Introduction To The Basics Of Wheel Alignment

By Will Paul

Have you ever wondered why your vehicle seems to pull to one side? Or, do the treads on the right always wear out before those on the left? Does your gas mileage decline year after year even though your engine, fuel injectors, and sensors are in top-notch shape? The culprit may be your wheel alignment. Unlike a malfunctioning alternator or failing transmission, this problem happens gradually over thousands of miles. That makes it difficult to identify.

If left unchecked, an alignment problem can cause issues with your vehicle's steering response, fuel efficiency, and overall drivability. I'll explain the factors involved below and describe how caster, camber, and toe each play a role in aligning your wheels.

Caster Explained

Caster is a measurement that reflects the tilt of the steering axis. If the steering axis tilts forward and positions itself ahead of the tire (from a side view), the caster is considered negative. If the steering axis tilts backward, it is considered positive.

Caster does not influence the wear of your treads - but, it does influence handling. The more positive it is, the "heavier" your steering control will feel. This is especially true when your vehicle is moving slowly. If one tire's caster is more positive than the other, the misalignment will cause a pull.

Camber Explained

Camber reflects the degree to which the top of a wheel tilt inward (toward the center of your car) or outward when looking at it from the front. An outward tilt is considered positive while an inward tilt is considered negative.

Camber affects tread wear. If it is too positive, the excess wear will occur on the outside portion of the tire. If the camber is too negative, the wear will occur on the inside. A misalignment will cause a pull toward the most positive camber.

Aligning The Toe

The toe of your wheels measures the amount they turn inward (again, toward the center of your car) or outward when looking at them head on. If they turn inward, the toe is considered positive. If they turn outward, it is considered negative.

Ideally, the toe will aligned as close to neutral (that is, neither positive or negative) as possible. If the toe of your tires is not aligned properly, your treads will wear down faster than normal and you'll experience a lack of stability when steering.

Enjoying Improved Drivability

Caster, camber, and toe are the basic components that affect the alignment of your vehicle's wheels. If they are severely misaligned, they can have a significant influence on your ability to steer effectively. They can cause excess tread wear as well as wear and tear on your suspension. Have the alignment checked annually to protect your car's tires, suspension, and drivability. - 21396

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A Hybrid Car: The Best Option As Far As Vehicles Are Concerned

By Danny Green

Lets define a Hybrid car first; a hybrid car is the one that is fuel efficient and environment friendly. In Hybrid cars, there is a combination of two kinds of energy components for operation. One is fuel i.e. petrol and the other is electricity. This combination makes it hyperactive low emission, quiet as well as economical.

The basic attribute hybrid cars are well known for is that they conserve the environment due to very low emissions, as they do not negatively affect the environment in comparing with other non-hybrid cars. Fuels operating price is not high, and the probability of getting a good resale value of hybrid cars is quite good. These characteristics make the hybrid car an ideal vehicle to buy.

The hybrid car can be purchased with an option since two kinds of functions are present. One is Parallel, and the other is Series. In the parallel hybrid, the petrol and electric motor of the car are able to run the transmission, both at the same time. As far as the hybrid series is concerned, the petrol engine of the car does not power the transmission directly. In order to charge the batteries or the electric motor, a generator comes in handy, so then these can run the transmission.

There are two types of hybrid cars, full hybrid and Assist hybrids. The Full hybrid cars can run on the engine alone and they can also run on the batteries or both. The assist hybrids are the ones that have a small gasoline engine that supply the main power.

Some very effective features have been introduced in a hybrid car that helps this car perform better along with making it fuel-efficient, as these days, the fuel costs are very high so hybrid cars can be very valuable. These hybrid cars could be comparatively expensive as compared to the non-hybrid cars, but eventually they justify their additional cost by saving fuel as well as environment.

Hybrid cars are able to give you three times more mileage than non-hybrid cars. They can drive up to sixty miles per gallon, while a normal vehicle drives twenty to twenty-five miles a gallon. Standard driving and handling rules in reference to a hybrid car can help you save even more on fuel for sure. As an example, smooth acceleration can enhance its consumption average.

Lesser fuel consumption is the major feature of the hybrid car. It takes very low fuel to start and at the same time when it takes lesser fuel, the emission will automatically be less. This lesser emission saves environment from being polluted. The greater the number of hybrid cars in the market, the lesser polluted environment we shall have. Therefore, to save our planet we should buy hybrid cars.

Honda introduced the first hybrid car in the year of 1999. It launched it with a signature of environment friendly symbol. This caught the attention of numerous people very quickly, and when they discover its better consumption, switching to hybrid cars from their non-hybrid ones will be easy for many. - 21396

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Browse the Lexus range of Hybrid Cars and book a test drive online, visit the Lexus website for more information.

Cutting The Cost Of Gas

By Jay Stone

Having your tire pressures checked is a brilliant idea on how to save gas when you drive. You don't have to do it every day, but once a week is good enough, provided the tires are in good working condition, you will not be wasting money doing it. At least, you certainly aren't spending as much inflating the tires are you would on gas when you have to refill do often.

