Cover Your Tracks

Go bananas on cleaning your vehicle when attempting to sell your car. Make sure everything is looking as good as you possibly can. However, you will need to make sure it has a natural look about it. For example, don’t leave streaks on the windows when you are cleaning them and make sure you mop up any cleaning fluid residues that may remain after giving your car a thorough in order to try and sell your car without looking like you have had to work hard at getting the car spotless for inspection. The same goes when you are attempting to negotiate the sale. Do not look like you are trying to sell the car. Buyers can smell desperation and they generally find the smell unpleasant. Sell your car without trying to sell the car but while trying to sell the car. As confusing as that sounds, it basically means be natural.
If you have gone over the engine bay and it is looking too clean, it might also look a bit too desperate. Not only can it damage the engine if you have used too many chemicals to clean up the engine block but it can also eat into the paint if degreaser happens to hit the side of the engine bay. By all means give the engine and engine bay a good clean, just be very careful. Degreaser is powerful stuff. There is a reason there are a lot of warnings on the container. It is toxic. Anything that has the capacity to melt of five years worth of grease would have to be. Sell your car without relying on making it look like you have had to work extremely hard to impress the buyer. Unless the car really requires it, don’t risk damaging the car in order to present it to a buyer.
We get it, you want to present your car to the buyer in the best possible condition that you can. Sometimes we make things worse if we try too hard to make things shine. If the car is practical and clean, then it doesn’t require having the paint scrubbed off the metal in order to appeal to the buyer. Don’t force the buyer into the sale. Let them make up their own mind as to whether or not the car is for them.

The North American Safety Standard for Auto Glass Installation

When car glass windshield repair is no longer feasible, vehicle owners have no choice but to agree to car glass windshield replacement. But haven’t you ever been anxious when you have to have windshield replacement and auto glass installation for your vehicle? Perhaps you want to know if there are procedures and standards you should measure your car glass service provider against, whether for shop based windshield replacement or mobile windshield replacement.
Indeed, there is a North American safety standard for auto glass installation that can be used in car glass windshield replacement. This is the called the Automotive Glass Replacement Safety Standards (AGRSS) developed by the Automotive Glass Replacement Safety Standards Council Inc. It covers the various procedures in auto glass installation, the performance of all products involved and the education and training required for the technicians who will be doing the procedures.
The Automotive Glass Replacement Safety Standards Council Inc. is accredited as a standards development organization by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). Its AGRSS is considered as the first and only North American safety standard for auto glass installation, providing detailed guidelines and steps for safe auto glass installation during car glass windshield replacement. This is seen as one of the most important developments in the area of safety in the car glass industry for the past 50 years.
The AGRSS hopes to raise public awareness on safe auto glass installation procedures in order to lower the risks of injury and death from vehicular accidents. It also aims to raise the standards of professionalism among auto glass installation technicians and other stakeholders in the auto glass installation industry.
Even before any auto glass installation is done for windshield replacement, the AGRSS instructs technicians to first assess the vehicle to rule out any condition which would compromise the safety of the car glass bonding or retention system. The presence of any such condition should be reported to the vehicle owner and the auto glass installation should not proceed until that condition is addressed properly.
According to the AGRSS, replacement car glass should correspond to original equipment specifications. Only brands such as Pilkington that comply with such original equipment specifications will qualify.
The AGRSS requires use of adhesives specified by the original equipment manufacturer, provided these are not beyond their expiration date, active shelf life or open shelf life. The manufacturer’s instructions should also be followed to the letter. The adhesive should be stored properly under specified conditions. Even the environmental conditions required during application should be complied with, including temperature and humidity requirements.
Certain adhesives have special drying and drive away time periods. The vehicle owner and driver should be informed of this and strict compliance should be ensured. In adverse weather conditions, special instructions should be followed.
Technicians are warned to be careful not to use any installation method or chemical agents that may cause the car glass retention or bonding to fail. Chemicals referred to may include lubricants, solvents, cleaners or release agents.
The AGRSS also admonishes technicians to inform the vehicle owner in case they detect any previously installed inappropriate materials. In correcting such inappropriate car glass installations, they should remove all inappropriate parts and replace them with those that adhere to the standards.
To qualify for AGRSS tasks, technicians should complete a comprehensive training and education program that covers car glass replacement safety issues, standards and procedures of original equipment manufacturer installations, knowledge of required technical specifications, specific retention systems instructions, and the application and demonstration of skills learned.
So the next time you need to have auto glass installation for windshield replacement, make sure your service provider adheres to the Automotive Glass Replacement Safety Standards or AGRSS.

