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Tire Safety: How Old Is Too Old?
When thinking about tire safety, it is important to consider two things: age and use. Vehicles driven daily are typically driven 15,000 miles a year. But there are situations where cars put on even fewer miles. This includes: being driven only on the weekends, never driving in the rain, show cars, and cars that are stored for extended periods of time. So, some tires on these types of cars put on less than 100,000. But it doesn t mean that they are safe tires. Tires deteriorate over time and can age out wear out before they wear out. In a statement from the British Rubber Manufacturers Association (BRMA) issued on June 5, 2001 regarding the age of tires they state, “BRMA members strongly recommend that unused tires should not be put into service if they are over 6 years old and that all tires should be replaced 10 years from the date of their manufacture.” Tire age can be accelerated by a variety of environmental factors, such as sunlight exposure and coastal climates. Poor storage and infrequent use of your vehicle are other things that can accelerate tire age. If you keep your tires in ideal conditions, the tire age can go as high as 10 years from its manufacture date. But ideal conditions are the exception rather than the rule. And the worst part is that you cannot tell the safety of an old tire just by looking at it since there are no conclusive tests for the safety of tires without destroying the tire itself! Due to this, some European car manufacturers of high performance sports cars, coupes and sedans have hedged their bets, stating in their owners manuals that the tire age should reach no higher than 6 years. How Better Rubber Makes Tires That Are Safe There have been a lot of changes in rubber compounds since Charles Goodyear discovered how to cure rubber when he baked a combination of natural rubber and sulfur on his family s kitchen stove. Thus, he would convert an unappreciated raw material into many useful products. Goodyear cross-linked sulfur with polymers that, when exposed to heat, would help make rubber durable and at the same time maintain its elasticity. The main focus of new research has been finding tire age inhibitors. Sulfur molecules are one such tire age inhibitor that is reactivated every time they are exposed to heat, making the rubber harder. Nowadays, rubber in tires has oil in it that tends to migrate into the tires under tread/casing and evaporate into the air. In the process of this, the tire compound releases oil and gets harder. If you can t quite visualize this, go into any tire store and take a big whiff. You ll smell the oil there. Before curing, most tires are coated with a mold release agent that is makes it easier to remove from their mold after curing. If it s a little hard to visualize, think about spraying Pam on a fry pan before pouring on the batter for pancakes. This increases the safety of tires because some of the mold release agent gets cooked onto the surface of the cured tire, which prevents all the oil from evaporating. What Is The Right Tire Age? In most cases, most street tires are good for 6-8 years if maintained properly. Don t forget though that this includes the time the tires spent from the manufacturer s plant to the dealer to you. So, keep this in mind when you are determining tire age. Most tires get to you anywhere between 3-6 months. Some stay longer with the tire manufacturer, but generally all tires that go on your car are less than a year old. So, you should not get an old tire from any tire manufacturer. Which Tires Last Longest? If you want to buy a tire based on how long it will last, you have to consider thread compound. The more aggressive its compound the shorter tire life. Below is a list of tires from longest-lasting to shortest-lasting: Max Performance Ultra High Performance tires DOT-legal competition tires Bottom line: if you want to avoid safe tire issues go with tires that last long and properly maintain them.Bob Martin says Don t buy any new tires until you take a serious look at this today http://www.discount-tires-online.com/TireRatings/tire-rating-guide.htm This article is a copyrighted work and does not come with reprint or resale rights and may not be altered or changed in any way including the resource box. The site owner acknowledges that by using this article they accept this condition. The only exception being to bold the appropriate copy i.e. headlines and subhead text.
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10 Tips for Improving Fuel Efficiency
10 Tips for Improving Fuel Efficiency 1] Slow Down On The highway Your car is optimized to drive at 40-60mph(80-100km/hr), when you drive 70-80+mph fuel efficiency drops by up to a whooping 33% . Yes 33% , that is not a typo. I had heard this before and thought it was an exaggeration, then I drove the new Chevrolet Cobalt which has a fuel efficiency gauge in it and I saw it first hand, what a surprise. Is it worth speeding to save 5 minutes off your commute to work so you can just get held up in city traffic? Between the lost fuel efficiency, the extra wear and tear on the car driving beyond optimized speeds and inherent safety concerns I will need a good reason to start speeding on the highway from now on. 2] Cruise In The City The same idea applies in city driving. Speeding up to make the next red light guzzles gas and is hard on your car. This can decrease fuel efficiency by 5%. Why hurry up just to make the next red light? Let’s face it, speeding in the city doesn’t get you anywhere’s faster. If you drive like a bat out of hell you might make an extra light or two and chop a mere 2-4 minutes off your commute assuming you make it there alive. I drive at sane speeds throughout the city while most others fly by me and hard brake at the next red light, I then pull up beside them or even pass them as I may not of needed to stop as the lights are usually synchronized for sane driving speeds not surprisingly (it also takes more gas to get back up to speed than to maintain it). So have some fun watching people fly by you and seeing them at the next red light knowing your car is much better off. 3] Tire Pressure Here’s one everyone can do easily. It only takes a couple minutes to check your tires pressure. Under inflated tires can result in 3% less fuel efficiency. 4] Link Your Trips/Errands Plan your trip to include as many destinations or errands as possible. Fewer trips means less cold starts, better fuel efficiency and less driving than multiple small trips. 