If you find that there’s far more movement that your gear shift lever seems to demand to find a gear than before, it might be time to do a little bit of DIY car servicing to get everything back into shape. It won’t be difficult either.

One reason why the gear shift lever should begin to demonstrate too much play is that the bushing could be worn-out. If it weren’t for the bushing, your gear stick would just pass through every single shake, jostle and vibration that the engine and the transmission put through.

Since holding that gear lever shouldn’t see like you’re holding the head of massage stick, the manufacturers put a slug there to absorb everything and make things nice and steady. But that can wear out after some time. Once that nylon slug wears out, there is nothing left to absorb the vibrations with. All you need to do is to change that thing.

The only need a few basic tools like a couple of Philips screwdrivers, a couple of metric sockets and a drive ratchet to work on this. The specific kinds of tools you’ll need will depend on the model of car you’re dealing with her. But in general, things like this should suffice.

If you can possibly look up your car’s service manual on the Internet, that would be great. It will really make your job much easier.

The first thing you need to do is to remove the center console if you have one. And then, it’s time to remove the gear shift knob – the knob that you grip and gear stick by at the top.  Doing this first makes it far easier for you to remove the gear shift lever from the transmission later. It’s pretty easy to do this. You just need to use a screwdriver to unscrew it.

Once you do this, you need to remove the gearshift boot. You should probably put the knob back after you remove the boot, because the gear stick is spring-loaded.  It just might jump up at you somewhere when you finally loosen it. You don’t want to have it hurt you, do you? So do remember to put the knob back on temporarily.

At this point, your car is ready to release the lever. Take off the retaining ring that keeps the lever in place, and the lever comes off.

At this point, you get a clear view through to the bushing. It’s possible that the bushing has all but disappeared at this point. All you need to do is to put in a new piece, and you’re done.

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Many people do not know how to tell the size of a tire, and the correct size for their vehicle. You need to understand how to measure the tire, and the correct way to use the tire size converter. There are several different tires that you can use, which will improve the performance and drive of your vehicle. Comparing the different tires is essential, to ensure that you use the correct size for your needs.

Typically, tire sizes will be imprinted on the sidewall of the tire, which will enable you to have the information necessary.  These measurements are written in the same format on every tire in a certain order. The width of the tire is always first, followed by the height and lastly the diameter of the tire rim.  Once you have these measurements, you will know what size tires to purchase in the future, to ensure that there are no mistakes.

The tire size converters that are used will use both inches and metric sizing to determine the overall dimensions of your tire. If you are choosing to use decimals, you will not be able to switch to fractions; therefore, deciding the form of measurement to use is vital. Many of the converters that are available will use the French method of calculating the tire size.

This will include using both letters and numbers to determine the overall size and dimension of the tire.  The numbers that are used indicate the diameter of the outer rim, and the letter will stand for the overall width.  Therefore, “A” is narrow and “D” is wide, with “B” and “C” relating to medium width. The system may seem complicated; however, if you understand how to use the converter, you will guarantee purchasing the correct tires.

Tire diameter can differ between models; therefore, you need to check every element before placing the new tires on your vehicle. It is suggested that you never increase the diameter of your tires by 3% to ensure that they are safe to use.  There are several different tire size converters available for you to use, and it is advised to always double check before purchasing new tires.

You will simply need to enter the dimensions from your existing tires, and wait for information regarding the new tires to be supplied.  You will be advised of the width, rim range, diameter, speedometer difference and revolutions per mile. The speedometer reading is vital to ensure that your car is displaying the correct information.  Some tires may cause your speedometer to read an inaccurate reading.

Using the easy online tire size converter, you will be assured that the tires you have chosen are correct and safe. Your vehicle will continue to perform at the correct speed, and there will be less chance of an accident. You do not need to be a professional to use these converters, and they will ensure that you remain safe whilst driving.

Understanding Tire Size Converter

One of the most difficult aspects of owning a car is the tires. You have to find the right tires for your vehicle, ones that match the particular make and model that you own, one for the right road conditions, and of course your driving. Some may not even understand what the numbers on the sidewall of their tires mean, so hopefully this will help you understand a little more about it. 

