3 Crucial Reasons to Change Your Oil

From that very first time you sat behind the wheel of a car, there has always been that little sticker in the top left of the windshield that tells you when to get your oil changed. Often the sticker will say the name of the company that last changed the oil, as well as at what mile this company suggests you get the oil changed. While yes, it is a very informative sticker, what the sticker fails to inform us about is why. Why is it so important to get the oil changed every few thousand miles?

To begin we must first know what oil does.

Oil Lubricates. Motor oil is used to prevent the wear and tear of an engine due to metal on metal friction. Oil seeps into the different tiny nooks and crannies in the metals, allowing for the now frictionless engine to run efficiently.

Oil Cleans. Oil cleans the engine by catching dirt and tiny pieces of debris that can damage bearings and other parts of the car.

Oil Cools. Oil absorbs the heat from the different frictions and combustions happening in your car. Oil helps cool the underside of the pistons, the crankshaft, bearings, rods and more.

Now that you know what oil does, what happens if you never choose to change your oil? If you refrain from changing your oil, dirt and debris will build up in the oil and eventually, when this mixes with the different detergents and additives already in the aging oil, the oil with become thick and sludgy, no longer working as a lubricant and ultimately leading to the demise of your car. Yikes!

So, keep an eye out for that sticker on your windshield and don’t forget to change your oil!

5 Tire Tips You Didn't Know

Some of the best advice we’ve ever heard: Invest in what goes between you and the ground. That means good shoes, a good mattress and good tires. People often neglect their tires or just don’t pay too much attention to them in general. It’s important to check your tires’ PSI once per month and have them rotated every 5,000 miles.  

Here are a handful of tire tips from caranddriver.com we bet you didn’t know :

1. Skinny tires, much taller and narrower than the norm, are coming back. BMW’s i3 electric/plug-in hybrid, which relies on minimal rolling resistance to achieve acceptable driving range, is leading the charge. The i3’s Bridgestone Ecopia EP500 tires have aspect ratios ranging from 55 to 70 (narrow tread, tall outside diameter) to reduce energy loss as the tire rolls into and out of its footprint. This shape also reduces the car’s frontal area and aerodynamic drag. To compensate for a reduced air cavity and a smaller-than-normal footprint, Bridgestone uses an elevated inflation pressure to deliver the desired acceleration, braking, and cornering traction.

2. In the strictly theoretical sense, increasing just the width of a tire does nothing to improve acceleration or braking traction. A wider tire will have a shorter contact patch, which is precisely what you don’t want when the goal is maximum longitudinal grip. Jamie McNutt, the replacement-tire development manager at Bridgestone Americas, says that a longer, not wider, contact patch helps you climb faster to maximum braking grip.

3. Wider tire treads do, however, increase cornering grip. Again, though, tire engineers are always working with multiple variables. See our first point about the modern Corvette, which uses skinnier tires than its predecessor yet increases its roadholding with a stickier compound. To maximize traction in all directions, tire engineers aim for an even pressure distribution throughout the contact patch.

4. Static electricity build-up is an old concern that has returned to haunt modern tires. An inadequately grounded vehicle is an issue during refueling and when occupants slide out of the car’s interior. Modern tire compounds have become less conductive as manufacturers have greatly reduced the amount of carbon black in rubber compounds to cut weight and rolling resistance.

5. A run-flat tire can roll for more than 100 miles after it loses pressure. Tire manufacturers typically claim that a deflated run-flat can cover 50 miles at 50 mph, but if you slow down, you can stretch that distance much farther. Lee Willard, a product development engineer at Michelin, says the range roughly doubles if you drop your speed to 40 mph. Slow down more, and the range continues to grow. It’s all about reducing the amount of heat generated in the tire.

For the full list of tips head over to Car and Driver’s Blog: http://bit.ly/1IKbyxg

Top 10 Excuses People Used When Being Pulled Over

“Well gosh officer, I didn’t see the speed limit sign!” – the most common excuse police hear when pulling drivers over, according to an article from Cars.com about a survey done by Insurance.com. The comparison pooled licensed drivers 18 an older. More than a fifth of the drivers polled said when they gave an excuse to the officer that pulled them over they said they couldn’t see the sign that told them not to do something.

There were 10 other popular answers given among drivers polled. They are listed with their percentages below:

1. I couldn’t see the sign telling me not to do it :20.4%
2. I’m lost and unfamiliar with the roads: 15.6%
3. I didn’t know it was broken: 12.4%
4. Everyone else was doing it: 6.4%
5. I’m having in emergency situation in my car (for instance spilled a hot drink on your lap): 5.4%
6. I missed my turn/exit: 4.8%
7. I had to go to the bathroom: 5.6%
8. I didn’t do anything dangerous: 4.2%
9. I was on my way to an emergency (for example, to help someone who was ill or injured): 4.0%
10. My GPS said it was the right thing to do: 2.2%
11. I’m just helping out; I wasn’t even supposed to be driving (for example, your friend is intoxicated): 2.0%

To read the full article from Cars.com, click the link : http://bit.ly/15XAT5U