5] Avoid Unnecessary Idling. You’re getting 0 mpg for this one. If you’re going to wait 5-10 minutes for a friend give your car and wallet a break. For those who live in colder climates this is a bigger issue. We all want our cars toasty warm in the winter time when we get inside. Today’s cars really only needs 30 second of idling to warm up even in cold weather, then 1-2 minutes of driving to get it fully warmed up. So bundle up and save yourself a bundle. 6] Maintain Your Car Inexpensive oil and air filter changes can boost your cars performance and increase your cars lifespan. A blocked air filter can decrease fuel efficiency by as much as 10% and a misfiring spark plug won’t help either. So try to follow your cars service manual.. It beats dealing with an unexpected major repair and major inconvenience.. 7] Monitor Your Fuel efficiency I like to measure how many miles / KM I get on half a tank after filling it up. It’s easier to measure this way as we don’t let our gas tanks completely run dry and its impossible to estimate how much was left when you fill it up again. You can see how your driving habits affect your fuel economy and if your habits haven’t changed and you fuel economy drops off, then maybe its time for some car maintenance. Purchasing a fuel consumption gauge (if you car doesn’t already have one) can give you real time feedback and more accurate reading. This provides great instant feedback on driving habits. 8] Remove Unnecessary Items From Your Car For each extra 100lbs you lose 1-2% fuel efficiency, so get the golf clubs out of the trunk until your next tee off time. Leaving items on your roof rack also creates extra drag which makes your car work harder, so lock your mountain bikes up till the next trip. 9] Jack Rabbit Starts Some people like to suddenly accelerate by putting their foot to the floor. This guzzles gas and gives marginal speed improvement to a gradual acceleration. 10] Back Off Tail gating results in unnecessary breaking and accelerating. Hang back a little more and you can avoid the added stress and save some gas. It’s also safer to drive this way, give yourself an extra second to avoid an accident ! Paul Fezziwig writes for and administers 'Green Cars Now', http://www.greencarsnow.com , a website devoted to promoting fuel efficient vehicles and better driving habits.
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Installing Aftermarket Head Units
Are you thinking about installing your own car stereo head unit? Be sure to read this article and figure out what you will need to do to get it done. Upgrading the sound system is usually one of the first modifications attempted when we talk about car customization. The best place to start is with a good head unit. If you plan to install it yourself, read on for some technical tips from our experience installers. You will need a few tools to do the job right, so start by collecting some screwdrivers (flat head and phillips head), a socket set, wire cutters, wire splitters, butt connectors or heat shrinking sleeves, electrical tape, zip ties, solder and a soldering iron, and some patience. The first thing I would do before installing I would suggest buying the stereo wiring harness for your vehicle application. This will make the installation easier for you if you are a beginner, and it allows for easier replacement of the stock radio (if you choose to sell the vehicle in the future) and swapping or upgrading to a different aftermarket head unit. Begin by disconnecting the negative battery cable from the battery. This will ensure that you don’t accidentally cross any wires and burn out a new piece of equipment. Next, remove the old head unit. If you need to see how this is done on your specific vehicle, you can look up your vehicles application on installdr.com. This is a great resource for seeing pictures of how to remove the head unit. Once it is loose, disconnect the wiring harness and the antenna from the head unit and remove it completely. There are two types of wiring harnesses you can get. There is the universal wiring harness that connects to your vehicles existing wiring harness, and has the unfinished wire ends that connect to the color coded wires of your new head unit. There is also a wiring harness that has a harness on both ends, and just clicks in place on both sides. These are the easiest to install, but can be harder ot find to match your vehicle to the head unit. Most wiring harnesses are the universal type, so we will focus on those. If you have obtained the wiring harness, you will notice the color coded wires in the back of the head unit. The wires on the head unit and wiring harness should match. The head unit wires and the wiring harness wires will be partially spliced for easy installation. There are several good ways to connect the wires. One way is to use butt connectors, which crimp the wires within a connector. These can be picked up almost anywhere that sells/installs head units, or at Walmart, etc. My favorite way requires a soldering iron and heat shrinking sleeves. Twist the wires together tightly. Apply just enough solder to weld the two wires together. Now fold them over parallel to one of the wires. Slide the sleeve over the connection and heat it with a heat gun or good hair dryer. I have had to rewire or repair systems where butt connectors were used, but this could be installer error, and not a problem with the connectors themselves. I have never had any of the soldered connections fail. Once all the connections are made, and the sleeves heated and shrunk in place, I like to take a zip tie and tie them all together. Clip the excess zip tie for a clean finished look. Connect the wiring harness of the head unit to the wiring harness connected to the vehicle. Plug in the antenna (you may find you need an antenna adapter in some applications). Now slide the head unit in place, but don’t attach it yet. Reconnect the negative battery cable and turn on the head unit (make sure the key is turned to the ACC position). It should be functioning properly at this point. If you plan on adding an amp, or have purchased one for this setup, turn the unit off and connect the RCA cables. Run them through the dash to the floorboard and to the amp (more on how to successfully do this in future articles). If you encounter problems, you can email <A HREF="mailto:support@majesticmodifications.com">support@majesticmodifications.com</A> for help. Brought to you by <A HREF="http://www.majesticmodifications.com" TARGET="_blank">http://www.majesticmodifications.com</A>. Majestic Modifications is your online source for auto parts and accessories, installations advice and technical support.
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