There is a lot of important information on the side of your tires such as temperature rating, kind of tire, and the tire’s load rating. Much of this information isn’t really needed by the layman, unless you are a total car or truck enthusiast. What is the most important is the large letters and numbers, for example, P225/65R15 95H. Now the “P” represents that it is a standard American metric tire for a passenger vehicle. If it has an “LT,” this means that it is for a light truck. Those tires that don’t come with a letter at the beginning are a Euro metric standard. Remember that metric tires have a different load capacity than standard U.S. tires.

The next number, in this case the 225, is the distance of the width of the tire in millimeters. This means that the tire is 225 millimeters wide. If you want to convert this to standard US measurements, you would divide this by 25.4. So if you were to divide 225 in this way it would come out to 8.858 inches wide, rounded up to 8.86 inches. The next number that follows the slash is the ratio of height to the width of the tire. Therefore, the 65 would mean that it is 65% of the width of the tire. The letter that follows refers to the type of the tire, in this case, “R” means that it is a radial tire, meaning that the layers run across the tire, not along it. 

Now the next number, usually a fifteen, is the size of rim, a fifteen would represent that the rim is fifteen inches across the face of the rim. This is important because if you don’t get the right rim size, your tire won’t sit properly and slip or go flat. It is very dangerous to drive around on the wrong sized tire.

There are a bunch of other information that is included on the side of the tire. Load capacity, which is how much weight the tire is rated for when properly inflated. While many people don’t think so, it is very important when hauling loads, pulling trailers, and having a lot of people in your vehicle. The Department of Transportation Symbol tells you that the tire is approved by the Transportation Department, and the number following this tells you where this tire was manufactured. There are some other numbers, such as the speed rating, the temperature rating and tread rating for the particular tire. 

This is the short version of understanding tire size conversion. If you need more information on Tire Size Converter, or have questions on a particular brand or model of tire, there is a wealth of information available from a variety of online resources.

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Are they really as great –as perfect for the environment as we all seem to believe? There’s a lot that’s been written about how using an electric motor instead of the gas engine when a car inches long at the low speeds and using regenerative brakes when the car tries to lose some speed. All of it adds up to fuel efficiency numbers that beat out most other cars by 40%. Does that sound like a very impressive number – 40%?

Would you believe that a sports car like the Maserati can claim justifiably claim to be 40% more efficient than most other cars on the road, too? And Maseratis typically average about 18 mpg. Understanding statistics is not easy. Statistics can be manipulated in all kinds of ways. This is where you start to understand the disadvantages hybrid cars.

Let’s get it down to dollars and cents. To buy new, a Prius would cost you about $23,000. A Honda Civic on the other hand would cost you about $5000 less. The Civic would use up about $1000 extra worth of gas every year. That’s the only difference. Yes, it does consume less gas. But it costs $5000 more. As far as you’re concerned, a Prius is a less efficient car.

But doesn’t the hybrid really save you a great deal of gas? Hybrids, they say, after all, are 40% more efficient than regular cars. On average. Many times, they say that you save 60%. But experts believe that it’s about half that.

The disadvantages of hybrid cars are many. For those of you wish to really believe the hype. You don’t actually save any money at any point for instance. You don’t even save that much in emissions. While you are helping the environment when it comes to emissions a little bit, you more than make up for it by all those big heavy poisonous lead acid that these. When all is accounted for, the disadvantages of hybrid cars really outweigh the advantages.

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Somewhere around your tire, you’ll get to see a code letter that has a string of numbers that follow it.. The first letter is called the service description. Let’s break this down.

If your tire was made for a regular car, you would see the letter P there – standing for “passenger car”. If what you have is a small truck, you would see the service description mentioned as LT. If it was a spare tire, it could say T for “temporary”.

Right after the letter that describes the service description of the tire, you get numbers for the tire’s width, the aspect ratio, the construction quality, the diameter of rim the tire is supposed to go on, how much you can load the tire with and how fast the tire is supposed to go.

The tire width describes in millimeters how wide the tire is from sidewall to sidewall, the aspect ratio – shows how tall the tire is when you look at the cross-section, compared to how wide it is. If your tire’s carcass is made of nylon or steel wrapped about radially, you’ll see the letter R here, too. If it’s an older kind of tire, it’ll have the B for Bias Ply there. Those are inferior tires.

