Tuesday, 8. November 2011
If you drive too hard into a corner you will experience what is called ‘understeer’, you lose front end grip and the vehicle continues on instead of turning the corner. The problem here is that drivers will generally apply more lock, turn the steering wheel even more into the corner, it is a natural reaction. This actually makes the situation worse as Read more »
Monday, 7. November 2011
Most of us are aware that ABS is fitted to our cars and you are probably sufficiently technically astute to know that ABS is a system fitted to your brakes that enables you to brake and steer at the same time, especially important on wet or slippery roads. If you’ve ever used it, it sounds like a machine gun as the brake pads grip the brake disc then let go and Read more »
Monday, 11. July 2011
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We have heard of run-flat tyres, they effectively have a hard wall that enables you to continue driving with a puncture as the tyre wall holds up the weight of the car enabling you to drive about 50 miles at 50mph. However, Michelin now have a new tyre that they are about to re-introduce, the self-heal tyre that was a bit of a disaster in a previous launch as Read more »
Wednesday, 1. June 2011
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My gadget of the week isn’t really my gadget it’s a list of them courtesy of Auto Express. We are all looking at ways of saving fuel as it hits a new high every week so it was good of them to list out a few gadgets aimed at saving fuel and money. Top of their list is a portable sat-nav. It’s called the Vexia Econav (www.vexia.co.uk) and uses a car database to Read more »
Friday, 6. May 2011
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Halfords have warned drivers about making sure they don’t cut costs in the area of servicing their cars. Obviously they would as they are suffering substantial drops in turnover but the serious side is that cars are probably getting quite dangerous if they aren’t being serviced. Chief Executive at Halfords said that their engineers were seeing cars turn up Read more »
Saturday, 23. April 2011
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Have you seen a road sign recently meaning ‘no overtaking’? Did you know that’s what it meant? Apparently 23% of drivers don’t according to a recent survey carried out by Goodyear. Along with many other deficiencies the well known tyre manufacturer surveyed 5,000 motorists and found that there were many instances where drivers were Read more »
Wednesday, 9. March 2011
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Years ago when run flat tyres were introduced they seemed like a great idea but drivers were then told that they couldn’t mix up run flats with conventional tyres and you couldn’t get a puncture repaired. Once the tyre had been punctures, whilst the run flat would get you home the bad news was that you then needed to replace the tyre. However, I have found out that this isn’t necessarily the case. It was highlighted recently when a lady driver managed to get a nail in her run flat tyre fitted to a Read more »
Sunday, 31. October 2010
We’re getting to that time of year when I’m sure I’ll have plenty of reports relating to tyres but before we get into the summer/winter tyre debates a question has come up regarding speed ratings on tyres. When a car is new tyres are often fitted by the manufacturer that have a speed rating much higher than the car is capable of travelling. For example a car may be fitted with V rated tyres, safe to a speed of 149 miles per hour. The question is should the same tyres be fitted when they are due Read more »
Wednesday, 20. October 2010
I loved the story about those responsible for vehicle fleets attending the recent Fleet Van conference. These people are all responsible for making sure that drivers act lawfully and adhere to all areas of vehicle, driver and employee legislation. But whilst they were listening to the speakers, ATS Euromaster had nipped out to the car park with their tread gauges and checked all the vehicles. The attendees were then confronted by the fact that 9% of the vehicles were given Red Tyre warnings. This Read more »
Saturday, 16. October 2010
My gadget of the week is a smart fob that transfers data onto your iPhone. It collects data from the car every time the driver switches off the engine, recording things like trip information, mpg, fuel level and tyre pressures. It also includes maintenance alerts and can even warn you if you leave a window open. If the driver then holds the fob next to the phone whilst running the app the information is transferred wirelessly Read more »