How to apply RainX

So a little known product is something called RainX. This is a silicone liquid that you apply to your car windows to make water roll off of the glass better. Let me tell you, it works wonders and its easy to use.

Step 1
Clean your windshield. I cleaned mine yesterday so I skipped that step today.

Step 2
Apply RainX to a soft and clean cloth.

Step 3
Rub it on the glass in a small circular motion until the entire window it done.

Step 4
Allow it to dry to a dull haze.

Step 5
Wipe away the haze with another clean rag. You need to be rather diligent in this step because if you don't get it all you will have annoying smears on your glass. These bother the hell out of me while driving.

ALL DONE!!!

When pumping gas....

When pumping gas I notice a lot of times when the pump clicks off saying its full, people will pump it a few more times to get that extra little bit of gas. DON'T DO THIS!!! Most car's have a device called a charcoal canister that is there to help with the emissions system. When you add that extra bit of gas a lot of times it will poor down the tube connected to the filler neck and the charcoal canister. This will cause it to become saturated with gasoline and cause it to malfunction. So don't do it. When the pump clicks off the first time, you're done.

Repair Manuals

I somehow managed to forget about mentioning this, most important of tools, the repair manual.

Any autoparts store will carry these and they exist for most cars out there. These are the Chilton brand of manuals sold at Oreilly's, but I personally like the ones made by Haynes more, I find it to be more detailed and easier to follow.

Here are some links so you can search to see if a manual exists for your car:
Chilton
Haynes

Filling Your Windshield Washer Fluid

Super easy.

Go to your store and buy some washer fluid, you can simply use water but it isn't recommended. There are brands that advertise removing bugs from your windshield, I don't recommend using these because they often contain chemicals that cause damage to the paint of the car. The plain old blue stuff works great.

Pop your hood and find the reservoir. In most cars its the largest plastic tank under the hood. Some cars hide it under the fenders or behind the bumper and the only thing visible is the filler neck. You can see mine there on the right side. Pop the cap off and fill it up! Thats it!

Top off your coolant

So I made the mistake of driving my car well beyond its operational limits (and legal....oops). As a result, some antifreeze was pushed out of my radiator and I needed to top it off. The antifreeze/coolant is crucial to the operation of the engine by keeping it cool. This is done via the radiator in the front of the engine bay.

Go to the store and buy some antifreeze. There are two kinds of antifreeze sold in the store. 50/50 Premixed, which is ready to go in the motor. Full Strength, you'd only need to buy this if you were draining your coolant fully. Its meant to be mixed 1 gallon of coolant to 1 gallon of water.

Well here is the radiator cap where you fill the radiator. DO NOT EVER open this when its hot, you could seriously burn yourself on hot antifreeze.

Open the cap and pour in the antifreeze until its full.

Thats all!

How to polish your headlights

NOTE: This ONLY works on plastic headlights. If you can't tell the difference between plastic and glass headlights then return your tools and never touch a car again.......haha. But seriously.....

Tired of those nasty cloudy headlights? Mine aren't too bad but thats because I maintain them.

Well polishing them up wont always bring them back to looking new, but it definitely makes an improvement. Why do this? besides the fact it makes your car look better, cloudy fog lights are a safety hazard and limit the light passing through the lens.

Tools needed:

Toothpaste

Rags/paper towels

Yup, toothpaste, its a basic abrasive paste and EVERYONE has it. And if you don't have it then you're disgusting.

Step 1

Apply toothpaste to your rag/paper towel and then rub it in a small circular manner while firmly applying pressure.

All done with that

Step 2

Grab a wet rag/paper towel (or hose if you have one) and wipe it all away. You may have to repeat this step with new rags to get it fully clean. And VOILA looks way better! Well not really on mine, but thats because I've done this before to all of my vehicles so I didn't have a good example to work with.

Before

After

Common Road Etiquette

So I would've thought this was common knowledge, but no, seems people still don't know how to properly behave on the road. Hopefully this post will educate at least some on how to be more courteous on the road.

Turn Signals
- Turn them on BEFORE you begin braking for the turn.
- ALWAYS use them when changing lanes.
- In a parking lot? You should still use them there too.

In traffic? Well if you need to get over and someone lets you over, provide them with a thank you wave. Also, trucker will flash their hazard signals as a thank you for letting them over. Let people over, they need to get where they're going just as much as you.

Headlights. I personally think they should ALWAYS be on, even in the day time. It makes it easier for people to see your car and let them know it is running/moving. Think its not necessary in low light because you can "still see the road?" Well that's all well and good, but it doesn't mean everyone on the road can see your car, turn them on.

Also, its not always about other drivers. Be mindful of your passengers as well and whether or not your driving makes them uncomfortable.