Automotive Addict

Are you looking for your car's spark plug replacement because the present spark plugs have wore off? I have an advice for you. This time try embedding in your car engine, iridium spark plugs. The advent of modern technology has also effected the cars as well and have made them much more efficient.Using iridium tips in spark plugs is also one of its dimensions. Iridium spark plugs has many advantages and it can really pimp your ride. Refer to my last article on how spark plugs can pimp your ride and how you can perform spark plug replacement.

Advantages Of Having Iridium Spark Plugs.

Before acquainting you about the advantages of iridium spark plugs, I want to make one thing clear. Spark plugs don't enhance the efficiency of the car beyond its limits but instead they make it more efficient according to the car's own potential. So clear your mind from any misconceptions that its only the spark plugs that will make your crawling ride in to a super fast car.

Now coming to the advantages of iridium spark plugs, they sure are durable and strong enough as compared to other conventional platinum tipped, spark plugs. Durability of iridium spark plugs can be compared as it has a life of almost 60, 000 miles where as the conventional will give you 20,000 to 40,000 miles. Of course because of the good quality of the element, the quality of spark is improved and gives a much better spark hence improving fuel efficiency.

The best thing about the iridium spark plug is that it wears off rather slowly as compared to platinum spark plugs. The reason is of course, iridium is much more durable than its "colleague" platinum. Besides this, the melting point of iridium is much more higher than platinum. The melting point of iridium is 4450 F where as that of platinum is almost 3216 F. That's a huge difference. Furthermore, iridium is 8 times more rigid than platinum where it can endure a pressure of 160 Kpsi as compared to platinum which can stand a pressure of not more than 20 Kpsi. Because of these qualities, the iridium spark plugs wear off much slowly as compared to those conventional spark plugs so you don't have a headache of replacing your spark plugs after some years.

Learning above attributes of iridium I bet you would go for high quality iridium spark plugs the very next time you perform your car's spark plug replacement.

If you really want to perform some car modification, the best thing is to first take care of your engine performance because car modification is not only about changing your car body kits and installing some sub woofers to add a groove in your sound. No car modification is completed if the car's performance is not state of the art. For this purpose, you may get many advice. I would specifically refer to the car's spark plugs and their impact on engine performance and how you can do some modifications either by some spark plugs replacement or spark plug gapping or choose the right spark plugs for your car by assessing and reading spark plugs requirements for your car.

Before getting into details I would just peek into the spark plug's functioning or how does a spark plug work. I know many of you car enthusiasts must know the purpose of spark plugs and how does a spark plug work. So I will not go into a detail.Just a quick review.

Purpose Of A Spark Plug, How Does A Spark Plug Work?

Spark plug actually causes an ignition through its ignition coil in the internal combustion chamber of the engine which creates a small spark. Search out for internal combustion engine fundamentals for more details. This spark when unites with the air and some drops of fuel, it creates a perfect combination for a small explosion. This small explosion creates a pressure which causes the pistons in the engine's cylinders to move and eventually creates a torque to move the cam shaft and ultimately the car starts to move. As simple as that.

So the purpose of a spark plug is integral in moving a car. Obviously if the spark is of not a good quality there would be implications on the car's engine performance so to perform some car modification pertaining to spark plugs, one has to make sure that the spark plug is of good quality which produces a better spark to ensure swift movement of a car.

Now coming to the spark plug modification or replacement, let us first analyze that what effects the performance of the spark plug. The spark plug's performance is effected by following factors.

1) Wear and Tear of spark plug.
2) The gap between central and ground electrode or spark plug gapping.
3) Voltage provided to create a spark.
4) Altitude and temperature of the location.

To alter the performance or efficiency of spark plugs, one should try to alter the above factors or if he is going to perform some spark plugs replacement he should keep the above factors in mind. Now let's see how the above mentioned factors effect the efficiency of a spark plug and how you can modify or use the above mentioned factors in better performance of spark plugs and ultimately of the car.
1) Wear And Tear Of Spark Plug.

