Author Archives: Larry King

When you have been driving a car for a while, it’s possible you feel pretty confident in your capabilities. You most likely cannot imagine a time when you couldn’t drive and you probably drive now without much thinking. You may have also built bad habits that could potentially be hazardous. In addition, the fact that a lot of what we perform is automatic has its own hidden dangers. There were most likely occasions where you basically blanked out while driving only to arrive at your destination and not recalling how you got there. This is exactly why acquiring advanced driving skills is something you should look into and in this article we will look at what some of those skills are.

Bad Weather Conditions

An important skill is understanding how to drive when circumstances change for the worse. Most of these conditions will vary as a result of weather and the type of road you are driving on. The weather in particular can present you with challenges you are not used to and if you have ever run into thick fog or falling snow you will know how stressful that can be. An illustration of this an enhanced driving skill would be your ability to carry out the right thing if your car suddenly went into a skid. Have you figured out, without thinking, what method to steer your car if you unexpectedly started to skid. This is often something you can be trained in and could save your life and the lives of your family and friends.

One of the issues in working with a skid or almost every other unexpected event on the road is how you react to it in that instant. One other aspect is the panic that sets in if you are taken by surprise so learning how to deal with icy roads is important. If you learn these skills effectively, you will be able to respond correctly to these situations without thinking too much. Since you can read about precisely what you should do, it is better to find someone to actually teach you how to do it.

Defensive Driving

Defensive driving is another class of advanced skills driving. This is because, you must be more alert to what is happening on the road so that you are in the best position to deal with mistakes made by others. You might have drivers that accelerate and cut in at the wrong place or simply force their way in a lane without using their blinkers. Just how you place yourself on the highway, how you use your mirrors and being aware of blind spots are examples of being defensive.

You might think that advanced driving skills consists of driving fast and intensely. In reality, it is a method to keep you safe and being competent to drive with confidence whatever the conditions or circumstances.

Staying in the United States most people grow up not learning much about other countries. We buy a car and do not really think about where they were constructed unless they were luxury cars. Europe produces some very good cars and some of the best are not by organizations people would think of.

When folks think of European cars, they think of the luxurious brands like BMW, Mercedes, Jaguar, Lamborghini or Rolls Royce. But there are actually three companies that make great economical cars. This article goes European to take a look at Volvo, Volkswagen, and also Audi.

Volvo

It is remarkable to think of a country of just nine million people, having a single car maker, but to have two is unthinkable. Sweden is that particular nation containing both Volvo and Saab. Volvo, which happens to be owned by Ford Motor Company, has had the largest influence on the car industry. Their cars were regarded as the safest automobiles in the entire industry in a time safety standards were low. Volvo created safety features that most cars these days have like front end crumple zones and reinforced roofs. They started to be well known for generating top quality and ultra safe vehicles. It was as a consequence of Volvo’s desire for excellence that boosted the safety standards of cars throughout the world.

Volkswagen

There is a car that everyone knows about, even if they don’t know its history, and that is the Volkswagen Beetle. The Beetle was produced to be the first people’s car, and it was first developed in the 1930s in Germany. Right after World War II, it had become the most popular and one of the top selling cars of all time. The Beetle made it possible for people from every walk of life to have a car. No matter if you were a farmer, beatnik, college student or consultant, you can easily get a Beetle. The Beetle finished its run in the United States in the 1970’s but continued to be manufactured in Mexico up until the early 2000’s.

Audi

Long ago, Audi released the first all-wheel drive Quattro and this was considered a great advancement in technology. Audi threw down the gauntlet, and let the auto world know that Quattro was now the standard to judge all luxury sedans from then on. Audi was way in advance of their competition because of their Quattro systems. Their traction and road handling was so far advanced in comparison to the competition, that the cars were not allowed in certain racing competitions.

There you have a tiny amount of the history of three automobile companies from Europe that were exceptional. But if you truly ponder about what they did for the auto industry, the more accurate word is extraordinary.

Was there actually a time when your car required jumpstarting, and your battery was barely visible through all the gunk? That kind of gunk that goes all over the battery is actually corrosion formed by acid condensation. You can easily clean this by using a simple chemical solution. Something as simple as baking soda may easily clean the battery acid. Maintaining your battery is not very difficult to carry out but you should take necessary precautions.

Safety First

First off, you need to have the tools which you can get easily in the house. The basic tools you need are a pair of safety glasses to shield your eyes, adjustable pliers and a screwdriver with insulated handles, a stiff bristled brush, and the key component, baking soda. Other items you need includes a metal or plastic scraper, box or open-end wrenches, cleaning brushes for the battery terminal, and either a turkey baster or small funnel. You should also have some sponges, spray-type household cleaner, rubber gloves in addition to a bucket of clean water. All this will ensure a safe cleaning of this battery.

A few of the corrosive build up have sulfuric acid, so it is a wise idea to use the safety glasses to protect your eyes, and the rubber gloves for your hands. Be mindful never to get the deposits on the car since it will probably damage the car’s paint job. Determined by how corroded the battery might be, the amount of cleaning that is needed will be different. In order to fully eliminate the dirt and corrosion, you will need to take the battery out of the vehicle. For your first cleaning, you utilize the scraper and the bristle brush to remove as much of the dirt and corrosion as you can.

DIY Cleaning Solution

Next step is to combine one tablespoon of baking soda with a pint of water and administer the solution to the battery and the cable connection using the funnel or turkey baster. Then you’re able to use the bristle brush to loosen and remove the build up from the battery and you want to remove the cables so that cleaning will be easier. You’ll be able to take away the cables, beginning with negative first then positive, using the pliers and wrenches. For any other components of the battery, use the brush to remove the deposits then flush with the baking soda solution.

So now use the liquid cleaner inside the spray bottle, and a sponge to get rid of the remaining dirt and grease. Dry everything off by using a thoroughly clean cloth and reassemble everything the way you took it apart, reconnecting the positive first. Double check things are all secure and you finally have a clean, safe battery.