Warning Signs You Need New Tires

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Just as your feet are sore after a long walk, the tires on your car take a beating every time you drive. This isn't a sign of bad driving --well, not usually -- but rather an inevitable fact of life. Tires get old and worn down. And because a tire failure while you're driving can be catastrophic, causing your car to go out of control or leaving you stranded in the middle of nowhere without any easy way to get home, you want to know when your tires are in bad shape so you can get new ones before something goes wrong. Of course, if you have a mechanic look at your car periodically, he or she will probably tell you if the tires need to be changed, but there are several things you can do yourself short of a visit to your local auto center to make sure your tires are in good shape.

We've listed five of the warning signs that indicate you need new tires (in no particular order) over the next few pages.

Adjusting Brake Pedal Height and Free Play

Finding Your Proper Pedal Free Play

Most pedals (brake and clutch) should have a small amount of free play. Free play is the distance the pedal can be pressed before it makes contact on the other end. It's very small, usually less than 10mm.

What You'll Need:

- ruler

- open end wrenches

- line wrenches

- pliers

- Wite-Out or another way to mark a metal surface

5 Cheap Ways to Increase Horsepower

Your car is fine. It's got a great stereo, and you've been driving it long enough that the seat has that perfect butt-groove going on. You've been pretty diligent about taking care of it, with regular oil changes and trips through the car wash. But wouldn't it be nice if it were, I don't know, faster? Maybe had a little oomph when you take off from a red light? Maybe, just maybe, your car could even pass another car while going uphill -- with a little tuning. We're not talking about making your car a queen of the drag strip; I mean, that's expensive. Or is it?

There are easily five things you can do to pep up your commute or turn in a respectable time on the quarter-mile, and it doesn't have to cost more than your mortgage payment to do them.

This is the first thing just about anyone will tell you when you say you want to up your horsepower. It's kind of like those minty-fresh gum commercials with the ice swirling around, and the price is only a smidge more than a pack of gum. A kind of big smidge, but still. The idea is that cold air is more dense, so more air gets into the cylinders to mix with the fuel. More air means more combustion, and more combustion means more power, to the tune of a realistic 5- to 7-horsepower in a typical engine. This only works if the air intake is the limiting factor, however. If your engine is already sucking in big breaths of cool, fresh air, then try one of the other tricks on this list.

Survey: Consumers are ready for new tech ideas in cars

A new survey about what vehicle consumers want and don't want suggests that the auto industry is lagging consumers when it comes to technology ideas.

The study, undertaken globally by software supplier Cisco Systems, found a surprisingly high degree of consumer comfort with the idea of vehicles that drive themselves -- a technology that so far exists mainly at r&d centers.

It also found that many consumers from the United States to China don't trust automaker or dealership Web sites when it comes to shopping for new cars.

5 Things Every Driver Should Know About Engine Oil

There are a couple of things an engine absolutely must have in order to work: Gasoline to make the car go, and oil to keep the parts of the engine moving.

Oil may play a supporting role in the combustion engine, but without it, the parts wouldn't be able to move freely, the seals would dry up and crack and little bits of dirt and metal would clog the works. Without engine oil, the whole combustion process would grind to a halt.

Most drivers know their engine needs oil just like it needs gasoline, but how much, what kind and how often to add it can seem like a mystery -- especially with recent advances in modern engine technology. New drivers, as well as experienced drivers who've just upgraded to a brand-new car, can benefit from learning the basics of engine oil. After all, it's one of the few things in an engine that the average driver can learn about and control.

Vehicle Serviceability - A Real Issue

Serviceability is not a top priority for vehicle design teams, but it should be. Vehicle designers will surely read this article and remonstrate that there is no real issue here, and that modern computer-aided design makes vehicle repairs logical, efficient, and affordable. Any first year mechanic’s apprentice knows better.

To prove the point, let’s look a couple of real repairs. Chrysler will take the sharp point of our whoopin' stick in these examples, but the sins of the industry are not bounded by brand. And nowhere is bad service/repair design more evident than in the industry's antiquated approach to heating and air conditioning systems.

Let’s start with a 2000 Chrysler Concorde, a car with, well... issues. Other egregious offenses aside, this particular Concorde’s air conditioner blows more hot air than a freshman congressman, now that the evaporator core has sprung its characteristic leak.

The thoughtful addition of a foam blanket wrapped around the evaporator traps moisture and creates a fertile breeding ground for bacteria large enough to fly in formation through the air vents.

The Sports Car Review

"Do You Have A Favourite Sports Car?"

"Your favourite sports car". What are the things you look for? By following their development across the decades, the features of each, such as body styling and performance, can be compared to find which you think is the best.

In this Article, I offer a nostalgic look at the sports car highlights covering the memorable period of the 1940's to the 1980's, which featured the introduction and development of many classic cars, some of which are household names.