Spark plugs have to go through series of small explosions in order to be functional thus making them more prone to wear and tear. So definitely a damaged spark plug or a spark plug having a lot of carbon deposited at its tip will not perform adequately. So make sure that spark plugs are always in a good condition in order for your car as whole to be efficient or perform well. Generally a spark plug's life is about 10,000 to 20,000 miles. However some manufacturers assemble spark plugs which have two or in other words multiple ground electrodes to enhance the life of a spark plug. But it has been observed that it has some implications on fuel injection of the car.

2) Spark Plug Gapping.

This is the most important factor of spark plugs performance. However people have different views about the spark plug gapping. Some say that the more the gap, the better is the spark. Where as some say that small gap is good as it requires small amount of voltage to create the spark. Normally a spark plug requires a very high voltage of about 40,000 to 100,000 volts to cover the gap. I am open here for suggestions. Tell me if you have any suggestions regarding this topic. However if you really want to make the spark plug gapping larger or smaller you can use a very fine nosed pliers as a spark plug gapper or spark plug gap tool. To enlarge the gap, pull the ground electrodes outwards using pliers. However be extremely cautious here and make sure you do not apply pressure on the center electrode or it may damage.If you want to make the gap smaller, gently tap the ground electrode on a hard surface. You can use a feeler guage to measure the gap between center and ground electrode.

3) Voltage Provided.

As described above spark plugs need a very high amount of voltage to create a spark so use a good quality car batteries to make sure that a voltage is provided to create the spark.

4) Altitude And Temperature Of The Location.

The altitude where your car operates and the temperature in which your car operates is crucial for the performance of your spark plugs. For this reason the spark plugs have been divided into two kind which are:

a) Hot Spark Plugs:

Hot spark plugs are spark plugs in which the surface area of ceramic exhaust coating contacts less with the metal part of the spark plug thus exhausting less heat. I am saying the ceramic insulator as an exhaust because the ceramic insulator coating works as a heat exhaust. So hot spark plugs are good in low performing cars or in cold areas. Similarly they are good at high altitude areas where oxygen is less to burn the fuel.

b) Cold Spark Plugs:

These spark plugs have larger surface area of ceramic insulator coating thus exhausting more heat and keeping the spark plugs cold. You can have a look at the image of spark plugs structure for spark plug cross reference. Cold spark plugs are best for high performance engines or turbo charged engines. If you are looking forward for engine upgrades then I reckon you should also pay some consideration towards your spark plug replacement.




Above mentioned factors are helpful in assessing and reading spark plugs requirements for your car. You may have come to know how spark plug can be modified by changing spark plugs gapping as well as what spark plugs would be better for your car's specific requirements.

January car Rebates and Incentives could not be as good as the last few days of the end of 2009! 2009 will be the largest push to gain market share for all manufactures like Ford, GM, Toyota, Honda, Dodge and even for Hyundai, Kia, Suzuki, Lexus, Mercedes, and BMW. There is a HUGE push to gain the last few sales of 2009. I have heard the phrase over and over this past week, "WHATEVER IT TAKES, WE WILL NOT MISS A DEAL!!!"

If you are in the market to buy a vehicle, whether it be car or truck or even SUV, NOW IS THE TIME!!! You will be surprised at the deep discounts and Manufacturer Incentives. Now, if you are like me and do not have the time to go from dealer to dealer to find the deals, I will let you in on a secret. The easiest way to get the best deal between now and New Years Day is to Get FREE quotes from Yahoo! Autos This will be the easiest deal you have ever made. Because here is how it works. Internet Shoppers are growing at a HUGE rate and dealers are aware they are shopping many dealers. You will get the best deal possible if you go thru Yahoo! Autos Just enter your zip code, pick your vehicle of choice, enter your contact information, and make sure to select ALL DEALERS! This will make ALL your local dealers FIGHT for your business! Even if you already know which dealer you will buy from, KEEP THEM HONEST! Get quotes from all your local dealers delivered directly to your email. If you do not have a preferred dealer, pick the lowest price. Easy as that, you just saved thousands for a few mouse clicks.