1 Week Car Insurance- Insure Your Vehicle for Short-term

There are some things in life which are not negotiable and which have to be taken care of, if someone wants to be of the right side of the law. Take for instance, the issue of car insurance. If you thought that you can get by without car insurance, you are quite mistaken. There are indeed so many people who think so and they find out to their peril and loss that doing so is taking up cudgels against the law. This is one of the reasons that some people need insurance which is by the nature of one week car insurance. There are many situations when people do need temporary car insurance which is why one must consider all the various kinds of insurance required.

One week car insurance is typically short term car insurance which one might need to avail of under certain special conditions. For instance, this short term insurance is available for one to twenty eight days and people who need it for this short duration would take it. There may be people who may be traveling to a different location on work, and they may need to drive in the new location. It is not enough to assume that one can make use of the permanent car insurance that they have, at this location also. This is because one has to register for short term insurance when they need it for a shorter period of time. If they fail to do so, they are liable to be prosecuted for contravention of the law.

You can get one week car insurance from various online sources. A lot of people keep traveling on business and pleasure all the time, on account of which they need short terms insurance cover for that period of time. There are quite a few insurance companies that have these special and tailor made insurance policies that one can easily get details about and also avail quite easily. Given the vast choice that is easily available it is sure that one can look at the different policies and also make enquiries so as to ensure that they get the very best deal.

When it comes to one week car insurance, it would make sense to have a look at the fine print concerned with each policy type as this is so very important for what you get in terms of the policy, price and the service levels too.

What Is Wheel Alignment–Caster-Camber-Tow-In

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First for those who do not understand caster, camber, and tow-in let me explain. Caster is how the wheel is in relation to a vertical king pin or ball joints. It can be true vertical or -o- degree, positive, or negative. Example: the front wheel of a bicycle has positive caster. Note the wheel extends forward from the turning axis. Therefore allowing the steering to return straight when you remove your hands from the handle bars. A vehicle with positive caster will do the same. This adjustment is for handling or how it drives and requires caster — camber gauge for adjustment as well as certain hand wrenches.

Camber denotes the position of the wheel to the vehicle ,such as in at the top and out at the bottom (negative) , or out at top and in at the bottom (positive). The recommended setting can be negative 1 to positive 1, -0-degree being straight up and down, or true vertical. If it is extreme one way or the other it will cause wear on the inter or outer edge of the tire and possible scallops may appear. This adjustment is for tire wear and possibly some handling, also certain tools such as upper control arm wrench and a tomcat camber adjustment tool may come in handy.

After the caster and camber are set, we go to the tow-in which is also for tire wear and again possibly some handling. Tow-in is the adjustment relationship of the left front wheel to the right front wheel. If the tires of the front wheels are slightly pointed toward each other, that is tow-in. If they are away from each other that is tow-out. Before this adjustment takes place, the center of steering must be made. This is the relationship of the steering wheel to the left front wheel, With the steering wheel set straight ahead (centered) align the left wheel towed -in slightly or about 3/16 in.. This can be done by with the use of a string drawn from the around the left rear wheel and pulled forward using the rear wheel as a guide to get a straight line to the left front wheel therefore allowing the string will indicate the position of the left front wheel being tow-out or tow-in. The left wheel must be adjusted first and the right ft. wheel adjusted to the left wheel to get a toe-in of about ? 1n. There are tow-in adjusting tools such as tow-in adjustment bar, a tie rod spreader, and tie rod kit, that can aide in accomplishing this alignment.

There are times when one shim or adjusment to move the rear of the control arm outward will give a wheel the proper setting if one understands what that move will do for both settings (caster and camber) simultaneously. That knowledge or understanding plus the proper hand tools and some experience is all that is really needed. Well, maybe a good coach would come in handy. However, back to the move made by the adding a single shim to the rear of the upper control arm (by the way shims vary in thickness) would give less negative caster and more positive camber. Any questions ? Lem Boyd

lemuniquetoolsaccessories@gmail.com