



By N2H

Fixing a Flat on Your Car

It happens to practically everyone- you are driving down the road and all of a sudden you either here a weird sound or feel a thump, thump, thump. You just got a flat. While today’s tires are much more resistant to many type of punctures, getting a flat still happens to be a common occurrence.

Women on phone asking for help on a flat tire

Here are some tips to fix a flat.

Always have a Spare and the Proper Tools
Make sure you always have a working spare and the proper tools. The proper tools include a workable jack, tire on and other helpful items such as a safety cone to alert motorists (or flare), wheel blocks to keep other tires from moving, a rag and even a tire sealant or fix a flat kit and an air compressor. Fix a flat kits or sealants don’t necessarily fix your flat, but seal up the hole for a long enough time for you to get to the service station safely.

Fix a Flat on Level Ground
Do not try to fix a flat on an uphill or downhill grade. You want your vehicle to be as flat as possible and unable to move. When getting ready to fix a flat, make sure you are in a safe area from other traffic, use a flare or safety cone if necessary. Put blocks or rocks in front or back of other tires to stop them from moving. When jacking up your vehicle, make sure to follow the directions and to only place the jack where it is intended to be placed. However, before you lift up the vehicle, it is a good idea to loosen the flat tire’s wheel nuts, the reason being is that when the jack has the car up in the air, turning the tire iron strongly can actually pull the car off the jack. Now simply raise the car, resume loosening the wheel nuts and change your flat.

Tags: Car Maintenance, Car Tires

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Customizing Rims on Your Vehicle

If you are looking to enhance your car, one of the best choices you can make is to add some fancy wheels. Wheels or rims are one of the easiest ways to customize your vehicle and the best part about adding new rims to your car is that any vehicle with rims on it easily stands out in the crowd. While rims can be very expensive, costing thousands of dollars for a set of 4, there are plenty of options available that cost far less- some less than a grand. Here are just a few tips on choosing rims for your vehicle.

Car Rims

Choose the Right Size Wheels
If you are adding new rims, you have a choice of making your wheels a little bigger, and a little wider. However, before doing so, make sure that the new tires will maximize performance and still be safe. Adding wheels that are too big may actually decrease performance and safety. And making your tires to wide- where they pop out from the sides can be illegal on some roads due to the fact there are no wheel wells to block debris being kicked up. This is why before you purchase new rims, make sure the size fits your vehicle and is safe.

Choose the Right Materials
Today, you can purchase rims in a wide variety of materials. Due to price, many materials such as titanium based or carbon based fibers may be out of your price range, however plenty of rims are can be made that are much lighter than stock ultimately giving you more performance.

Customize Your Design
While there are literally hundreds of designs available for when it comes to rims, if you are looking for something absolutely unique, there are a select few retailers that will help you design your own custom rims and create them. Of course there is a price premium, but if you ever wanted to design your own rims, now you can.

Tags: Car Styling, Car Tires, Car Tuning

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Driver Habits and Tire Wear

If you are a car tuning enthusiast, besides knowing lots about your engine, one item that can really have an impact on your overall vehicle’s performance is the tires. Tires are the only thing touching the road from your vehicle, so how they respond is incredibly important. Besides keeping your tires well maintained there are a whole list of items that one should consider when trying to maximize vehicle performance. Here are just a few tips.

Choose the Right Tire for Your Vehicle
While you can add some extra performance, by purchasing specialty tires, make sure that they fall into your vehicles range of limits. Some might think that bigger or wider tires will offer more performance, unfortunately, there vehicles are not made for larger tires and can actually reduce performance and safety. This is why you should always choose tires that are recommended for your vehicle.

Speed Kills Tires
While good tires are needed for high speeds, when you drive fast, you generate lots of heat which actually destroys the tires. The faster you drive, usually the quicker your tread will wear out.

Keeping Your Tires Properly Inflated
One of the most important aspects of maintaining your tires is keeping them properly inflated. Consult your owner’s manual for the proper PSI for your tires. Not only will properly inflated tires offer safety, but good gas mileage as well.

Rotate Your Tires
Generally speaking, your tires can wear out unevenly, this is why it is important to rotate your tires. Consult your manual on its tire rotation schedule and make sure that your car’s wheels are aligned properly. Improper wheel alignment can destroy tires quickly causing tires to wear out unevenly in short time. Generally speaking, tires should be rotated about twice per year or in 6K to 8K intervals.

Tags: Car Maintenance, Car Parts, Car Tires

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Alloy Wheels: Add Style and Performance

One of the best modifications you can make to a stock vehicle is adding alloy wheels. There is probably no better way to differentiate your car from stock than this simple mod. If you are looking to add style and rack up some really good performance, alloy wheels make a great investment.

Alloy Wheels

Alloy Wheels and Their Main Benefits
Alloy wheels are usually made from aluminum and other composite metals. This means that these types of wheels will usually weigh much less than the stock wheels that come with your vehicle. While you might think that a loss of a few pounds won’t matter- it does. For those in the know, the less weight you have at the end of your suspension component, the more performance you will gain not only in steering and handling, but braking as well.

Other benefits besides being much lighter than stock components is that most after-market alloy wheels are made for performance, they are designed to give your wheels the best breathing and heat dissipation possible. If you have high performance (larger) brake pads, alloy wheels will definitely help when dissipating heat, making your car stop smoother and quicker.

Choosing the Right Alloy Wheels
One of the most important things to consider when choosing the right alloy wheels is the fit. Every vehicle is different, so make sure you talk to your wheel professional on finding the right fit for your specific vehicle. Make sure your vehicle’s bolts fit with the alloy wheels. Things to consider are diameter threads and seatings- your wheel professional should be able to give you advice on these items.

While choosing alloy wheels for your vehicle does take a lot of research and thought, the investment in performance definitely pays off. Besides looking great, a light weight, great fitting pair of alloy wheels will add excitement to your driving.

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Buying Tires Based on Speed Rating

For those into car tuning, besides having a car that looks great, top performance and safety are also important attributes. One of the most important parts of your car is your tires. While the tire is an obvious component of any vehicle, when you think about the fact that all that touches the pavement from your vehicle at any given time is a few inches of rubber- the tire seems like it never is given enough credit.

Since tires are one of the most important components of a well tuned car, choosing the right tire for your vehicle is essential. While a given vehicle can usually safely utilize several different sizes whether it is diameter or width, speed rating is an important and obvious feature. Here are some tips on choosing tires for your car based on speed rating.

Knowing the Speed Rating of Your Tire

On the side of your tire, there will generally be a mix of numbers and letters to let you know the exact specifications of a tire (For instance: P215/65R14 95H). The speed rating will be listed as the letter in the second group (95H). As you can see from the speed rating list below an H rating is good for speeds up to 130 mph which is perfect for practically all passenger cars.

General Tire Speed Ratings
Q- Up to 100mph
R- Up to 106mph
S- Up to 112mph
T- Up to 118mph
U- Up to 124mph
H- Up to 130mph
V- Up to 149mph
W- Up to 168mph
Y- Up to 186mph
Z- 149mph and over

For those looking to get the most performance possible and that take your vehicle on the track, you may want tires that exceed the normal limit for speed. Many tuners choose tires with a speed rating of Z (149 mph and over) and some tires that are considered exotic are sold with speed ratings of V, W and Y.

Tags: Car Maintenance, Car Tires

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