Wheelskins What a Strange Name

I was looking around for a new product for my web sites and came across a product called Wheelskins. I could not figure out what the name meant, until I looked a little closer.

Higher end or top of the line cars may have a steering wheel cover out of leather or leather like material. My Ferrari has one, as does my wife's Jaguar. After a while the leather becomes discolored, or gouged or nicked in various places. It does not feel as good while you are driving and does not look too good either. I have tried leather cleaners and conditioners to revive the leather on some cars, but it has not worked too well.

Sometimes it does nothing, and other times the chemicals just seem to sit on the surface of the leather. Looks bad and feels worse.

The wheelskin answer is to cover or recover your steering wheel. If it is not covered now, you can get one of six sizes for your wheel. If it is covered now, you can removed your old cover or buy one size larger and place it over your existing cover.

They have the original wheelskins which come in six sizes and 15 colors, which you would think would satisfy almost everyone. However, it that's not enough for you, they now offer a two tone wheel cover. The top and bottom are one color and the sides another. I plan on putting this second product on my web site latter next week.

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Wheelskins for Honda Accords

Honda Accord Appearance Parts

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Altezza or Euro Tail Lights

I have recently added a line of tail lights to my web site. They are made by AnzoUSA and are of the Altezza style. I wanted to write an article for Ezinearticles.com about them so did a little research on the web.

I knew that the Altezza style meant small projector type bulbs and a large clear shield for the lights, but did not know much else. So I checked out Wikipedia.com, one of my first sources for information.

Seems like Toyota introduced a Lexus IS (Intelligent Sport) model in 1998 that had a unique looking tail light housing, with a lot of chrome inside. It really looked different than the all red or red and clear backup light area found on most other cars. The name Altezza came from the same car which was sold in Japan, and called the Toyota Altezza.

OK, I can understand this. What is confusing to me is why a Japanese style tail light is called a "Euro" style? The style did not start in Europe. However, some European car picked up the trend. Another possibility is that the Lexus IS was introduced to Europe in 1999 and in America in 2000. So I guess this style could have been called "American" style tail lights.

Does anyone have some additional information about this?

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Altezza Style Tail Lights for Honda Accord

AnzoUSA Lights for Your Honda Accord

I'm now in the process of selecting and loading various products on my web sites. One of the first ones loaded are some special lights for Honda Accords. Why choose these? Because changing the looks of your headlights or taillights changes the look of your car and gives you that custom look with very little work.

In looking around at what type of lights are available, one brand was mentioned by various automotive sources. This was AnzoUSA. This is a USA manufacturing company that has been making aftermarketing lighting products for over 30 years.

They have been certified by ISO and have ISO 9002 factories. What are you looking for besides great style? Well if I'm adding a product to my car, I want it to last and not have to replace it. The AnzoUSA company has built special test facilities that will simulate rain, humidity and various shocks that your car might experience in normal day to day driving. If you are interested in LED products then the shock treatments simulate off-road driving. I'm confident that these products will last you for the lifetime of the car.

You have a choice of headlights that will give you up to 30% performance improvement and two different types of tail lights for Honda Accords.

If this sounds interesting check out the link below.

Honda Accord AnzoUSA Lights

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Good News for The Telsa Electric Car Company

Recently almost the entire management staff at Telsa was replaced, and the owner mentioned that the cars were being sold at less than cost.

The price of the roadster has gone up to $109,000 which is good news for them. The bad news was that they failed to to complete a $100-million round of venture funding and had turned to low-cost federal loans as an option for financing.

Now more good news. The Daimler Company,which owns Mercedes-Benz, has just purchased 10% of Telsa and acquired a seat on the board of directors. Daimler has also ordered 1,000 of the advanced lithium-ion batteries from Telsa. This new joint venture means that Telsa should be around for a while, and we may really see the $57,400 Model S electric sedan. Tesla plans to build the car, which gets 160 to 300 miles on a single charge-up. It has been shown as a prototype, but without some type of additional funding chances were that the car would not have been built.

Telsa is unique in that they produce a pure electric car and not a hybrid that uses both electric motors and a gasoline engine.

Recently the company was featured on a TV show and all of the owners seemed to love their new car. I remember the interview with one former Corvette owner. No more corvettes for him, he was now sold on the Telsa roadster. High praise indeed.

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Aftermarket Honda Accord AEM Cold Air Intake

Aftermarket Honda Accord AEM Cold Air Intakes

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Friction Circle | Winning the Grip War

Yesterday I mentioned the contact patch, which is the area of your tires which touch the road surface. Today I would like to take that concept up another level.

I'm going to try and describe this concept without any drawings, so please bear with me. The Friction Circle or Traction Circle is the idea that the total grip of your tires can be spent in acceleration, braking or cornering, or a combination of these.

The idea is used by race car driving schools to help you visualize what is happening to your tires as you try and go as fast as possible around a track.

Let's imagine that you have a car that will grip the road with a 1 G tire. Visualize that your car in sitting in the center of a circle. An arrow pointing North represents the maximum braking possible or 1 G. The arrow pointing South represents the maximum acceleration your tire can provide without breaking loose or again 1 G. East and West are arrows representing the maximum cornering force of 1 G before you again break away.

The idea here is that you have 1 G of Friction under your control, and you can spend it any way you want. Accelerating down the straight you can spend it all with no problems. In the same way you can brake with 1G. You can also corner left or right with 1 G maximum. Now assume you are coming off of a straight with hard braking, if you start to turn into a corner, will you make it or slide off the track?

