Weather and Car Cover Fundamentals
Selecting a car cover for your truck, van, SUV, or passenger car is a matter of finding one that fits your car and going with that one, right? Well, there is a lot more to it than simply purchasing a car cover. Size does matter, but so do quality, durability, and price. Let’s examine some of the fundamentals in selecting a car cover for vehicle.
Car covers — or weather covers as some prefer to call them — have been successfully covering vehicles for several generations now thanks to the ingenious and persistent work of designers who properly measure each new model to make sure that every cover is custom fitted. One of the first companies to get started in the business was Covercraft, founded in 1965 in Southern California. Covercraft, like so many American success stories, was a two man operation that outfitted car covers for street rods, import makes including Porsche, and for the aftermarket supply network. The company boasts of having produced 55,000 styles of car covers for just about every make and model of vehicle on the road. There are other brands on the market; however Covercraft is dominant and favored by automobile wholesalers such as the Auto Parts Warehouse.
When selecting your car cover, you will learn that a manufacturer can make several different car covers for one model. Basic covers offer limited protection from such hazards as bird excrement and flying debris while premium car covers offer extensive protection from the following:
Categories: Car Tips Tags: automobile accessories, car covers, car parts, Covercraft, Porsche car covers, weather covers
Keep Your Vehicle’s Carpets Clean!
Your $30,000 car has come equipped with all of the latest bells and whistles: traction control; Sirius satellite radio; side curtain air bags; Onstar; and power everything. Well, there is one thing that is curiously left out of many new car purchases and that is floor mats. You would think that matching floor mats would be standard equipment on all vehicles, instead it is an aftermarket purchase for most motorists. Selecting the right type of floor mat is essential to preserving your car’s interior. The wrong type of floor mats can look terrible and cost you plenty of money in the end. Almost a universal oversight, owners routinely pick up their showroom new cars with just a solitary paper mat in place for the driver. Sure, you could run into the dealer’s parts department and pay $200 for a nice set, but you already paid through the nose for your car. Besides, you want a better selection than what your dealer sells, right? I think so!
When selecting automotive floor mats, naturally you will want a complete set: two in the front and two in the back. On some vehicles, including the Chrysler Pacifica, the Chevrolet Suburban, and the all new Mercedes R Class, your set should include six mats for three rows of seating.
The mats you choose should blend in with your vehicle’s interior. Match your mats to the carpeting or at least select neutral colors that won’t make the mats stand out. In addition, the material should consist of heavy duty rubber with deeply sculpted channels for increased durability to avoid cracking and to hold water, mud, salt, and stones in place. Finally, a nonskid bottom is essential to prevent dangerous and untimely movement of the mats.
Categories: Car Tips Tags: aftermarket parts, auto parts warehouse, car accessories, car parts, Husky Liner, Weathertech floor mats
Help Me, Honda!
So, you need a new car, do you? Have you considered Honda? Not too long ago your choices were the Civic, Accord, or Prelude. Today, Honda has expanded their line up to cover just about every segment going. Let’s take a look at their current line up and see how Honda stacks up against the competition.
Accord – Soon after the Civic entered the North American market, the Accord was introduced. The car has been so well received that it routinely battles with the Toyota Camry for the top spot in the American market. Every few years the Accord receives a complete makeover; today’s Accord is available in three models: coupe, sedan, and hybrid
Civic – When Honda entered the US market in the early 1970s, it was the Civic that led the way. The reason? High fuel economy. At that time, Detroit was primarily building gas guzzling behemoths and the American market was ripe for an affordable and economical compact car. Despite being derided by some – pregnant roller skate was one of the terms given to the Civic – the car proved to be the toehold Honda needed to get established in the North American market. Today’s Civic bears no resemblance to the original and it is available in three models: coupe, sedan, and hybrid.
Categories: Car Tips Tags: car parts, discount Honda parts, Honda Accord, Honda Civic, Honda CR-V, Honda Element, Honda Prelude
Green Air Filters For Your Car
Alright, all you soy sipping, yogurt eating, diet doing, hybrid driving, environmentally eccentric folks from Vancouver: listen up. You may be causing more damage to the environment than you already know. How so? Your Audi’s air filter, that’s how. Yes, it is true: if you keep your car long enough you will be performing under-the-hood maintenance which will include changing your air filter at least once a year. Keep that same car for ten years and that is ten years of stuff clogging North America’s landfills. And you call yourself earth friendly? Tsk, tsk!
All kidding aside, there is an environmentally friendly way whereby if you follow just one small, but important step you can achieve oneness with nature, if not with your wallet: replace your car’s disposable air filter one final time with a reusable air filter.
Reusable air filters, or performance air filters as some like to call them, are a true “green” item. No, the air filter isn’t green itself, but the result is the same effect: you can replace your car’s air filter one final time with a reusable air filter that should outlast your car. Environmentally friendly air filters are on the market and they have several key benefits to them, including:
Categories: Car Tips Tags: Audi parts, car parts, green air filters, K&N, performance air filters, replacement air filters
Car and Truck Alternators
Has your vehicle’s alternator failed? Are you absolutely certain that it isn’t your battery or starter? Determining which part has failed is essential toward avoiding unnecessarily replacing something that hasn’t failed, like your battery. Let’s take a look at some steps you can take to determine that your alternator, in fact, has bit the dust.
If you own an alternator testing machine, you can test to see whether your car’s alternator is charging correctly. For most people this isn’t practical as few motorists own such an expensive piece of equipment. For everyone else, there is a practical way for you to easily check to see if your alternator is working properly:
Categories: Car Tips Tags: alternator, Bosch alternator, car parts, Denso alternator, truck alternator, Valeo alternator
What’s Your Dream Car?
Remember when you were young and looking to get that first car. You looked around at the cars your friends had, you looked in the various car magazines and would put yourself behind the wheel of all the cars they featured.
I do. In fact, I can remember my grandmother and father asking me what kind of car I wanted for my High School graduation. I really wanted to get a powder blue Corvette with white interior, or a white Corvette with powder blue interior. They thought the price for one back then was a bit more than they wanted to spend and didn’t feel it was a good “first” car. So I got my “Black Beauty” instead, a black, 2 door 1962 Chevy Belair with blue vinyl seats, which I fell in love with real quick.
They were right, I am glad I got the car I did, but a girl has dreams and that Corvette was mine at the time. This is closest picture I could find as to what it would have looked like.
Categories: Car Tips Tags: all original, antiques, car parts, car restoration, Cars, dream car, hot rods, muscle cars, showcase, street rods, working on cars