Xenon Headlights Logo

Driving at night can be hard. In years past driving at night was a lot harder as the light technology of the day was not that good. Now days we have all kinds of neat light technology so we can easily drive at night.  The thing is most cars even new ones do not come with the good kind of lights. When you get a car it will probably have standard H3 55 watt Halogen bulbs. Halogen bulbs are really bright for their size but they really are getting to be old technology.

The next big thing in lighting is called H.I.D. This stands for High Intensity Discharge. HID bulbs are actually small Xenon bulbs which use less watts than your regular Halogen bulbs but put out like 5 times more light. You may have been driving down the road and saw some car coming with either really white bulbs or bulbs that look sorta blue and they were really bright. These bulbs that are so bright are actually the new Xenon bulbs. They are usually in higher end cars such as BMW, Acura, Mercedes, Porsche and other high end cars. BMW for instance has used Xenon bulbs for years in their cars.

You can actually get these for your car! You do not have to go out and buy a newer or a new car to just be able to see better at night. You can buy an aftermarket HID kit for about any car or truck,even motorcycles for not too much money. Price wise you are looking at somewhere around $300.00 or more for the kit if you get a name brand kit. Be careful to not buy a kit that has no reviews and is some cheap brand because I have heard bad stories of them just going out all the sudden leaving you without any lights.

A kit consists of two ballasts and the proper wiring and bulbs. You can wire it up yourself in around 1-2 hours. You don't need to be a electrician to do it as it has a step by step guide. In some cars though a kit does not always work well. What happens is the light can be refracted all over the place and go into the other cars lane. In a BMW they have a whole headlight made for the bulbs not just a bulb in a ordinary reflector. In most cases this poses no trouble, especially on newer cars. A simple search on the internet for HID kit can give you all the info you need to make a wise decision. You may need a retrofit which would mean a new headlight kit which could ad to the price big time. Its worth it though because the light output from Xenon bulbs is just insane.

Xenon is a great light technology. Its time regular car companies get on the bandwagon and start puting them in their new cars.

Increase Gas Mileage

If you do a search for how to increase fuel mileage on a search engine you will find millions of results. As gas prices have went up over the years, people have been wanting to improve their cars fuel economy. Many did not know you could do much about increasing your fuel economy or what it takes so they just went out and bought a small car. By driving carefully and steady you can really increase your current vehicles fuel economy without having to upgrade to another car.

As people became desperate sellers decided to try and see how dumb people are. Sellers saw a large market with millions of dollars on the line and so they came up with all kinds of crazy things to "help" your fuel economy. This has been going on for many years now and it amazes me people actually think these things work. I am going to talk on a few of the top fuel economy improving scams so you will know what not to buy into.

Nitrogen in Tires:

Have you ever seen a cars tires with green caps on the air inlets on the tires? That means they had their tires filled with all nitrogen instead of just plain air and that they were scammed. Let me explain how this works. Advertisers say that filling your cars tires with nitrogen will help fuel economy because the tires deflate slower. The thing is air is 80% or so nitrogen by itself. Tests have been done and there may be just the slightest delay of the air leaking out of tires if you fill them with nitrogen. No where near enough to be worth the money they charge. The best thing you can do is to check the air pressure often.

Vortex Fuel savers in your airboxes:

This one has been going around for many years. It was advertised somehow that if you put in this little ring in your air box it would make the air swirl like a tornado and increase fuel economy by making the gas vapors and air mix better. It however does nothing but make fuel mileage drop as anything in the way of the air flow only slows the air down causing worse fuel mileage.

Magnetic fuel line devices

This device is supposed to give you up to 25% better fuel economy just by clipping on these magnets to your fuel line. In reality this does nothing for your car. Honestly what could it do to a liquid to make it burn better? The magnets are supposed to break up the molecules for a more even burn which just screams scam. Don't fall for it!

