High-quality, real leather feels and smells good. Real leather is also more durable and expensive, too. Leatherette is known as a synthetic leather, or more commonly known as vinyl or faux leather.
If you're just not sure what the difference between the two are, we've highlighted a few things to keep in mind:
Why not multitask these two activities? Washing your car is a great thing to do, but it can be more fun and enjoyable with your kids washing with along with you. Here are a few activities that you can do with your family when washing your car.
Pass the sponge – Who gets to scrub the dirt off the wheels? Who would be cleaning the windshield? Playing pass the sponge is like delegating chores to each one but making it look and feel fun. You can play question and answer with your kids (ideally about their academic subjects) and whoever gets the wrong answer will be taking the sponge to scrub the car.
Bubble wars – Bubbles are one of toddlers’ favorite things. Blowing bubbles from the thick car wash shampoo foam can really make your kids giggle. If you’ve got bigger teenage kids, smearing bubbles on their faces will really engage them in a bubble war. Not all kids will enjoy this, though. Your male teens may not be very interested in playing with bubbles, but why not make them wash your car instead? Boys love cars, anyway.
Scrubbing game – See who can clean the windows the fastest by giving your kids their own sponges and letting them clean individual windows. Teach them to scrub the windows with soap and rinse it off with water. Afterwards, wipe the windows with chamois. Not only will this excite your kids since it’s a race, it will also keep you all excited. Surely your kids will keep wetting your windows and smudging soap on the one who’s about to finish first. It’ll become a wetting game eventually.
Bubble words – Little kids love learning about their ABC’s and 123’s. Why not give your toddlers and pre-schoolers something to think about while washing your car? Draw some shampoo foam letters and numbers on your car windows while you’re washing it. Make your child read what you wrote and give him or her a prize when the answer is correct, like a kiss or a tickle. If the answer is wrong, put some bubbles on your child’s face. This will really keep your kids giggling.
Having some family bonding time isn’t hard if you have other things to do. Combining the two can really make your tasks not only fun, but also fulfilling and filled with joy. Don’t forget to use KevianClean Car Wash Shampoo for your washing needs. This will surely keep your car beautiful and shiny, and your family happy!
]]>Celebrities, particularly rappers, avail of car grills the same way they'd get teeth grills. They also go get spinning rims for good measure. When purchasing a grill support and grill for your automotive needs, there are several things you need to keep in mind.
Types of Car Grills
The main types of car grills are billet, mesh, or custom. Every type of grill has its respective benefits and detriments.
It thus assists in the correct combustion of fuel, immediate expulsion of certain waste gases, and proper circulation of air. Typically, getting an air intake duct replacement means getting a replacement tube or hose near your radiator.
When your stock duct fails, it might serve as an opportunity for you to get a better duct because most stock intakes are chosen for how quiet they are rather than by their fuel efficiency.
Tips on Buying an Air Intake Duct
What you use up in fuel you will save in terms of the extra fuel you waste from human error in shifting. What's more, because it automates driving somewhat, all types of drivers can make use of it from beginners to advanced drivers. It makes your car easier to handle and smoother when shifting gears.
You can also go back to manual driving on an automatic by shifting to the 2nd or 3rd gear option if you like. 4WD vehicles work best with auto transmission (along with power steering) because manual gearboxes only drain their power.
Preventing Transmission Failure with Proper Maintenance
Even though an automatic gearbox makes shifting easier it's not self-maintaining. You need to know how to maintain it yourself in order to keep it from breaking down and to keep you from spending thousands of dollars from fixing it care of a transmission repair specialist.
The only time you shouldn't do this with a stopped vehicle is when you're in traffic. Do this in spring where the temperature is mild. However, in the winter, don't idle your cold engine for more than 30 seconds before driving it. This is true for many modern vehicles.
Idling Your Car During the Cold Can Hurt It
The paint finish should be cleaned first by carwash and then polished further by polishing before the final step of waxing is attempted. The wax makes a car shiny but without cleaning and polishing it first, you're mostly adding a glossy finish to a dirty car that lessens its shine potential.
Polishing ensures that your wax has a deep shine that it protects from the elements like rain, sleet, snow, and other things that mailmen have to endure.
The Steps to Cleaning, Polishing, and Waxing Your Car
It's also what you use in order to shift from low gear to high gear when driving a manual transmission vehicle or stick shift. The speedometer drive or worm gear is the spur gear that meshes with the worm or a gear in screw form that ensures your speed gauge accuracy. With that said, how should you go about shopping for a drive gear replacement?
Pointers for Speedometer Shopping
Ever since the 1980s, waxing and polishing went from being essential to car maintenance to optional due to the use of clearcoat paint that has a glossy layer of film over the paint in order to give it a polished look without polishing it.
