I take pride in my car. I like it to look nice. But then, I don’t want to be spending hours on it either. I’d love for it to look new, but I don’t want to have to wash, then wax, and then spend huge amounts of time buffing it out.
I used to use dishwashing soap to wash it. But then I read somewhere, that dish washing soap is bad for the paint. That it removes something from the paint and allows it to oxidize or something.
I went to Target, to see what they had. THey had many different products. I decided to try ArmorAll Ultra Shine Wash & Wax.
All I did was to fill a bucket with warm water, and pour a little bit of the ArmorAll Wash & Wax stuff, and stir it up. Then I just wash my car as normal. Spray the car with water, wash an area, then rinse it off. I do one area at a time until the car is completely washed. Then all I do is the towel off the car to remove the beaded water drops. That’s it. For the best results, it is important to towel the water off your car, or it will end up spotty.
My car comes out nice, and clean and shiny! And it takes very little work.
Last year I was on my way home from work. I normally take back roads as they are less crowded than the main roads. Anyway, I going down the road doing maybe 40 mph when there was a loud BANG! I looked over and my driver’s side mirror was gone. I knew what had happened since I had had this happen once before. A deer had run into the side of my car. I never even saw him. About a quarter mile down the road, I pulled off to the side. I got out, and the saw what the deer had done to my Civic. It had caved in the driver’s side door, dented in the rear door, dented the front fender and dented the rear quarter panel. There was even a little bit of deer hair stuck in the door handle. It had munched the entire driver side of my car. I got back into the car, and now the driver’s side door wouldn’t stay latched. I drove down the road holding the door closed. Actually I really only needed to hold it closed when I braked, or when I turned to the right. Then it would want to swing open.
My Allstate insurance agent’s office was on my way home, so I stopped. My agent wasn’t there, but one of his associates was. He said that I needed to call the 800 claims phone number.
So when I got home, I called the claims number. They would send a tow truck to come pick up my car. I needed to pick a place to do the repairs. They had a recommended shop. I really had no preference, so I said okay to their recommended shop which was a Pontiac dealership.
My car was quickly picked up. They assessed the damaged and to my surprise, they didn’t declare my car totalled. They gave me a time estimate for when the car would be ready. They had to order new parts including a new driver’s side door, a new skin for the back door, a new mirror, etc. It was going to be a week or slightly longer.
So while my car was in the shop, my wife and I shared one car. It was a pain, but I didn’t want to have to pay for a rental car.
A week came, and the car was still not ready. It took a little longer than they thought to get the parts. Then they had to paint them, and install everything.
I eventually got the car in close to two weeks. Everything looked good. Then spring came. I found that the window didn’t roll down smoothly. No need to roll down the window in the winter. And the first time I washed my car, I noticed some overspray on the rocker panel. And when it rained hard, and was windy, water would drip down through the weather seal on the driver’s door. I called them up and made an appointment for them to fix these things. They had the car for a day, and I picked it up. The rocker panel was fixed. I found the window was still not right. It rolled down smoothly, but cocked when I tryed to roll it back up. I took it back, and they tried again. After several tries, they got the window working okay, but not as good as it had been before the deer hit me! I also found they broke the little plastic cover for where the sideview mirror adjuster is, and had used double back tape to hold it on. It fell off. I got tired of taking my car back to the Pontiac dealership. In hindsight, I regret having chosen them to do the repairs, and will never use them again! I wish I had chosen the Honda dealership where I normally have my car services. I think they have a body shop.
Since then, I had the driver’s side door handle break. Actually was a connector inside the door. I took it to Honda, and they found a plastic part appeared to have been exposed to heat, and had failed. There was also a metal part that was bent or twisted. I am guessing this was related to the deer and following repair. It cost me about $270 to get fixed. The good news is that my window works better. I am guessing the part was bent when the deer crashed into the side of my car.
My car was due for new tires in the not so far distant future when I picked up a screw in one of the tires. I had it plugged and patched, but it still had a slow leak. I took it back and they said they couldn’t fix it further. I decided to get a whole new set of tires.