The quicker you get your quotes the better because the closeout of 2009 will be like no other, trust me! I bet if you have been to a dealer recently and received a price and visit Yahoo! Autos now, you will be surprised how much you will save. When you shop from the Internet, dealers do realize they have pretty much one shot and will throw everything they have at it. You will also find out any extra incentives that may not be advertised and may even get some extra incentives from some dealers like free maintenance plans, etc. It is FREE to get your quotes so why wait. Oh, and be sure to bookmark my site so you can come back and tell me how much you saved. I might even be surprised. Good luck and happy New Years early, hope this helps you drive into the new year with a new vehicle.

12 Blaupunkt for 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid - $ 759.00
Retail Price: 949.99
You Save:$190.99
I've been talking about pimping up your ride. now its time to add some colors and flavors in it. After all what's the use of a shiny and attractive car when you don't have a good sound system or even if you have a good car sound system but it produces a faint and flaccid base.

I bring for you, Blaupunkt amplifier, vivid and lively car subwoofers that can really add a spice in your car stereo system with the high performance 12" subwoofer tube. It has a tendency of boosting up your car's bass by 600 Watts, produces a frequency from 35-500 Hz providing booming lows for your favorite car music. It's easy plug 'n' play car amplifier and no need of cutting, slicing your existing car's wiring. The amplifier's exclusive "Planar Power Plant" ( 3p ) technology makes for a cool running, compact size which is 1/3 of the conventional amplifiers for out of sight mounting flexibility.

The kit includes remote volume control, radio plug in harness, extension harness and speaker wires. Easy to install but still dealer installation is recommended.

Just few years ago motor sports company were reluctant to diversify their hot wheels to a more greener side but now it seems that the majority of them are responding to the call of time. Lambroghini decides to go green as well. Amazing isn't it? It's a very rare but appreciable enough step by a company who has been known for its racing and speeding cars. I hope they have plans to curb the implications as a result of this decision.

Though it's a good initiative but it cannot be regarded as the only sports car company who took this bold step. We've seen Bentley releasing its bio-fuel car and also not to forget, ferrari, which is working hard and utilizing its large portion of research and development expenditure in reducing carbon emmissions. Let's hope lambroghini also performs well in this area.

Analysing the lambroghini's policy, we can see that they have seriously applied some business process re-engineering to some extent regarding the manufacture of their cars. The newly launched Lambroghini LP560-4 is able to emit 18% less CO2 than its prequel, Lambroghini Gallarado.

Lambroghini doesn't consider this enough, as they have committed for even more which means that they plan to reach a target of 35% less emmission by the year 2015. As I said they are applying some business process re-engineering, they are planning to modify a plant by installing a raft of solar technology in the next few years costing about 35 million euros and it will be able to cut the CO2 by 30% while produced during the production. They are not putting a full stop here as Lambroghini is also planning to reduce the weight of their cars, designing more efficint engines which includes introducing hybrid engines as well.

We must hope that this step of lambroghini would create a ground of competetion for other car manufacturers as well and ultimately the world or eco system would be benefited.

Dodge unleashes its new and special edition of Viper SRT10 named as 2010 Viper SRT10 ACR-X Special. This car is stuffed with real and hot accessories including a low restriction exhaust system which really boosts up the car to 640 hp. 2010 Viper SRT10 ACR-X Special is exclusively designed with the needs of car racers kept in mind. The new model has been pimped up with standard vipers 8.4 -liter V10. The suspensions has been upgraded exclusively for the
track usage and some weight has been shed as well which is now approx. 160 pounds.

The Dodge company claims that that the car features some aerodynamic modifications which is now better than ever, increasing traction and down force. This really has put some positive effects on the stability and road grip especially on the high speed cornering.

As it says that the needs of the car racers have been especially catered, but all the focus has not been on the speeding it up. The car comes with usual factory fitted, safety equipments including fuel cell, race seat and exclusively designed roll cage.