However, it's better to polish even cars with clearcoat paints because the extra shine is worth the effort, it helps protect your investment, and the wax seals in that polished freshness the same way the clearcoat seals in your paint's color integrity.
Protect Your Investment with Polishing
There are several methods of polishing you should be aware of in order to protect your vehicular investment by fighting off corrosion and dust-related degradation.
When applying polishing cream by hand, you should use a foam applicator pad that won't scratch the clearcoat surface and the paint underneath. You usually only need a small amount of polish before polishing your car with the pad using a circular motion. This method does take a bit of time to work, but the obvious advantage it has is that you can polish hard-to-reach areas this way.
You can also use the hand polish technique "hand-in-hand" with machine polishing. The idea here is to use machine polish to cover the larger areas of your car then use hand polish to go through the smaller areas it can't reach. After polishing a layer on, use a microfiber cloth or another foam pad to wipe down the whole vehicle. Then you can apply wax to preserve the shine.
When you're polishing by machine, it typically involves a polishing machine that has a foam pad attached to it like the manual foam pad you use when you're polishing by hand. Put the machine on setting 3 or 4.
This is the best setting for polishing. The other settings are for scouring like sandpaper, which is bad for paint-bonded dirt that requires a clay bar. Your machine will also recommend the right polishing setting anyway.
Rub a bit of polish into the car as recommended by its label then bring the machine to the car surface before turning it on and moving it around in a side-to-side then front-to-back pattern. Do this for every car part.
For the hard-to-reach areas, as mentioned earlier, you can polish them by hand. Afterwards, apply the wax then buffer it to make that wax layer as shiny as the polished paint underneath.
]]>The self-shifting automatics were only for senior citizens or drivers of luxury saloons. Now, you'll be hard-pressed to find a Millennial or Gen Z driver that knows how to drive a stick-shift.
These days, the opposite of the former norm of everything being manual shift has, for lack of a better term, "shifted", such that there are even manufacturers like Ferrari who don't make manual model cars anymore.
What's The Best Option?
You probably have no idea that the cheeky finger writings on the dusty body of your vehicle as well as all the bird poop and tiny bug splatters can ruin your car's paint in tiny or huge ways. Fortunately, it's easy to protect your car paint. Just follow the tips below.
Methods of Car Paint Protection
This can indicate there's a minor or major problem. Ignoring it can make the issue worse, resulting in expensive repair costs or even irreparable damage. Know when the light comes on by reading the error.
However, if the problem is with the light itself due to a glitch or bug, you should know how to turn it off. There are multiple ways to go about a check engine light reset. Read more to find out.
The ABCs of Resetting The Check Engine Light
Get a pen and paper and write it down or take a picture of it through your phone. Clear the code by pressing the erase button. Once all the error codes are cleared, the check engine light should turn off. Or alternatively, you can simply fix the problem and see if that turns off the light.
You know how when you fix your car from under the hood, you have to take off the negative battery cable from its terminal? This time you need to take off both. From there, drain the electricity from your capacitor by holding the car horn for 30 seconds. It's going to be loud so have family members or neighbors a head's up before doing this. Wait 15 minutes then reinstall the battery.
Once you're through, drive the car to see if the light is gone or not. Otherwise, let the check engine light sort itself out. You'll practically do nothing except drive your vehicle as usual and wait things out. If problems persist, contact your mechanic and have him do something about your malfunctioning light for you.
]]>Because of this, you might the taught how right-handed people do things that you cannot do because you're left-handed, resulting in unforced errors, motor accidents, and potential collisions. So with that in mind, are left handers more of a danger on the road compared to their rightie counterparts?
Are Left-Handed Drivers Dangerous On The Road?
Doing jackrabbit starts and hard braking like you're in a Hollywood movie reduces travel time by only 4% while you get 5 times the toxic emissions for your trouble. Accelerate smoothly and slowly.
Things to Take Note Of
Also, overeager honking can actually damage the horn button or switch, so watch out. When shopping for a new horn button because your car's factory button is damaged, you should remember the following.
Shopping for Horns and Buttons
Carpet replacement can be easier than you think if you learn the right step-by-step order in how to replace it. Know which items should be removed and which type of carpet should be changed first. This will save you time and needless effort when maintaining the integrity of your beloved car's floor care textiles and covers.
The Smart Steps to Carpet Replacement
There are owners who do give them no need and keep on driving with them. It's quite expensive to have them fixed, after all. However, a small scrape today can turn into outright door corrosion and destruction in the future if you don't address them sooner or later.
Thankfully, there are ways for you to go about fixing such problems without requiring professional car detailing services.
How to Fix Dents and Scratches
These axles are designed with various sizes in mind depending on usage. When installing them by yourself, you'll need a magnetic tray, ½-inch extension, ½-inch ratchet, ½-inch torque wrench, deep well socket set, combo wrench set, and rear tire chocks on top of your axle pivot bracket replacement.
