everyday Things You Do That Damaging Your Car #1

Two thirds of all Americans aged 18-24 cannot find Iraq on a map; 33% couldn’t identify Louisiana; 47% couldn’t find India; 75% think English was the most widely spoken language in the world. People are idiots, and this isn’t a uniquely American phenomenon, it’s worldwide. The majority of human beings on Earth are stone dumb. Being dumb, most people do dumb things, like unknowingly destroy their car. Don't be angry.. Do you agree that you are one among them?
Here I assembled the top 10 everyday things people do that damage their cars, to help guide you through your own stupidity, into the light. Let's check it out.
1. Not Using the Parking Brake
It’s a little pedal near your left leg, or a lever on your right. Yes, that mysterious device that you’ve never used is actually valuable. When you park on an incline, or even on fairly steady ground, without using the parking brake, you’re putting all of the stress of the car on your transmission. The only thing inside that transmission holding your car steady is a little pin called a parking pawl. By using the parking brake, you lock up the non-drive wheels as well as the drive wheels and take the stress off of the transmission. It will add years of life to your cars transmission. Just remember to disengage it before you start driving again otherwise it will become your new stupidity.
2. Not Coming to A Complete Stop Before Shifting
So you’re in a rush, and you pull out of a parking space and shift into drive while the car is still coasting backwards. You’ve just added months of wear to your transmission in seconds. Inside your transmission is a complex set of gears, when you shift without stopping like that, you’re asking those gears to work as your brakes, which puts an amazing amount of stress on such a small area. You can also damage your drive shafts, the things that send power to the wheels, by shifting that way. After a while, it will lead to sloppy suspension handling, and a worn out transmission.
3. Riding The Brakes Down A Hill
If you are driving on a hill that goes on for a while, you’ll want to avoid riding the brake the whole time. Alternate between braking and letting off the brake so you don’t heat up and wear out your brake pads. It’s a common mistake, because it feels like the safest way to maneuver down a hill, but if the hill is sufficiently long, you can end up almost totally wearing out your pads, since as they heat up, they wear faster.
4. Forgetting To Change The Oil
You need to change your oil every 5,000 miles at the most. That’s really all there is to it. I actually read a source that said you can wait until your oil light comes on to change your oil. Do you know.. by the time your oil light comes on, the oil inside your engine has turned into jet black molasses and is of no use to your engine. In the short term, I suppose it’s not that important, but more frequent changes can actually double the life of your car and greatly increase its performance.
5. Pressure Washing The Engine
I can respect a person’s desire to want a clean engine. It gets grimy under there and a guy with a pressure washer is a dangerous thing for grime - you want to point it at anything even slightly dirty. But a grimy engine that runs right is better than a clean engine that doesn’t run at all. And if you spray a high powered jet of water around rubber seals and hoses and electrical bits, you’re bound to dislodge something important. A modern engine is a complex thing, all manner of sensors and wiring harnesses and components, and it’s no place for a jet of high pressure water. A regular garden hose is OK if you want to wash it down, just be careful with the high pressure business.

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BMW EfficientDynamics - to reach optimal effeciency (gas consumption) #2

This is the second part of the article. Click here to view the first part of the article.

