Monday, January 12, 2009

Inexpensive Tips to Maintain Your Windshield and the Wipers

As old man winter once again makes an appearance around much of the country, it is important to remember that a little bit of extra work will go a long way. Even the simply parts of your car's maintenance, such as keeping up with the wiper blades on your windshield wipers can help save you money.

During the winter months, people will have less patience with car maintenance because after all that scraping and shoveling, they just want to get inside a warm car. But in order to make it easier on yourself during those cold mornings, do a little work behind the scenes to make sure you car windows do not frost up to begin with. It costs virtually no money to do this.

* Take a clean spray bottle and combine one part water to three parts white vinegar.

* Shake well and spray the outside of all the windows on your vehicle. When the temperature drops, frost will not be able to form on your windows, saving you time and effort on workday mornings.

* The windows will need a refresher spray of the solution every 2 weeks to maintain its protection so you may want to keep the bottle accessible in the car to remind yourself.

Many people will simply toss away windshield wipers that not longer seem to be working. Replacing wiper blades may not seem to be very expensive but the costs do add up and if there is a way to repair and maintain them without additional expense, it stands to reason you would want to give it a try. This method of rejuvenating your wiper blades also requires white vinegar and a clean cloth.

* Wet the cloth with the vinegar and run the cloth twice evenly down each of the wiper blades.
* Take a second cloth and dampen it with water. Clean off the vinegar from each blade.

This tactic will help bring your wipers back to working condition and allow you to clear the windows once again without the expense of replacing the wiper blades. It is the little things we do that can make a big impact in our financial situation.

Tisha Kulak Tolar is a writer for DebtFreeDestiny.com where she regularly writes about debt consolidation, debt settlement and saving money.

Saturday, January 3, 2009

How to Drive When it Starts to Snow

Driving in the winter season is relatively more difficult than normal, and requires skill and practice. In the absence of these important factors, accidents can occur. It might be best to stay at home in bad weather but it cannot always be done as some tasks cannot be postponed.

For people who are not accustomed to driving in snow, the task can be challenging. In order to avoid any kind of unpleasant experiences during the winter season, you should have your car thoroughly checked before the season so that you car is well maintained. You should keep yourself up to date with the weather forecasts so that you know what to expect on the road.

Before leaving home, make sure that your car's battery, cooling system, electric connections, tyres, windscreen and all other things are in the right order. For emergencies keep materials like a rope, flashlight, first aid kit, blanket and wheel chocks in the car. You should keep in mind that the first fall of snow can be very dangerous if the roads are not gritted, as the tyres don't have a grip on the road and this can cause the car to slip.

Your windshield should be clean so that when it starts to snow, it doesn't affect your already reduced visibility. In the snow season you should try to get snow tyres so that it is easier to control the vehicle when it snows. When you see the first signs of snow, you should make sure you cut the speed to half and not try to drive fast as this can have serious consequences.

You should keep calm the whole time and try not to get stressed or nervous as this is likely to affect your judgment, which is very important while driving in bad weather. In case of a spin out, you should let go of the accelerator and you should steer only when the tyres have gained a grip on the road again. Otherwise the car is likely to spin even more. However, during the whole time you have to be really quick and alert because the wheels take only several seconds to get a grip, and in that moment you have to take action.

You should make it a point to check that the headlights and taillights don't have snow on them. You should keep the headlights so that others are able to see you. During snow, the car should be accelerated slowly and gently. When you stop the car somewhere, instead of pulling the handbrake, chock the wheels and leave the car in gear with the wheels steered away from the slope.

In order to avoid accidents during snow, you should use snow chains, which would make the tyre's grip on the road better. Make sure that the chains you get suit the diameter of your car's tyre. It is always better to get some practice in fixing the snow chains so that you can do it in bad conditions and not have to depend on someone to do it for you.

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