Dodge further claims that during Viper SRT10 ACR-X's testing, by the reknown professional driver, Kuno Wittmer, during the SCCA Pro Racing Speed World Challenge Touring Car Championship series,it was able consistent 1:31:00 lap times around the 20238-mile, 11-turn course. Showing some improvements against the old Dodge's street legal viper STR10 ACR. This car holds the production car track record at Leguna Seca raceway.

According to Wittmer himself:

"The Dodge Viper ACR-X is incredible," said Wittmer. "After a short warm up, I was running lap times as quick as exotic GT race cars. I was blown away by the power and acceleration, and even more surprised at how the ACR-X navigated the challenging Laguna Seca corners and how friendly it was to drive at the limit."

The new Dodge's 2010 Viper SRT10 ACR-X Special will be in the market in the next spring of 2010 with prices starting from $110,000.

Enkei

Racing GTC01 - Hybrid Wheels 17 - $ 349.00
Retail Price: 436.99
You Save:$87.99



Prius 17 inch wheels. Enhance the look of your Hybrid with these Enkie Sport Rims.Has been a source of inspiration and if not number one then at least among the top priorities of car enthusiasts. Real high-tech design. Looks good on almost every car.

Further Specifications Include:


* Size: 17x7.5, 48mm Offset

* Lightweight: 17.5lbs.

* Finish: Hyper Black

* Bolt Pattern: 5-100

* Construction: 1pc. Gravity Cast with MAT Technology

Check out the wallpapers of some exotic car interior design for some inspiration.
Click an image to enlarge it.

I was just surfing the internet and found some cool images of modified cars. These are really an inspiration of some really good job done in the field of car modification. The owners have turned their rides into some hot, pimped out rides. Visitors visiting this post can store these images in their pc's as modified cars wallpapers.
Click the image to enlarge them.

Threshold braking is the art of slowing down in the quickest possible way by maintaining brake force at the optimum level. It's tricky and requires a lot of practise in a familiar car before you'll be able to do it reliably, but braking late before a corner is one of the easiest methods of getting decent track times.

But first, two quick facts:

• Locked wheels are not the most efficient method of slowing down (lots of tyre screech is bad)
• Tyres exert maximum braking force when slight wheel slip is occurring (some tyre screech is ok)

Is threshold braking still relevant in a world with ABS? In a word, yes. ABS is a reactive system – is detects the onset of a locking wheel and reduces the brake pressure automatically until the wheel has regained grip. When threshold braking, the driver attempts to maintain maximum deceleration without locking wheels, so if ABS has kicked in, then something has gone wrong. However, many modern ABS systems are react so quickly to changing conditions that it is becoming more difficult to improve on them, but the best drivers still can - and many track cars do not have ABS.

So, how does one learn this strange and wonderful technique?

Stage one
First you need to become familiar with the point of wheel lock in your car, which means finding suitably safe area of privately owned tarmac to practice on. Brake hard in a straight line at different speeds (30mph is a good starting point) and get a feel for how the car reacts under rapid braking to the point of wheel lock. Don't stamp on the pedal, but rather apply push it firmly and progressively. Get the answers to the following questions clear in your own mind:

• How hard do you need to push the pedal for wheels to lock (or ABS to kick in)?
• What is the sensation just before the point of wheel lock?
• When wheels do start to lock up, what are the warning factors?
• Which wheels lock up first?
• How does the car behave when a wheel has locked?
• Is there any feedback from the brake pedal?

Once you have the answers to these questions, it's time for…

Stage two
Now you're familiar with the sensation of braking hard enough to lock wheels in your car or activate the ABS. Remember, as soon as wheels lose traction with the tarmac you're no longer braking efficiently - but even the best drivers lock wheels from time to time. So, it's important to learn how to regain maximum friction as quickly as possible when this situation arises.

Accelerate to a slightly higher speed (say 50mph) and repeat the process of inducing wheel lock. Try to get to the point of lock as quickly as you can without upsetting the balance of the car. But rather than simply screeching to a halt, release the brake slightly to free up the locked wheel(s), then reapply at a slightly reduced pressure to try and maintain decent braking performance.