-Electronic Power Steering
This technology is common for car like city car or compact hatchback. BMW opinion is it is good alternative to switch it to hydraulic power-steering that give more load to machine. Hydraulic power-steering has efficient work and will cut the power steering system gradually for the steer in high speed. This also can decrease the battery load.
-Gear Shift Indicator
If the gear can be shift at the right time, it can save the mileage significantly. This is not a new invention, but BMW boost the technology and make it perfect so that the technology can read the driver's driving style and adapt the time so that the gear will be shift to highear gear or lower gear at the right time.
-Auto Start-Stop
Every time the transmission shift to neutral mode, the car engine will stop. When it puts to first gear, the engine will start automatically without any delay. But the machine will not stop even you shift the transmission to neutral mode when the machine temperature has not reach the working temperature, charging the battery has not optimal yet, or the Air-Conditioner is not in its desire temperature that has been set.
The engine also will not start even you put it to first gear when you haven't use the seatbelt. This system can be turned off using the button on the dashboard.
-Intelligent Alternator Control and Brake Energy Regeneration
This system use the kinetic power that come out when you decelerate or braking. The power then use to charge the battery. When acceleration, back to alternator that charge the battery. But the alternator will work only when the battery need to charge. This system will decrease the load of the engine.
-Active Aerodynamics
The airflow for radiator is the big air barrier for the car besides it is so important for cooling. BMW designed the Air Vent Control System in front of radiator that will only open when the engine need fresh air. when the ventilation is closed, the air barrier will decrease significantly so that the car will become more aerodynamic.


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BMW EfficientDynamics - to reach optimal effeciency (gas consumption) #1

As one of the premium car manufacturer, BMW keep continuing their innovation to reach better mileage consumption. Together with that, their improving technology also have good side impact for the other components of the car.
BMW EfficientDynamics is the continuity technology system that has relationship between one to each other. These include machine,tyre, power steering, gear shift indicator, until the use of energy that has been thrown away when braking for charging the car battery.
This program is one of the BMW commitment to reduce CO2 until 140g/km. So let's check out the technology that make BMW proud of.
-Machine
This is the main effect to improving the car efficiency. from changing the previous components into light-weight components but still reliable until improving the aerodynamics sectors and sophisticated energy management.
Reducing in machine weight can be done through the combination of thermoplastic material, aluminium, and magnesium alloy. To reduce the friction between each parts inside the machine and transmission, BMW use specific oil. This will reduce the loss of power cause by friction.
4 Cylinder Machine
for gasoline machine, BMW use direct injection that give accurate air and gas composition. For diesel machine, it equip with 3rd generation common-rail injection system. The material from the aluminum that able to reduce the weight for 20kgs. BMW also have 4 cylinder machine that use 2 different size turbo. With 2300cc of capacity, this machine able to boost the power until 204 hp with 19.2 kph gas consumption.
6 Cylinder Machine
for 6 cylinder machine, BMW equip it with 2 small turbo kit but it is enough to give addition for the power but still efficient in gas mileage. For the diesel engine, it has the combination of power, efficient gas consumption, and smooth vibration. The turbo set guarantee the acceleration without turbo lag. In fact, this machine can reach to 5000rpm.
-Tyre with Reduced Rolling Resistance
The flexiness and over-friction to the road will become the barrier for the tyre to role. By using anti-distortion material at the sidewall and tread, it will reduce the flexiness thus decrease the friction and barrier.
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7 Things That Harm Car When Doing Car Care

A lot of people care their car in the weekend. It could be just checking and adding brake fluid, engine oil, power steering fluid, wiper fluid, clean the windshield, or washing the car. You must know that things that you use in your car are good for one part but terrible damaging for other part. So, let's check it out so that you will not do these fatal actions.
-Brake fluid
brake fluid is very damaging for car paint. The paint will react with the fluid, peeled off, and definitely will make the plate sheet corrosion. So beware if the fluid accidentally touch the paint. Hose the surface with water thoroughly.
-Engine Oil
Engine oil fill tube is near the spark. When you change the engine oil or just simply add the engine oil, be careful not to spilled out the oil. Nowadays, new car engine always cover by plastic to make it tidy but this will make you hard to notice if there is oil that spilled out. The spilled out oil can seep to the spark place and make the engine hard to start.
-Windshield Fungus Cleaner
Because of the high-concentrate of the cleaner, avoid the contact of the windshield fungus cleaner with anything in your car's body. It can leaves spot on it.
-Power Steering Fluid
Be careful for old car. Leak in power steering fluid can cause fire for your car if the fluid touch the extremely hot exhaust manifold. Wipe with water after adding or changing the power steering fluid is highly recommended.
-Car Battery
High acid concentrate from car battery can be corrosion for the metal. So be careful when you are adding the car battery liquid. If you add too much, the liquid will easily spilled out. over-filled the liquid will also make the liquid get more heat when the operation time and have high possibility to evaporate which will harm the metal around the battery.
-Octane Booster
Octane Booster liquid is very harmful for car paint. the spot cause by this liquid cannot be remove by polishing product. Be careful when you add this liquid. If it touch the paint, hose thoroughly the area that have been spilled out.
-Detergent
Detergent can be use for cleaning tyre but it is harmful for the paint. The detergent substance will damage the protected layer of the paint. The sign is when the paint become paler and you can notice spot on the surface. If you want to wash your car, use the car shampoo that have balance pH. This shampoo will not harm the paint.

