Back Up into Your Back Up Battery

One of the worst things is when your phone runs out of power while you’re in the middle of something really important, like posting a witty remark on your friends Facebook profile. Just imagine how much worse it would be if your car did the same thing during an even more vital activity, such as listening to your favorite song on your cd radio. At least with phones you have the option to buy those bulky power packs that extend your battery’s life. Only if cars had something similar… oh wait, it looks like it they may be on the way! Feel free to now play that song as loud as you can on your cd radio.

Those crazy engineers at Swiss Think Tank Rindspeed have conjured up The Dock+Go. This device would hook up to the back, and look like an extension of your vehicle. The biggest difference would be the third axle and extra set of wheels. The Dock+Go would increase your driving range with either an extra gas tank or set of batteries. Rindspeed has also dreamt up the idea of putting an oven, or a complete tool box in different models of the Dock+Go.

Currently they have modeled the Dock+Go to fit on the back of a Smart Car. Most people would say, “if someone wanted a bigger gas tank and more storage, then why not just buy a normal size car instead of a Smart Car and The Dock+Go?” Most people would say this because they are right.

As of now the Dock+Go is just an idea. Rindspeed does not actually produce any of the incredible things they think up… so lazy.

Do Your Eyes and Headlights Make a Good Team?

I’m not sure if it’s just me getting older or my car, but it’s getting harder and harder to see the road while driving at night. It’s one thing to make sure luxury items like your Car Radio or Car Navigation System are working, but it’s even more important to maintain parts that affect your safety. Headlights begin to dim over time, and as the days get shorter in these winter months their brightness becomes even more important.

There are many different types of headlights such as incandescent, halogen, and xenon. Incandescent bulbs are the more traditional bulbs and tend to dim faster as the filament inside evaporates over time. Xenon bulbs use newer technology, specifically the HID (High Intensity Discharge) xenon bulbs which use two electrodes in a xenon gas-sealed bulb rather than a traditional filament. We are seeing these bulbs more and more in newer cars because the light they create is not only three times brighter than a halogen bulb, but lasts ten times longer. While three times brighter seems great for the driver, I can think of a time or two I’ve been blinded by an oncoming Audi or BMW, thinking their brights were on. Some headlights out today, such as bi-xenon, are so bright that they require self-leveling so they don’t blind other drivers on the road.

No matter which type of headlight your car uses, if you’re squinting to see the road at night you either need new bulbs or a pair of glasses. If you do notice your yellow-glowing halogen lights are much dimmer than they once were, be sure to change them both at the same time! It’s also fairly easy to upgrade them to xenon for that new, fresher look. Dimming headlights is a common problem but an easy fix, so don’t sacrifice your safety or the safety of other drivers on the road.

What Makes a Car or Truck Sound Raspy

We have all heard it a car or truck rolls by and we want to cover our ears. It sounds like a swarm of angry bees and we all think the same thing…”what an idiot, but what makes the sound like that. No it is not the supercharger that the person says they have added…in fact a super charger unit would probably make the car quieter. The sound is created by adding an exhaust that has not been tuned for the application.

The exhaust is much more than just a pipe that channels the exhaust gases out of the engine bay. It is a specially tuned system that has been meticulously made for that specific car. The resonant sound that comes from a motor during the combustion process creates a pressure wave which can have a positive or negative effect on the engine depending on how the exhaust is shaped.

The headed is the easiest place to see this effect taking place, when the combustion process ends and the air enters the header. At this point the pressure wave is released as well. It will travel down the pipes and bounce off where ever the header turns into one pipe. When this wave moves back towards the engine it can cause unnecessary force on the now exiting gasses which can lower performance. If the header is built specifically to send this wave to impact the outside of the valves just before they open it will have a positive effect on the system. The early impact will create a low pressure area just outside of the valves and the exhaust can leave the engine more freely. Free flowing exhaust means more HP and better gas mileage. Some people believe that removing the header all together will give better performance but in fact the specifically tuned header creates more horse power than an open system.

The rest of the exhaust system is also tuned the same way, it is all about making sure that pressure waves work for the system as opposed to it. If an exhaust system is attached to a car that is not tuned to control this flow the negative pressure waves and lack of sound deadening material causes this sound. Next time you are in traffic and someone is revving their Nissan Sentra with a huge exhaust, just laugh. Not only do they look like a fool but they have also lowered the performance of their car and lost gas mileage to boot. Not to mention that most cars that are being built now are faster than the cars people tend to “modify”. So you can be happy knowing you can smoke them off the line too. In your stock V6 Camry all the while being comfortable and hitting 30 MPG.