Get to the point when you can reliably reduce the brake pressure and reapply the brakes in as little time as possible. Some ABS systems may make this process difficult due to built in delays in the electronics, and it might be at this point when you decide threshold braking isn't for you after all!

Stage three
Now you will have a good feel for the car, appreciate the sensation of heavy braking and understand the point of wheel lock, so it's time to do the perfect run. Accelerate back up to around 50mph and repeat the process of braking heavily, but this time try to come to a halt as quickly as you can without locking any wheels. Remember, a little bit of tyre screech is ok, as long as the wheels haven't locked.

If a wheel does stop rotating, use the 'release and reapply' technique to maintain control of the car.

Repeat as many times as you need to until you can brake reliably without locking wheels – give yourself a pat on the back and check your tyres for wear and tear before going back on the public roads.

Now all you need to know is how to do it in different track conditions!

Many people considers dent removing a difficult and an expensive procedure and that's the reason they don't even try to remove dents on their car by themselves. In fact they are content to pay expensive bills to body repair shops. If we analyze, dents on a car are not such a big deal. Your car can be cleaned from these mishaps domestically and the budget would not even go beyond your reach too. One of the economical method of dent removal is using Dry Ice.

Where to buy dry ice?
Dry ice is available at almost every super store. It does not cost too much as well. You can buy dry ice at almost $2. This is sure a pretty nominal amount and becomes even immaterial when it comes to your beloved car's beauty where the only thing hampering its hot looks and restricting it to be a really pimped up is the small dent which is apparent to the whole world. Guess what using dry ice is a paintless dent repairing process and does not harm your car's paint. Remember, using dry ice is only good for small dents and not for big ones. It can be used following these steps.

1. Wear protective gloves before you hold the dry ice in your hands. Your hands may be vulnerable to extremely freezing dry ice.
2. Put the dry ice on the dent. The more accurate you are in putting the ice at the center, the better it is.
3. Hold right there for few seconds. 5-10 seconds are usually advised.
4. Remove the ice. The dent would still be there. It won't pop out immediately. Allow some time. A minute or so and the dent will pop out automatically.
5. If the dent is still there even after some minutes, apply the same above process again until the dent disappears.
6. When the dent is removed, clean the area with a piece of cloth.

The above process is as easy as it seems. watch the video below as well so that you are even more clear.

Powered By: Auto Loan Calculator
This is a Car Loan Payment Calculator so that you can figure what your payment will be before going to a dealership. There are a few things you must first know before calculating your Auto Loan Payment.

It is a little hard to read, but the first line is the amount of the car you are buying. This amount would have to include your sales price, sales tax, any extra fees, and any warranties or insurance products added to your loan. In other words, with this car payment calculator, you have to know the total amount you would be financing.

The second line of the car payment calculator is the Interest Rate you are charged on the car. This is something you may have to guess at or do an application to find out the interest rate. If you have great credit, you can call around to local banks and find the best going rates. If you have not so good credit, enter a higher number here to get an idea. As a guide, there are not many loans over 20%.

The last line on the Auto loan Payment Calculator is the length of the loan in years. How many years do you want to finance the car. If you want to finance for 60 months, enter 5, for 5 years. If you want to finance for 6 years, enter 72.

After these numbers are entered, hit the calculate button at the bottom of the payment calculator to figure how much your car payment will be. This is used for a guide and different finance companies may compound interest differently. Just use this car payment calculator as a guide to get an idea of what price car you can afford.

A Walk-Around is where you actually go over the features of the car with the customer. There are certain steps in the process that have been proven to work best, but something else may work better for you.

Walk-Around Step 1: Under the Hood
When you get the keys to a car, the customer automatically wants to jump behind the wheel. Tell them that you would like to go over the features before driving. This is when you pop the hood and go over Engine size, horsepower, location to check fluids, Safety--crumple zones, breakaway motor mounts, etc.

Walk-Around Step 2: In The Front of the Car
This is when you close the hood and step back to look at the design of the front of the car. If the car has fog lamps, halogen lights, grills, etc.