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10 Tips to Lower-Down Car Insurance Bills #2

This is the second part of the article. Click here to view the first part of the article.

6. Ask about low-mileage discounts. Many carriers offer discounts to policyholders whose annual mileage is lower than the norm. Maybe you have a short commute. Or maybe your participation in the office vanpool results in fewer hours spent in your daily driver. Whatever the case, your low mileage can score you a reduced rate with some companies, so be sure to inquire about available discounts.

7. Ask about group insurance discounts. Oftentimes, insurance companies offer discounts to policyholders who are members of certain organizations or professions, such as veterans, engineers or teachers. Request a list of these groups from your carrier to see if you qualify — you might be pleasantly surprised.
Instead of getting separate insurance policies for your cars, you can opt for a group insurance policy. This is especially practical when you own a large number of cars that are being used by family or company. The only condition you have to fulfill is that the cars must be listed at the same residential address.
Most car companies offer group discounts if you own up to 5 cars. Do not forget that friends’ cars also can be covered. Even your friends’ cars can get car group insurance so long as they register the car at your residential address. This does not mean that the car has to be parked at your residence.

8. Ask about all other discounts. Some carriers offer discounts to policyholders whose vehicles bear certain safety features, like anti-theft devices or motorized seatbelts. Others give reduced rates to senior citizens, and to students whose grades meet certain requirements. Many carriers offer discounts. Ask for them when you're shopping.
However, Some of the companies that offer the highest discounts have the highest rates, so don't get too focused on discounts. Some high-priced companies offer high discounts, but at the end of the day you're still paying more.

9. Avoid lapses in coverage. Even a brief lapse in coverage can disqualify you from receiving discounts. "They use lapses in coverage to increase your premium," says Hunter. Pay your insurance bills on time. And if you're switching carriers, make sure not to quit your previous carrier until the new coverage takes effect.

10. Think twice about paying in installments. Most carriers charge an administration fee to pay in installments. One carrier surveyed levied a $10 charge per installment to those who opted to break up their bill. The solution? Pay your premium up front, if at all possible.
Of course, this charge is more significant for those with small premiums. If you've got a king-sized premium and feel you'd get a better rate of return by investing your funds elsewhere instead of paying up front, then the installment route will probably best suit your needs.

Hopefully this will be useful for you. enjoy the day!

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10 Tips to Lower-Down Car Insurance Bills #1

This is the article talking about tips to lower down the car insurance bills. However, If you have another tips, it is encourage to share with us. Write it on the comment.
Here is the tips..

1. Get more than one rate quote before you commit. Company prices are very different, and it pays to shop around. You can easily wind up paying double from one company to the next.
Want to get a sense of who the low-priced carriers are? The National Association of Insurance Carriers offers a map on its Web site that lists each state's regulators. Click on your state and you're taken to the state's Department of Insurance Web site. Its consumer buying guide compares insurance premiums across a range of companies. You'll also learn how many complaints each company has logged. Surprisingly, you don't have to sacrifice service quality to score a low premium. A lot of the lower-priced companies have the best service rates, that is the fact.. Check it out.
There are a host of independent Web sites, like CarInsurance.com, that allow you to comparison-shop by offering online price quotes. These sites can be incredibly useful. However, Hunter warns that these services — which earn their keep by charging carriers a commission on each sale — occasionally fail to include the insurance companies with the lowest rates, since these low-cost carriers are unwilling to pay commissions.