I hear there are electric cars out in the market already. I personally read an extract last year in which Honda committed to flooding the market with this great new product. Great. As yet they may be too expensive for the likes of you and I to purchase, but not for too long. Get one when the time and tide are right, and save yourself the cost of gas from now till whenever.

When you don't understand your vehicle very well, you tend to push the poor thing too hard. When you start to look to save gas, you had better work on a better relationship with your car. Learn to listen to how it responds to your touch so that you know when to feed it more gas and when to let up. Ultimately, you are saving gas as you need to.

Smaller cars tend to burn less gas because they don't work as much to get about as the big cars have to. If you can manage it, you could try using smaller cars and save yourself the extra cost of keeping the bigger one on the road. Use the large vehicles only when you absolutely have to. It only makes sense, and you know it.

If you are not actually using them, lose whatever extra pounds your car may be packing. You could have some stuff in the trunk that you really do not use, and you could be carrying things on the roof of the car that need not be there. All that extra load is burning gas in a way you don't want. You can do better without them. - 21396

About the Author:

Learn more about Honda Civic Hybrid Information. Stop by Jay Stone's site where you can find out all about Simple Honda Civic Hybrid Comparison and what it can do for you.

Breakdown Cover Is Simple To Find On The Internet, But It's A Good Idea To Do Some Research.

By Ellie D Walsh

When it comes to breakdown cover, a lot of people tend to not bother getting it, thinking that they'll never have any problems. However, this is always a bad idea. What would you do if you broke down in the middle of no where? Do you know anyone who would be able to safely tow you to a garage? What if you were on a motorway? Getting breakdown assistance is easy and it's not expensive so why take the risk?

Whatever you're looking for, it shouldn't be a problem to find items that are worthwhile. There is so much available on today's market that you'll be spoilt for choice. It can sometimes be hard to decide on what is right for your needs though. You'll have to take your time while you're browsing the web to ensure that you're aware of everything on today's market.

There are lots of options to choose from and you may find it difficult to make up your mind. Well, if that's the case then you should read on to learn how to choose the right services for your needs. You will also need to set yourself a budget so that you don't overspend and waste your money on a deal that's not worth it.

When you are looking online, you may find that it's a bit confusing because there's so much to choose from. This is why research is important - take your time and read through everything. If you find it useful, you could also make notes and use the bookmarking feature in your web browser to help you keep track of things.

You will then need to consider the type of breakdown cover available on today's market and do some research to find out which options are best suited to your needs. It can be quite easy to find what you're looking for if you hit the internet and have a good look around.

If you have a good look around on the internet you should find that there are plenty of options available. Have a browse and do some searches on Google to see what comes up. You'll probably be surprised at the amount of choice for such a simple purchase. - 21396

About the Author:

Author Ellie D Walsh talks about motor breakdown cover. www.breakdowndirect.co.uk has a huge range of options and information available, you should easily find what you're looking for.

The Pioneer DEH-1100 Car CD Player

By Jeremy Peterson

If you're looking to change your original factory installed radio/cassette player with a car CD player, consider the Pioneer DEH-1100 Car CD Player.

This particular model is ideal for the budget-conscious individual. Its reasonably priced with good features and a good reputation for quality. The Pioneer DEH-1100 plays music without distortion, and it has a simple, clean design, with an easy-to-read digital display.

The CD player accepts only one CD at a time, which is ideal if you're someone who have a few all-time favorite CDs stashed in their car, or if you have one of those learn-Italian-on-your-way-to-work CDs that you're determined to listen to over and over again. Its ideal also, if you decide to burn a few easy-driving CD music mixes onto a blank CD. Yes indeed, that's right, the Pioneer Car CD Player is compatible with home-recorded audio CD-Rs.

All the controls are push button and they are lighted, which makes them easy to find when you're night driving. And whats lovely is that there are only 5 of them, along with local, clock and bsm buttons. The buttons are relatively easy to use. For example, if you press the source button, it lets you choose between the CD player and the radio. And if you hold it down for more than 1 second, the unit switches off.

As for finding the right track, the scan button allows you to play the first ten seconds of each track in succession. Or if you want to repeat a particular track, you play several tracks in random order, you can do this as well.

With the Pioneer DEH-1100, you've also got access to up to 18 FM radio stations and 6 AM stations. This means, you have at any one time up to 24 stations at your fingertips, along with the alternative of your single CD installed.

Another handy feature, is the upside-down eject. If you insert your CD upside down, it will get automatically ejected.

As you can tell, this is the type of CD player, that the technically faint-of-heart, like myself, like. I don't own and iPod, and while I love my MP3 player but still find it challenging to add new music or podcasts to it. You're not getting the fanciest of all CD players out there, but you'll be definitely choosing a good, reliable model. - 21396

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To learn more about car cd player be sure to check out our site today.