Fuel additives

People think and swear that they get better fuel mileage if they ad things like Acetone to their fuel. It is proven otherwise and in most cases it physically impossible for them to work like they claim they will. In some cases they can help for older cars with carburetors on them but not so much for new cars with Electronic Fuel Injection.  Acetone actually cleans carburetors and such out so if you have a increase in fuel economy its because it did its job. After you have added it there will be no need to keep on doing it as it wont help.

Don't fall for those scams. Always read reviews of stuff before you buy them online. If you have any of these in or on your car be sure and remove them.

Hybrids are getting a lot more attention as gas prices go up. Now you see more and more of the popular but ugly Toyota Prius on the roads. Hybrids are good cars because they get great fuel mileage but its limited to the city. Once you get out on the freeway you will see very little difference between a hybrid model car and its regular non hybrid model.

If you do mostly city driving a hybrid is a great choice as it gains electricity back with regenerative breaking. This means when you stop it uses generators to gain back energy as you stop. When you are not stopping and going like on the freeway you can see why Hybrids do not do well on freeways.On a freeway you might not like a Hybrid being they usually have like a 1.3 liter gas motor that will be powering you. They use a small motor so it does not burn much gas and at freeways speeds you wont have much passing power.

There is another way to get good fuel mileage and you wont have to worry about any of these set backs the hybrids have. What I am talking about is a diesel vehicle. Diesel engines are more efficient than gas engines but you don't usually see them in cars but in big trucks. In Europe diesel engines are very popular but in America they are not. As fuel prices go up they are starting to make more sense in the USA too.

One diesel car the Jetta Beetle can get 50 miles per gallon without any hybrid technology! The same goes for the other 2 models Jetta makes that runs on diesel. All 3 models get great fuel mileage and have none of the set backs a hybrid has. These are not the stinky diesels of the past but clean diesels of the future. One guy even did some minor modifications to a diesel beetle and he is getting a steady 70+ miles per gallon! He added a different spoiler and a free flow catalytic converter among other things and that was all it took.

A Jetta is also a good bit cheaper than a Hybrid and you never have to replace batteries. Honda may bring over a diesel in the near future, the Honda Civic Diesel! If you want good fuel mileage without hybrid set backs take a look into a diesel car. They might just save you a lot of money!

Diesel Jetta

Teens Buying Cars

When you were younger and you became old enough to drive did your parents give you a car? Chances are they did not. I see and hear teens talking today on how they can't wait to turn 16 as their parents are going to buy them a car so they can drive. At just 15.5 years old in a lot of states a teen can legally drive by themselves from sun up to sun down. Considering they can get the permit at 15 that means they only have 5 months experience. Some teens can drive fine at that age but most should not even be driving alone for sure.

But lets not rant on that. Kids today get everything handed to them. Once they get a drivers license they get a car and their insurance and probably their gas is also payed by the parents. All they might have to do is help around the house a couple of hours a week or in some cases they don't have to do anything extra. This is the wrong thing for parents to do. Kids today just don't seem to treasure stuff they get like the previous generation did. I think kids should be taught to be responsible and to earn what they get.

When I turned 17 I bought my first car. Well I took out a loan or my mom did and I started paying for my car. I also payed for my own insurance,tires,repairs and maintenance and anything else the car needed. I did not go out and by a brand new car either. I was smarter than that but I did get a nice 2001 Honda civic ex. It gets great fuel economy and is perfect for a starter car.

I bet that if you made your child pay for his or her car they would think more of it. They might not drive it as hard or as crazy if they were the ones paying the repair bills either. If they had to work 20 hours a week to drive they might just take care of the car,what a thought! After all they earned it with their own money and it was not some handout. I think teaching this life lesson early can really help you kid later in life. Being responsible with bills and such can pay off big time when they go out and get their first house. I know I learned a lot about bill paying and budgets.

It's Friday, I have zero motivation.   This usually lends itself to me cruising the interwebs for interesting articles or pictures to comment on.  This day shall be no different.