I have previously bought Michelin tires at the local warehouse store. They haven’t lasted as long as I have expected. But then I used to drive pretty aggresively. I now drive much more mellow and easy, so expect them to last longer.
I started doing research into tired with low rolling resistance. A simple search on Google for “low rolling resistance tires” gave me a ton of information. One tire appeared at the top of several lists, and the was the Bridgestone B381. It seems that this tire was the one that came on some hybrids as they were shipping from the factory. That is because of their low rolling resistance.
A few things I had read suggested that the Bridgestone B381’s were now out of production. I went to my local Firestone/Bridgestone dealership to check to see if I could buy them. If I couldn’t get the Bridgestone B381’s, I was also looking at Michelin Symmetry, or Tiger Paw AWP’s both of which were supposed to have low rolling resistance. Just not as good at the B381’s. Another one I was looking at was the Michelin Energy MXV4 Plus, which didn’t come close to the B381. But I was looking at it.
I was in luck, and the store could order them for me. I kept expecting to get a phone call saying that they weren’t available, but they did eventually show up. They were a little more than I wanted to spend. I could have defiantly gotten cheaper tires. But these should improve my gas mileage enough make them more cost effective in the long run.
When my wife’s care is due for new tires, I may see if I can get another set of the Bridgestone B381’s, or I maybe shop around to see what else is available. Bridgestone has a new tire out called the Ecopia. It’s is currently on available in 5 sizes, and the tires on our Honda Civics is not one of them. But maybe they will come out with more sizes later. I would want to see some rolling resistance test results though.
I bought a ScanGauge II in hopes that it would help me to improve my gas mileage. It has easily done that. It wasn’t cheap, and cost me about $160 I think.
The ScanGauge plugs into the OBDII port under the dash of my car. I ran the wire under my dash, and under the steering column. I mounted the ScanGauge II with velcro in front of my instrument panel.
The ScanGuage gives my information directly from the car’s computer. It will give me many different types information. I have mine set to display MPH, MPG, throttle postion, and water temp.
Using the ScanGauge allows me to modify my driving habits to increase my fuel efficiency. I see an instant readout of how many miles per gallon I am currently getting. If I press the gas pedal down too much, I see the MPG’s drop. I have that hold a steady pedal gives me better gas mileage, then having an erratic pedal pressure. I have definatly save a bunch of money. Has it paid for itself? Not sure. If it hasn’t, I am probably pretty close.
Hypermiling has gotten a bad rap from some places. The media at one point was doing reports on how great it was, and then shortly after, they started trashing it. A bunch of that has to do with some jerks at AAA saying that hypermiling was dangerous, and then spouting about a bunch of techniques that most hypermilers don’t do.
Anyway, one of my favorite techniques is to shut off my engine while waiting at red lights. If I sit there idling, I am getting zero mpg! I have read that if I have my engine off for more than 10 seconds, then I have saved gas. Many of the new hybrids do this automatically. I have had friends tell me I would fry my starter, but I have had no problems with this.
My next favorite technique is by slowing down. I drive mellower than I used to. I don’t do jack rabbit starts, and I don’t speed to the next red light, just to slam on my brakes. I accelerate easy, and then I try to coast to a stop as much as possible. And I don’t tailgate people. I leave a buffer between me and the person in front of me so that I avoid hitting brakes if they slow down. I basically try to drive as if I have no brakes.
As part of driving easier, I try to keep a steady throttle. My Scan Guage II shows me my throttle position (TPS). I find that I get better gas mileage the steadier I keep the throttle. So if I want to go 35mph, I try to keep the throttle position (TPS) at 13. If I want to go about 40mph, I hold it at 14. If I want to go 55, I need to the TPS at about 15-17. By keeping it a fixed TPS (which takes a steady foot), I will slow down a little on the up hills, and speed up a little on the down hills. If I want to slow down on the down hills, I just take my foot off the gas. When I am coasting, the fuel injectors shut off, and I and getting mileage while burning NO GAS!!!
I don’t do any of these things AAA labels as dangerous, such as drafting trucks, or coasting through red lights. That stuff is just stupid! And somehow I manage to get well above the EPA estimates for my car.