How To Protect Your Car From Rust?

Next to our homes, our vehicles are the next biggest investment we make. Some of the cars, trucks, and SUVs today cost more than some homes! Therefore, we want to protect them from the ravages of the environment such as rust. Certain problems are inevitable, but rust is one that can be prevented.

Some of the areas of vehicles that are most affected by rust are body panels including doors, fenders, the hood, and tailgate. The reason for this is that they inherently have areas that retain moisture. Depending upon the model of vehicle, there are many other areas that can retain moisture as well. Certain cars retain more moisture just due to the way they are designed, so you have to be especially careful and vigilant with them.

Some factors that you have no control over include the environment in which you live. If you live in a coastal area you are exposed to more salt air for example. If you live in an area where there is snow and ice on the road, the authorities usually use salt on the roads which can result in rust on your car’s undercarriage.

When you find yourself in these types of environments you must wash your car more frequently. I recommend washing your car down weekly if you are in an area with salty roads or if you are living so near the coast that you get a salty film on your car.

Here are some overall tips for rust prevention that will go a long way to helping you to prevent rust formation on your vehicle:

1. Keep your car clean and coated with a finish protectant at all times.

2. Keep the underneath of your car rinsed continually when you are in an area where a lot of salt is present as mentioned above.

3. Keep your tires and wheels clean and polished and free from moisture holding material like leaves.

4. Make sure any drainage holes in the frame, floor, and the bottoms of the doors so that any moisture can get out.

5. Always open your doors after washing your car to allow any accumulated water to drain out.

Remember this, rust proofing only helps with new vehicles. If you try to do it on a pre-owned vehicle you may trap dirt and moisture and increase the risk of rust.

About the Author:
Gregg Hall has over 20 years experience in the automotive industry including managing and owning several dealerships. He recommends these car care products
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Maintaining The Antique Vehicle With Some Modern Assistance

To discover what will be the biggest challenges you will face in maintaining your antique car you must first decide is what type of driving are you going to do with the car. Is it going to be for the occasional weekend drive, car show, drive in night etc, or is it going to be a daily driver. With car prices as high as they are you might be seeing quite a few classics returning to the road.

After you have made that choice you must next decide if you are going to keep the vehicle historically correct. In short this means that the casting numbers from the engine and transmission are going to match the year of the vehicle you are maintaining as well as other items that might be modified to make it easier to maintain or restore the vehicle. An example of a modification like this would be converting the electrical system of the vehicle from six volt to twelve volt, or changing the charging system from an externally regulated generator type to an internally regulated alternator type system like today's vehicles.

Once you have made these choices it is time to start searching for parts. The web is one of the best places to conduct your parts searching activity but you cannot leave out the age old favorites such as enthusiast magazines devoted to your type of vehicle, do not forget to read through all the back pages of these magazine because new companies are emerging constantly, providing an ever expanding range of services to the antique car owner. Once in a blue moon you will also see ads for people selling off lots of parts advertised as NOS which means "new old stock", these are parts from the original manufacturer that were never sold and later auctioned off when they became outdated, a great find for any collector.

Other great parts sources include:

· Antique specialty periodicals such as Hemmings Motor News.

· Swap meets and car shows.

· Race track flea markets.

· Regular flea markets.

· Garage sales.

· Want ad type newspapers.

· Forums and web sites devoted to your type of vehicle.

· Auction type web sites like Ebay.

There are a huge amount of companies providing remanufacturing of vehicle parts from the equipment that originally made them, so never stop searching!!

With an antique car it is almost always more fun and certainly a money saver to perform most of the maintenance yourself but it never hurts to find a reliable, knowledgeable and affordable mechanic for some of the larger jobs or operations that require tools you neither own or wish to purchase. Where it might be nice to own a tap and die set or a steering knuckle separator, the cost most often will outweigh the benefit. Any mechanic who is capable of repairing today's complex vehicle systems should be able to do anything under the antique hood. While many mechanics may enjoy working on older simpler vehicles you will rarely get the antique repair shop rate so shop around. You never know who has those parts you are looking for in the shed behind the shop!

About the Author:
Fred Ost is a freelance writer, web designer and indie television and movie producer, director etc. You may include this article in your online content free but links must be active.
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Save at the Gas Pump - Real Money Saving Tips

Real Money-Saving Steps

There are numerous no- or low-cost steps you can take to combat rising gas prices.
Most cars can run on regular unleaded – 87 octane. High performance vehicles will usually require 91 octane or higher. Check your owner's manual to determine the right octane level for your car. It’s also usually written inside your gas lid, door panel, and sometimes right on your dashboard under the fuel gauge. It will say something like “Premium Unleaded Only” which means 91 octane or higher. All gas pumps must post the octane rating.