Today I bring you 4 dirty car messages, scribed by geniuses.  I mean, its not enough that a person lives on a dirt road, but they also have to put up with smart remarks.  Consider the first picture, the obligatory 'Wash Me' message, yeah, it doesn't hold a candle to the other 3.

Dirty Message

Dirty Message

Dirty Message

Dirty Message

Scott Wade is the man responsible for the awesome art drawn onto dirty car windows, like Einstein picture above.  He really does some phenomenal work and it's worth a look at his galleries.  Dirty.

The economy is going down fast. It has been bloated for so many years and has been extremely faked by the worlds governments. We are now seeing just where our economy is, the real economy. Jobs are being layed off and so people do not have as much money. As you may have seen and heard the car industry is hurting very badly during this time. Without money people can't buy cars and so car companies are seeing close to 50% drops in car sales compared to last year. Its not that people do not have money,they still do its just that they are saving everything now.

The New York times is reporting on a interesting story about how cars from Toyota and other car companies are having to moth ball their cars. Each day thousands of cars are being made in plants all over the world. Then they are loaded onto a ship and sent overseas to America and other countries. Well the thing is people are just not buying the cars. When the cars get over here they are not being taken to sellers but the car companies are renting acres of space that is usually used to temporary store containers to store their cars on. Toyota alone has cleared a deal for 6 acres worth of land to store cars on for an unknown amount of time! They even want more land! This has been going on for 2 years now but is getting worse.

Toyota has slowed production down to meet demand but what will they do with all those cars if people are not buying them? Whats really bad is we could have a surplus of 2007-2008 models with no miles on them for years to come. They will only go down in value so its not good for car companies. Cars are being stored at airports and fairgrounds also I read. Its amazing what just a slowdown of the economy can do to some businesses.

Dealerships are actually denying truck loads of cars because they just can't sell them fast enough. General motors is going to go bankrupt soon they are saying also. Toyota is hurting just as bad though as GM as their car and SUV sales are way down. You may have noticed Toyota's "Saved by Zero" commercials. Its a sign they are hurting badly,desperate to get rid of a car. If you NEED a new car this is the best time to find one but I suggest you buy a used one. People are almost giving them away.

Take a look at the picture on the New York times article about the cars being stored. Its just amazing to see just how many cars are sitting their with no place to go!
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/19/bu...orts.html?_r=1

The automtive industry is in peril and the only options according to our appointed leaders are either bail out or let fail.  However, myself and others feel there is a gray area to the economic problem facing domestic auto makers.  Specifically in the way we handle imports, current goals by the Big 3, and the impact unions have on the cost of a new car.  I intend to detail some other ideas that could benefit us in the long run and dont' involve a black or white approach to the US economy.

Low Domestic Sales

Tariffs could be the automotive industries new best friend and it can be implemented almost immediately.  The immediate effect would be higher priced imports, thus giving domestics an advantage in the market place.  Those opposed to Tariff increases stand behind unfair trade and potential to damage world trading, but I feel now is the time to act.  Furthermore there would be more incentive for manufacturers to bring their plants to the US, providing more jobs for Americans.

Domestic cars and trucks are quality vehicles and often times can compete equally with their import counter parts.  Somewhere within recent years there has been a stima placed on domestic vehicles and the idea that buying imports was the 'green' thing to do.  In reality domestics compete on a level playing field in fuel economy, quality, and dependability.  Therefore I believe the real deal breaker amongst new car buyers is price and we have a tool to tilt the scales in the domestic's direction.

(more...)

This has been a debate for so many years.  Does running your Air conditioner eat more fuel than just rolling your windows down? We now know the facts though!This has been tested by lots of people over the years and many come up with the same results.