Walk-Around Step 3: Walk around drivers side--not letting customer get in!
At this point you want to talk about safety or styling depending on customer. Safety--hit the door to show it has a steel safety cage construction that wraps around the car. Show them tight gaps in doors and all seals if it is a newer car. Something to remember: Every car that your customer looks at will have what you are showing them, but if the competition does not show them, it does not have it!

Walk-Around Step 4: In the Trunk
Show customer size of trunk. Low lift in height if you have something heavy in trunk, safety latch to get out of trunk, pass through to back seat, etc.

Walk-Around Step 5: At the Rear
This is when you step back to look at styling at the rear. You may go over tail lights, exhaust tips, etc. Whatever the car has. Remember to just mention 3 to 5 things at each stage. You don't want to pour out a book report, just touch on a few things.

Walk-Around Step 6: Passenger side
Touch on anything going down the passenger side, gas cap entrance, etc. The sole goal is to get the customer to get in the passenger seat.

Walk-Around Step 7: Inside the Car
Have your customer get in on the PASSENGER SIDE!!! You want to show them a few things inside the car. You go over a Radio, climate, steering wheel controls, or anything else inside the car that a customer may need to know.

Now, this is the most important part. You tell your customer to put on their seat belt as you want to show them how the car drives. You drive the car off the lot. You find a pre-determined spot to stop and let the customer drive at which you swap with the driver. This is a control thing. If you take control in the walk around, you will have control at the closing table. Happy Selling and email with any questions.

You have probably seen the commercials by now, "May The Best Car Win." GM has taken a new course of action when it comes to advertising. You have up to 60 days to bring your Car back if you dont like it? Well, Almost, Lets take a look at General Motors Buy Back Plan.

One of GM's requirements is, You have to keep the car at least 30 Days. You can only bring a car back between the owning days of 31-60. You have to keep your GM Model at least 31 days and not more than 60 days. I guess the GM Advertising Guru's are thinking if you keep the car at least 30 days, you will fall in love with it.

Your General Motors Vehicle MUST have less than 4000 miles. You must keep it 30 days, but dont drive it too much. If you have more than 4000 miles, you cannot bring the car back. Also, remember the program only applies to Buick, Cadillac, Chevy, and GMC models. This is the GM Models that are planned for future production. This program does not apply to Pontiac, Saab, Hummer, or Saturn.

If you bring your 2009 GM vehicle back, you will be reimbursed 67% of MSRP. Your new 2010 GM will be reimbursed up to 74% of MSRP. Negative Equity must be paid and finance charges are not reimbursed.

GM did put an option in for those who do not want to participate in the buy back program to get a $500 rebate on top of all other rebates and incentives. This is the option that everyone is taking because if they buy a GM Vehicle, they plan to keep it and dont want to worry with all the stipulations of the Buy Back Program.

General Motors is actually making some great cars, trucks, and SUV's that customers love. They are finally getting the message that quality counts and are taking a leading role in new gadgets and options on cars. GM has some of the most loyal customers, but you have to give customers what they want and you have to make it right and GM is now doing just that.

Thank you GM for taking the lead on this ad campaign and not following someone else. I do love the quote, "Let The Best Car Win." It is a bold statement and is bringing customers into GM Showrooms.

Cold Air Intake Kit (2001-2002 Honda Civic Hybrid)

Before understanding the purpose of induction kits it would be necessary to know about the working and reason behind the presence of air filter in the car.Your car, for movement require fuel of course but the mere presence of fuel does not do the trick alone as many other ingredients are necessary to move your car which includes besides fuel, air and some sparks.Thats right now understanding the phenomenon of moving the car is that your car intakes air containing oxygen,pushes that air into the piston area of the engine and then theres a drizzle of fuel droplets which is combusted with the spark created by the car spark plugs.When fuel droplets come in the contact of a flare caused by the battery and in the presence of oxygen it causes explosion which causes the piston to move and eventually the whole car(imagine hundreds of these explosions happening per second).