Gas Cards

Check out gas card offers from gas stations and credit card companies. The can save you an additional 1% to 5% off every gallon or earn you free gas. One of the best cards out there right now can be found http://valueauthority.com/savegas.htm

If you put 20 gallons in your car at $3.00 per gallon, that’s $60. A 5% cash back would save you $3.00 making your effective cost per gallon just $2.85. It’s like getting a free gallon of gas with every fill up!

Drive more efficiently:

-- Stay within posted speed limits. The faster you drive, the more fuel you use. For example, driving at 65 miles per hour (mph), rather than 55 mph, increases fuel consumption by 20 percent. Driving at 75 mph, rather than 65 mph, increases fuel consumption by another 25 percent. This is caused by the amount of energy it takes to push your car through the air and the amount of drag created by your cars body.

So if your car gets 25-mpg highway at 55 mph, driving 65mph will drop it down to 20 mpg! Driving 75 mph drops it down to just 16 mpg!

My personal experience with my 98 VW Beetle: I drove to New York at the posted speed limits between 55 and 65 mph. I got about 35mpg and 450 miles on one tank!!! When I drove to Florida the posted speed limits were between 55 – 70 mph. I actually drove about 75 mph most of the way. I only got 27 mpg and about 350 miles on one tank. I lost almost 100 miles distant per tank! I couldn’t believe it.

-- Use overdrive gears. Overdrive gears improve the fuel economy of your car during highway driving. Your car's engine speed decreases when you use overdrive. This reduces both fuel consumption and engine wear. Most automatic transmission cars will have an overdrive button right on the gearshift. Look for a “D” and/or “O/D”. You will see a light on the dash indicating weather it’s on or off. Check your owner’s manual to be sure. If your car has a tachometer, you should be able to tell by watching your engine’s rpm speed on the highway. Buy switching the overdrive on, your rpm’s should drop significantly.

-- Use cruise control. For longer trips using cruise control can help you maintain a constant speed and, in most cases, reduce your fuel consumption. Set it to 55 mph on highways.

-- Avoid unnecessary braking and acceleration, and improve your fuel economy by 5 to 10 percent. In city driving, nearly 50 percent of the energy needed to power your car goes to acceleration. Go easy on the gas pedal and brakes. "Jack-rabbit" starts and sudden stops are wasteful. Let off the gas early when approaching yellow and red lights, stop signs etc… Most fuel-injected cars will cut off the fuel supply to the engine while you slow down saving you even more gas.

-- Combine errands. Several short trips taken from a cold start can use twice as much fuel as one trip covering the same distance when the engine is warm. It takes about 15 to 20 minutes for a car to reach normal operating temperature. Until then, your car is using almost twice as much fuel to keep the engine running!

-- Remove excess weight from the trunk. Avoid carrying unneeded items, especially heavy ones. An extra 100 pounds in the trunk reduces a typical car's fuel economy by one to two percent.

Maintain your car

Keep your engine tuned. Studies have shown that a poorly tuned engine can increase fuel consumption by as much as 10 to 20 percent depending on a car's condition. Follow the recommended maintenance schedule in your owner's manual; you'll save fuel and your car will run better and last longer.

-- Keep your tires properly inflated and aligned. Under inflated tires on a car is like running on the beach with no shoes. Car manufacturers must place a label in the car stating the correct tire pressure. The label usually is on the edge of the door or doorjamb, in the glove box, or on the inside of the gas cap cover. If the label lists a psi (pounds per square inch) range, use the higher number to maximize your fuel efficiency. Under inflated tires cause fuel consumption to increase by 6%.

-- Change your oil. Clean oil reduces wear caused by friction between moving parts and removes harmful substances from the engine. Change your oil as recommended by the vehicle manufacturer.

-- Check and replace air filters regularly. Your car's air filter keeps impurities in the air from damaging internal engine components. Not only will replacing a dirty air filter improve your fuel economy, it also will protect your engine. Clogged filters can cause up to a 10% increase in fuel consumption. Imagine running up a flight of stairs with only using one nostril in your nose to breath.

Gas Cards

Check out gas card offers from gas stations and credit card companies. The can save you an additional 1% to 5% off every gallon or earn you free gas. One of the best cards out there right now can be found http://valueauthority.com/savegas.htm

If you put 20 gallons in your car at $3.00 per gallon, that’s $60. A 5% cash back would save you $3.00 making your effective cost per gallon just $2.85. It’s like getting a free gallon of gas with every fill up!

About the author:
Robert Rogers is a writer in the Washington DC area and specializes in computer security.

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