After many tests they came up with these results. Running your air conditioner at speeds above 60 miles per hour will give you a greater miles per gallon than having your windows rolled down. This is because the drag of the wind coming in your car would be greater than the amount of power it takes to just run the air conditioners unit. When moving air puts up its own force which is quite strong. You can get a idea of this by puting your hand out of the window while riding. You can feel the pressure on your hand and arm and if you let your arm go limp it will float around or bend back. You car is feeling that wind resistance the whole time its driving and the higher the speed you are traveling at the more wind resistance you will get.

With speeds 60 miles per hour or under the wind resistance is not as strong and you would save fuel by having your windows open. You won't be saving much either way so really its up to you. If its really hot and you want to turn on your Air Conditioner then do so.

There is also one more point I want to make. On short trips if you can stand it do not use the air conditioner. It will not have much effect on the temperature of the air inside the car because it cannot cool that fast. It will however use just as much fuel as it ever does.

Either way you do it running the air conditioner won't change the fuel mileage much. It will affect cars with smaller motors more than say a big truck. On smaller cars it may be 3 or 4 miles per gallon that you will lose by running the air conditioner. On a long trip this can ad up or over time. Its just according to how much money you have for gas if you really need to debate this. About every 300 miles or so you would save $3-4 bucks.

Gas is expensive now days so saving any can add up at the end of the week. I hope this clears up some questions you may have had about running your cars air conditioner.

Car Maintenance

Some of us drive to work each day. Then we come home and go shopping or go out for a night on the town. So that means we put on a lot of miles on our vehicles. Then there are others who work from home or just don't drive as much. When you put a lot of miles on your car you have to do maintenance more often.  Things like oil changes and replacing air filters is a common thing.

Some people who do not put a lot of miles on their cars think they can just skip almost all maintenance. This is far from the truth. Sure you won't have to change your oil as often but other parts on your car will still need to be maintained.

One thing you need to do is keep your tires inflated. Regardless of how much you drive your car your tires need to stay at the rated pressure. If you do not keep your tires at the rated pressure they can wear in the wrong places. Have you ever seen car tires that are wearing on the outer edges? This can be caused by more than just a bad front end alignment. It could also be because they have ran them either pumped up too hard or they are running them too soft. Keeping your car tires inflated properly also will give you the better fuel mileage. A flat tire can make you lose fuel economy.

You also need to check your tires for wear and tear. A tire may look good from far away but up close you may see signs it needs replacing. If I tire starts to get weather cracks in the sidewalls and in the tread badly then you need to replace it. It does not matter how much tread is left on the tire if they are either old are starting to look bad replace them for your own safety.

Another thing you need to keep up with is your battery. If you do not drive your car hardly any and it just sits there then you need to either keep a eye out on it once a month or you need to disconnect the terminals
from the battery so they cant corrode. Even when you use your car your battery can corrode and sometimes does. You can use a baking soda and water mix to help remove acid buildup on the battery posts. Just make it sorta thick but make it runny enough so you can poor it on the terminals. Then get a brush and brush off the acid.

The last thing you should check is the fluid levels in your vehicle. You need to check your oil and transmission fluid often. This can tell you if they are low and if your car has a leak or is using oil. If you just had your oil changed and a month later your oil is low then you need to have your car looked at.

Maintaining your car is important for your own safety and the safety of others on the road. If you keep your car maintained you can lengthen the life on your car by a long ways.  This maintenance becomes especially important if you plan on storing your car for the winter.

CarMagazine.co.uk got some great spy pics of the upcoming 2010 Lamborghini Murcielago.  According to insiders the name Murcielago will change to Jota, although I'm not sure I believe that.  Why change a super car icon to such a quaint crappy name?

From the spy pics below it looks like the 2010 Murcielago will be more fo the same on the outside, like a stealth fighter with wheels.  However under the fiberglass Lamborghini is doing away with the steel frame and moving towards a carbon fiber setup.  Some other hints of change exist in the computer system and more interesting the engine, which will reportedly be boosted to 700bhp out of 12 cylinders at a displacement of 6 litres.

My pants just got a little tighter.