Now keeping in mind the above phenomenon and the pre-requisites to move a car we can guess that without the presence of air/oxygen it would be difficult to move a conventional car and more the quality of the air i.e the more the oxygen in the air the better will be the performance of the car.This is what air filters do they intake oxygen and send it to the piston part of the engine.So if a car has an air filter with larger diameter the air filter will be able to intake more oxygen.So it is advised to keep your air filter clean in order to increase your horse power.

Now coming to the purpose of the induction kits.The idea behind introducing induction kit instead of air filter and air box is that induction kit intakes more cool air than these two without any extra effort thus allowing more oxygen because cool air contains more oxygen than warm air.This does not mean that air filter and air box are not fit for their purpose but as the time passes they become full of dust and therefore less efficient.

A normal induction kit has a cone shaped filter and necessary brackets and pipework to fit into the specific car.Good quality induction kits last for a longer time than the air filters because they can be easily washed,oiled and cleaned thus enhancing their life span.One more change which is eventually brought by the introduction of induction kit is that it makes a roaring sound thus giving car a more sporty image.So i reckon if you are a car enthusiast and looking forward to modify your car you should try these kits.Specific induction kits are available in the market for many of their respective cars but problem occurs when the model of your car is not listed so in this case you will have to buy universal kits which can fit into numbers of other vehicles after some alteration in the brackets and pipeworks.

Road and track driving techniques are very different animals, but there are many skills you can practise on the road every day which will make you a better all round driver and this in turn will greatly benefit your performance on the track. Remember, it has been proven time and time again that the quickest drivers are also the smoothest.

Weight transfers

Avoiding dramatic shifts in weight due to aggressive driver inputs is vital for every performance driver. You may be able to get away with this behaviour at lower speeds, but as soon as your car approaches the limits of grip even a tiny weight transfer in the wrong direction can cause you to lose traction. Practising smooth driving every day will make the journey more pleasant for your passengers, but also allow you to cover the ground more quickly and safely.

Braking - smooth yet rapid

Progressive application of the brakes is vital to maintain stability and composure at speed. To do this, press the brake pedal until contact is made between the brake pads and discs (i.e. take up the slack), then squeeze on the pressure until the required rate of deceleration is reached. This doesn't mean you can't brake firmly or quickly but it's important to make the application progressive rather than simply stamping on the pedal. Equally important is the smooth release of the pedal. Remember you can brake much faster than you can accelerate thus the weight transfers while braking (and easing off the brake) are more extreme. Progressive braking will make you less likely to lock a wheel or lose control due to loss of traction.

Acceleration - squeeze on the gas

No matter how much (or little) power your road car has, you can practise progressive acceleration, although the benefits will be more dramatic in more powerful cars. Applying the throttle too early or too aggressively can lead to unwanted weight transfers and spinning wheels.

Steering and cornering lines

Steering position should be at the nine and three o'clock positions, as this is the position which gives you a good range of motion without forcing your hands off the wheel. Adopting this position will allow you to turn the vast majority of corners without shuffling hands or taking one off the wheel. Allow both hands to do the work - don't simply pull with one or push with the other, splitting the effort will allow you greater control and give you more feedback from the road. Finally, make sure you take every corner in a nice smooth arc and use as much of the road as you can (within the limits of the law of course!). If you find yourself tightening up the steering half way through the corner you probably have taken the wrong line. Start to straighten up as soon as you hit the apex - again if you find you can't do this you've probably got the line wrong and hit the apex too soon.

Gear changes

Changing gear is often overlooked but is often where the greatest gains can be made. Rev-matching and heel and toe should be second nature for anyone changing down in a manual transmission car. When making any gear change, the shift should be imperceptible from the passenger seat as in extreme cases, dodgy shifts can lock wheels of cause wheelspin any any loss of traction means you're losing time on the track. Don't use the gears to slow you down, modern brakes are very good at doing this for you and give you a much greater amount of control, if you do decide to change down before a corner this should be done to give you maximum acceleration on the way out, not to slow you down on the approach. Finally, when changing down before a corner, ensure you brake first then change down - this will get the engine speed down to a point where the gear change is easier to perform smoothly.