If you’re someone who loves to buy flashy alloy wheels for his car, the rim diameter number, expressed in inches, is also important. After this, comes the load index number.  As you might expect, it expresses how much weight each tire is able to bear. But they don’t really express it in pounds. They give you a code number. To know what it means, you need to look it up on a chart that explains the code, called a Load Carrying Capacity per Tire chart.

If your tire is rated for must say, 2000 pounds, you have to multiply that by 4 for your whole car. It will be 8000 pounds for your whole car. Together with the weight of the car. If you’ve always only replaced your tires with the exact same thing that the car came with when it was manufactured, you just have to refer to the door jamb. You’ll see a sticker there that will tell you the number in pounds.

And finally, you’ll need to learn how to read tire numbers for speed rating. The speed rating doesn’t really mean you shouldn’t exceed it for short periods of time. It’s just that tires can get heated up when they are driven at very high speeds for hours on end. Again, it comes expressed as a code. If you see the letter U there, that means you can’t exceed 144 mi./h. If you see Y there, it’s one per day 6 mi./h.

Do you really need to learn how to read tire numbers? Well, perhaps you won’t really use your newfound knowledge everyday. But the skill of how to read tire numbers could come in handy.

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Surprisingly enough for problems a serious looking, it’s easy to fix. The problem is caused by a bit of bending where the steering box connects to the frame. When the box moves, the power steering becomes completely confused. To fix the problem, you just need a aftermarket corrective from a company like BD Diesel. You just need to bolt the steering box stabilizer they have on, connect  the adjustable track rod, and you’re done. It’ll just take a Saturday afternoon.

The stabilizer is a heavy-duty box beam. It is meant to strengthen the frame rails together. The adjustable track rod is a heavy-duty brace to support the stabilizer with. Dodge trucks have been known for their sloppy construction forever. This problem is a kind of design quality issue that Ford and GM have never had.

Once you install the right components to correct the problem, the Dodge Death Wobble immediately disappears. The truck becomes as nimble as a ballet dancer.

To actually install the retrofits, you need to start by raising your truck up on a hydraulic lift. You need to remove the Pitman arm and the track rod. You need the correct tools for this.

The track rod goes on with the help of a bracket. To install the bracket, you have to drill some holes with a precision drill and install the rod with the help of the mounting brackets that are provided.

Installing the steering box stabilizer is a simple enough job. You just need to take out the nut put in the new center shaft not. Once you’ve done that, the steering box stabilizer will just go on. With this done, you just need to slide the bearing assembly on top of the center shaft nut, attach it to the steering support, and you’re ready to roll. No more Dodge Death Wobble.

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It’s not just that it makes things a little grimy. It’s that a regular wash doesn’t get rid of it. At the car wash, you have to pay an extra five dollars just to get he rid of that gummy blackness. If you want to save the five dollars and you try to it going on your hands and knees to scrub it off, it quickly becomes apparent that it is a terribly time-consuming thing to do. Especially with all the beauty-enhancing sculpting that the alloy wheel manufacturers put in there.

Brake dust on rims does look ugly. But it’s not just that. The clear coat finish corrodes with brake dust over it. With time, over a period of a few years, the brake dust will eat into the alloy and put little holes tips and it.

How do you take care of this? It doesn’t have to be very difficult to get rid of brake dust on rims. There are plenty of car care products out there that help you take the stuff off with just a single spray. You just need to spray it on, and hose it off. But there’s something else you can do to make sure that the grime doesn’t stick to your rims that fast. You can pick up a bottle of liquid wax, gently coat your rims with the stuff, and leave it there.

The next time you apply your brakes and a little brake dust flies about, it’ll just get stuck in the wax. It won’t stick to the alloy itself. And when you clean it with a little bit of soap, it’ll wash right off.

But know what? There’s no real way for the car manufacturers to  make design changes that take the problem away. One manufacturer has tried. Several cars in the Ford Focus line feature soft and ineffective brakes. That’s supposed to really get rid of the brake dust problem, because there won’t be much braking. What kind of way is that to get rid of dust? Would they rather you crashed your car instead?

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