The answer is if you are braking at the maximum 1 G you have no grip left to turn in. You must relax the braking and the amount under the 1 G is available for cornering. In the same fashion if you are going around a corner and approaching the exit and you need to accelerate the same problem comes up. If you are using all of the tire's friction holding you on the track in the corner then you have nothing left to accelerate with.

Racing drivers overlap the different phases of braking, turning and applying power to try and make the tire work as hard as possible for as long as possible. It's the skillful use of this overlap, releasing the brakes and feeding in the throttle to just the right degree not to overwhelm the available grip, which makes the best use of the "traction circle".

The winning driver approaches the limits closer, than the other drivers, without exceeding them and losing control of the car.

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Honda Accord Performance Articles

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Contact Patch | The Critical Footprint

Let's image that you are cruising down the highway at 65 miles per hour and suddenly you see an animal jump out in front of your car. Could be a 2lb rabbit or a 100lb plus deer, either way you want to avoid hitting it.

So you yank the wheel to turn the car away from the critter. Did you make it? Just a close call, or is there something behind the car laying in the road?

One of the determining factors that helped decide what just happened is the "contact patch" of your tires. So just what is a "contact patch".

Let's use our imagination again. This time we will image driving our car up a ramp onto a platform made out of very thick glass. Don't worry, its strong enough to hold your car, you and your mother-in-law up in the air.

Now walk under the platform and look up. Do you see where the tires are touching the glass? Well that's the contact patch. The contact patch is that portion of your tire that is in contact with the road surface.

Not too much touching is there? If we looked at a 3,000 car with 30 lbs per square inch of tire pressure it would have about 100sq-in of contact patch. Since there are four tires, each one would have about the area of a 4 x 6 inch index card. Or another way, about the size of your hand print.

This is all that is touching the road, and every maneuver you make with the car is transferred to these small patches of rubber.

The more you have, the better you apply the thrust the car has against the road surface to accelerate, brake or corner the vehicle.

So I hope your tires were in good shape and properly inflated when you encountered the situation we started out with.

By the way, what happened in your mind? Did you miss that poor helpless animal or are you attending a funeral?

More details about cars and their suspension parts later.

(Some information supplied by "Winning - a Race Driver's Handbook" by George A. Anderson.)

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BG-S2K Sport Suspension for Honda Accords

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Things I've Learned About Buying a Car

I have purchased a variety of different cars over the years. A couple brand new ones, some a couple of years old, and a bunch of much older ones. Along the way I have learned some things which I will pass on, hoping you don't make the same mistakes I have.

1. Don't buy the sheet metal. Ya, it might look fantastic, but if it's junk under the body design you are in for a world of trouble.

2. If you are only going to keep it for a couple of years, buy a used one. The first few years of depreciation are killers. If you trade often, buying a one or two year old model with low mileage will give you most of the current technology benefits and allow the former owner to eat the depreciation.

3. If you are going to keep it for a long time, a new car makes sense. You get all of the benefits, and as the years roll by, the depreciation levels out each year. I'm still driving a 1994 Camry we purchased new.

4. Lease vs. buy. The advantage changes based on the lease rates which can change dramatically from year to year. So what was a good deal one year may not be the best the next. Consumer's Reports have good articles on how to figure out the comparisions.

5. Don't buy the aftermarket "goodies" the dealer wants to sell you. You don't need, rust preventive, upholstery protection sprays and the like. It's just extra money from your pocket to theirs.

6. No opinion on extended warranties except don't buy them from a third party. Lot's of news about how you can't collect when something goes wrong.

7. Go prepared to negotiate. Buy reports (i.e. Consumers Reports or others) which list the actual costs of the dealer. Then negotiate up from there. Don't start with the asking price and negotiate down.

8. It never hurts to ask for something extra when the deal is almost done. Ya you really need better floor mats, or free service, or what ever. When they can taste the deal, you have more leverage.

9. Compare the features/cost with the top of the line model trim and the one below it. Sometimes one or the other will be the better deal.

10. Be prepared to walk away from a poor deal. This is the strongest bargaining chip you have. Vote with your feet.

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Honda Accord Performance Articles

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Seibon Front Lip Spoiler

I have been looking at different body products for Honda Accords. Two I have found at the Seibon Carbon fiber company.

One of them is the Seibon Front Lip Spoiler. It is a very attractive looking product and once installed gives the Accord a lower and meaner or exotic looking front end. This product is made out of one sheet of carbon fiber, unlike some of the competitive products that use multiple pieces, which can crack after a while.

The finish is called "wet" look, which is a glossy type of finish. It is enhanced by a clear coating which protects the finish from normal hazards such as fading from UV exposure. The company claims that this is better than a typical Gel coating.

There are a couple of different styles for different year Accords. From a practical standpoint I don't know that any particular style will give any advantage over any other.

Front spoilers were originally designed to allow the air flow over the car to press down on the front end. This was to keep the front end from rising as your speed increased. The last thing you want at speed is to take off like an airplane.

Since when a car accelerates there is a weight transfer to the rear, a front engine car will not have as much traction on the driving wheels as a rear engine vehicle. I'm not sure, but I assume a front spoiler will increase the traction for a front drive car. Does anyone out there know for sure? If so, please let me know and I'll post it here.

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Honda Accord Performance Articles

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