Tag: car

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5 Easy Ways to Clean Your Car’s Tires at Home

If you’ve been following my blog, you already know how passionate I am about car care. With a small fleet of vehicles in my family, keeping them in top shape is no small task. While most people focus on maintaining the paint and trim, one detail that’s often overlooked is tire care. After you’ve polished up your car and it’s looking great, taking the extra step to clean and condition the tires adds that perfect finishing touch, elevating your car’s appearance to the next level.

Personally I like Chemical Guys products, they may cost a little more than other brands but at least you know they work well.

1. Start with a Thorough Rinse

Before applying any cleaner, give your tires a good rinse to remove loose dirt and grime. Use a high-pressure hose or even a simple bucket of water and a brush. This helps loosen up the dirt that builds up on the tire surface, making the cleaning process more effective.

Pro Tip: After rinsing, apply Chemical Guys Signature Series Wheel Cleaner. It’s safe for tires and wheels, making it an easy dual-purpose cleaner.

 

Continue reading “5 Easy Ways to Clean Your Car’s Tires at Home”

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2013-2018 Lexus GS 350 Air Filter Replacement Procedure

My 2017 Lexus GS 350 needs a new air filter. It’s been about 20,000 miles and is ready for a replacement. No matter what car I drive, weather it be a $500 Honda Accord or my GS I’m still a do-it-yourself kind of guy and refuse to hand over money for something I can easily do on my own. The Lexus dealer can and will charge upwards of $150 to replace the air filter. If you follow my instructions below I will save you over $100 and have your car done in 5 to 10 minutes!

Where to get the correct air filter?

I like to shop on Amazon, they usually have great prices and with my prime membership the orders arrive at my door super quick.

There are quite a few manufactures that make replacement filters for the GS, I tend to steer toward name brands I trust and have used in the past.

Fram is my first choice in filter, they tend to be slightly more expensive than other brands, but they perform well and last. This particular filter has an extra layer of filtration material on the bottom. I haven’t seen that previously on others. I’m curious if it adds that much more filtration without cutting down the airflow to the engine.  $33.99 at Amazon Continue reading “2013-2018 Lexus GS 350 Air Filter Replacement Procedure”

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Automotive Headlight Technology – Even Edison Would be Impressed!

Recently I purchased a new car and was amazed at how much technology is packed into it. From radar cruise control and self steering, to blind spot monitoring and collision avoidance its great to see how far we have come since the advancement of the micro processor. One item that caught my eye is the fact their is not a single Edison light bulb in the  car. It is 100% LED technology even the Headlights!

I have been driving longer than I’m not driving, over 27 years (do the math, yes I’m old) My first car had “sealed” beam headlights and were sufficiently bright and focused for 1980’s technology. Just think, how much more have we advanced since the invention of the automobile?

A trip back in time:

In the late 1800’s as cars became more prevalent there was a need to light the road at night. Since the first commercial light bulb was invented around 1879 it was not feasible to install it into a vehicle. Early road vehicles used fueled lamps to light the way.  You had your choice of acetylene or oil and the Prest-O-Light company had a great storage and delivery system for the acetylene gas. Continue reading “Automotive Headlight Technology – Even Edison Would be Impressed!”

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Talking Cars Of The 80’s

It’s hard to remember a time when our devices didn’t talk to us. Siri, Amazon Alexa, and Google Assistant just to name a few. Devices that talk and can understand and respond to us are so common place now we take them for granted. That wasn’t the case 40 years ago. Just imagine how revolutionary and advanced talking cars of the early 80’s must have seemed. If you were alive back then phrases like “Your door is ajar” and “Fuel Level Low” would probably bring back some memories.

The 1981 Datsun Maxima

In 1981 Datsun was the first manufacture to add speech technology to their Maxima model. At the time this was a technology breakthrough. The kind lady in the car presented messages such as “Please tun off the lights” and “Parking brake is on”. In today’s digital age most of us assumed that Nissan (Datsun) simply put a speech chip in the car and done.

This is NOT the case, the technology in the Maxima was mostly analog. The cars voice alert system was a record player. Yes, you read that correctly the car was equipped with a phonograph recording of the alert messages. A small white plastic disk would spin and when an alert was requested by the car a precision tone arm would select the correct track to play.  I wonder if the record would skip over a rough road, or if the message could be played to the point where the needle or record could wear out. Continue reading “Talking Cars Of The 80’s”

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