Installing the Axle Pivot Bracket
Most any motorist worth their salt should be able to handle it. When buying such a bracket, get one that fits perfectly in the spaces and hinges already available on your ride.
Otherwise, you'll be using the rotary cutting tool and other tools to drill, slice, and cut your way to make more space. Essentially, your windshield light mount bracket should be placed at an area that allows for an easy wiring job.
The Step-by-Step Installation Approach
Before anything else, you'll need a socket wrench set, a rotary cutting tool, Torx screwdriver kit, windshield light mount bracket, and windshield light kit and wiring to make it all possible. As for the installation process, do the following.
When replacing it, you'll also need a large breaker bar with a deep socket, bearing grease, wrench set, sockets, input-shaft bearing, screwdriver, short socket extension, bearing seal, socket wrench, drain pan, rubber mallet, floor jack, jack stands, and transmission jack before working on it.
Guide to Repairing Your Transmission Input Shaft Retainer
Also, when it comes to cleaning or restoring our license plate that's starting to corrode, you can spray it with WD-40 then wipe it down with a clean rag or microfiber towel. This is an effective way of removing rust on the surface while preventing more corrosion from spreading. Furthermore, it won't leave a greasy feel.
Be Smart About Maintaining Your Car
When DIY Cleanup Fails Go with the Pros
On the other hand, you can also maintain your paint finish, chrome shine, and plate integrity with a regular dosage of the ever-reliable KevianClean Carwash Shampoo. Just keep all that dustiness away with the appropriate amount of shampoo and cleanups every week.
You don't want the dust and dirt to end up bonding with your vehicle by removing them post-haste. Of course once contaminants and pollutants do bind with your finish, you'll need the automotive clay bar treatment.
]]>Luckily, the false beliefs of yesteryear can now be debunked this 2019 so that unsuspecting victims can stop living in falsehoods and face a brave new world of truths and facts.
Busting The Following Myths One After Another
You could end up with bacterial infection or a respiratory problem. Your eyes might have problems seeing the road with a streak-filled or muddy windshield from the inside.
Most importantly, those hospital bills that are out-of-pocket expenses are easier to pay when your interior is cleaned up with products such as KevianClean Interior Defense.
The Steps to a Clean Car That's Good for Your Health
Once your transmission begins slipping your car won't start. Therefore, it's quite easy to know when your gear might require replacing. Usually it's when its dog teeth are worn to the point of compromised shifting.
If you wish to replace your transmission by yourself, here are the steps you should follow. It mostly involves inspecting everything and checking which parts or gears require replacement. If this procedure is too advanced for your auto repair skills, let your mechanic handle everything instead.
Transmission Gear: How to Replace It
The cargo-bearing recovery shackle comes in various safe working load ratings, sizes, and capacities. You should be familiar with them before looking for a replacement D-ring. DIY installation of this trailer part is moderately difficult.
Recovery Shackle Replacement Steps
It's not easy to choose engines though. It depends on the situation as well as your personal preference. It's high time you found out the answer to the questions posed above. Which engine really is better than the other depending on your unique situation?
V8 vs. V6: Pick The Best One
However, don't you wonder sometimes whether driving slow or fast will make more of a difference in your daily fuel consumption? You need to pay attention to several issues to truly boost the fuel efficiency of your car.
Driving Fast versus Driving Slow
List of Car Parts That Can Get Damaged When Running Out Of Fuel
The gas crust might end up being used to provide energy instead of being filtered out. This leads to corrosion that further damages your vehicle instead of helping it out. This is a common problem among vintage cars. The gas crust can do a number on your tank because it's made of metal and is susceptible to corrosion.
What's worse is that the damage can spread to the filter system because the crust inside the tank will be pushed in all sorts of directions, including the filter that's not supposed t collect an increased number of crust. Once it sticks into the filter then it is game over for that filter. The gasoline won't be able to reach the burning tank because the filter is all crusty and whatnot.
Truth be told, the fuel is also responsible for cooling down the whole car system, from the copper wires to the engine itself. This is why you should always get your car running with half a tank or at least a quarter tank of gas. Don't overestimate its ability to run on fumes because this will only result in a more expensive repair problem down the line.
]]>Most engines are practically the same save for torque specs. Use your user manual to look up that info. Doing this job in a DIY fashion can save you from $150 to $800 depending on whether your vehicle is high-end or low-end. You'll need jack stands, a set of sockets, a set of wrenches, a scraper, and a screwdriver.
The Step-by-Step Process
A damp cloth with water will suffice but it will take more elbow grease and multiple cleanings to not leave your dashboard and console all muddy with caked dust. Be careful when wiping down everything, because mistakes will result in wasted effort or product. Also, use a glass cleaner and paper towels to wipe down the interior glass of your vehicle.
Methods to Avoid Cleanup Madness