2. Evaluate insurance costs before you buy your vehicle. The year, make and model of your vehicle can have a deep impact on your insurance rate. All else being equal, new, expensive or sporty cars will cost more to insure than older, cheaper and more utility vehicles. But you could find a substantial incompatibility even when comparing the cost to insure similar cars. So if you've got a few models on your shortlist, contact your carrier to see what rate each vehicle commands. Doing so could ultimately net you a windfall in savings when the time comes to pay your premium.

3. Go high on deductibles. If you're willing to give a little with your deductible, you can wind up saving big on your rates. If you go from a $250 to a $1,000 deductible, you can save between 25 and 40 percent on your policy. You can then set aside a portion of these funds to cover your costs in the event of a claim.

4. Collision and/or comprehensive coverage on older cars. If your older car has comprehensive and collision coverage, you might find yourself paying more in insurance than the car is worth. Take your comprehensive and collision premium and add it up, then multiply it by 10. If your car is worth less than that, don't buy the coverage. If you're worried about being left overexposed, consider this: The typical policyholder makes a claim only once every 11 years, and reports a total loss only once every 50 years.

5. Mind your credit score. An increasing number of carriers are considering credit scores when making rate calculations. Your credit score can be very important in determining your rate. You can wind up paying up to 50 percent more if you have a bad credit score. Keep your credit score in tip-top shape by paying bills in a timely manner and by regularly checking that there are no items on your history that do not belong to you.

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Water Damage - Protect Your Vehicle From Rain And Flooding

Here I got useful article from goarticles (not a very recommended one but still give us some clues of tips and knowledge. However, if you need another tips for overcoming water damage in your car, here i got tips for you how to overcome engine die after flood attack. Click here to read it, it is in another section of the blog which is my own sharing tips for you).
So here is the article from goarticles.com..
Did you know that your vehicle can get water damage just like your house? It can be caused by wet weather, floods, or car washes. Water can get in if when there are cracks it can seep in at and absorb in the seats and floor. If you try to drive through deep water on the road water can get in and if you leave the window down, you are providing an open invitation for water damage inside your vehicle.

If it rains water can come in through the sunroof, windshield, windows, through the doors, and if there is rust on the vehicle it can come through there as well. The water can stain the seats and everything else. It can be very hard to get the water out of your vehicle. You can use a wet and dry vacuum to remove smaller amounts of water, but if your car gets completely flooded, you might need professionals to remove the water and dry it out. They entire vehicle might have to be overhauled after it has been in a flood where your engine and transmission or other vital parts have been in water.

Too much water damage to the outside of your vehicle can cause rusting to occur and that can cause it to fall apart after a while. Too much water inside of the vehicle can make things crack, fall part, and it can cause mold to grow in the vehicle as well. Mold will damage and it can make it unhealthy for you to be in it. You can have mold even if you do not see it, it could be under the seat covers, in the carpet, and hidden other places like the lining under the hood or the trunk if you have them. If there is mold in the vehicle, it will have to be cleaned and the mold killed. You might even have to put in new seats, carpet, and headliner to get all the mold out.

You need to make sure that all your windows are closed when you get out and cover the sunroof with a tarp or put it in the garage so the water will not get to it. If there is any water dripping from the windshield or sunroof, you need to take it in and have it fixed right away. This way it will not damage your vehicle or ruin it. Do not try to drive in water over your tires with a car because you can get stuck and the damage worse than not getting where you were trying to go. Have insurance on your vehicle so it will cover any damage that is caused to it by weather,water, or anything else.
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