That's all for now - happy motoring!

There are several different Closing Tools or Techniques taught to Car Salesman, but I believe it all comes down to one! This is just one of the steps in the road to the sale, but the one many focus on.

I believe if you do a proper meet and greet and interview, you will land a customer on the correct vehicle at the correct price and payment. If you follow the process from start to finish, Closing The Deal is the easiest part. Also, the biggest suggestion for Car Salesman is a proper Walk Around and Demonstration of vehicle operations and features. Remember this, Function-Feature-Benefit. When doing a walk around, you have to tell the option or Function, What it Does, and the one many salesman miss--how it will Benefit the consumer. For Instance, this car has dual stage air bags which will come out at a speed according to the severity of the impact; the benefit to you Mr/Mrs Customer is that in a small fender bender, the air bag wont come out at a rate that will injure you more than the accident like earlier designed air bags. Many salesman will say; This car has front and side airbags. What if you were to add that the National Highway Safety and Transportation Administration has proven in test results and real world accidents that side air bags were proven to save lives in side impact accidents. You would want to be protected from an unfortunate accident in the side wouldn't you Mr/Mrs Customer? This builds VALUE!!! Value in the vehicle means more money in your pocket. Customers do not mind paying for information. If you build a penny more value than the list price of the vehicle, the customer will pay list price! If you lack information concerning features and benefits, you will get "I'm really not ready to make a decision," "I have a doctors appointment to get to," "My wife or husband or dog needs to look at it." Or Worse, "How much are you going to take off the sticker."

Anyway, that's enough on that, now for some Closing Techniques:
THE BEN FRANKLIN CLOSE or BALANCE SHEET CLOSE:
This is where you list things the customer liked about the vehicle in one column and dislikes in the other column. This will let you know real quick if you are on the correct vehicle. If there are more negatives than positives, you have some work to do. This is where you bring out every positive you gave the customer; you remember, Mr/Mrs Customer, the side air bags are a positive, the anti lock 4 wheel disc brakes, etc. etc. If you presented the vehicle correctly, you should be able to fill up a sheet with positives.

REDUCE IT TO THE RIDICULOUS CLOSE:
This is where when a customer says you are $30 dollars too high in payment. You break it down by the day. Mr/Mrs Customer, that is only $1 dollar per day. Everyone blows $1 per day. Drink one less coke per day.


TRADE IN CLOSE:
This is great for those with a Trade In. After you pick a vehicle and are getting ready to write up the trade, have the customer come with you and tell you about their trade in. Be sure and touch any little scratches or dents without saying anything. The customer is going to tell you everything they have done to the vehicle. "I put a new Transmission, new brakes, head gasket, etc. etc." Make sure you write everything they have done to the vehicle down, Especially things they have done in the last 6 months to 1 year. Even ask them how much money it cost them to perform these standard repairs. Now, when you get to the table and you are $50 dollars away on payment, you have some ammo. "Well, Mr. Customer, you said you put a new transmission that cost $2000, brakes cost $300, Misc. cost $100, that means you have put $2400 in your trade in the last year, correct?" They will always reply, Yes. "Well, that comes out to $200 per month on Standard Maintenance items, that if not performed would make your car worthless. This new car is under Factory Warranty and is going to save you money at a cost of only $50 a month." Or whatever it comes out to be. It could be $200 more in payment and makes sense to buy the new car instead of repairing the old car.

This is just a few Closing Techniques that may help you, but be creative. If the customer is saying "NO", You have nothing to lose.

Auto Insurance is one of those bills we would rather not pay each month, but is as necessary as the light bill. As with any Insurance, Especially Car Insurance, you never know how important it is until you need to file a claim!

The Auto Insurance Market has become so competitive with new companies arriving on the scenes. And, have you ever seen as many Car Insurance commercials on TV? It seems as though every other commercial is Insurance related.

Many people do not realize the competitive nature Auto Insurance Companies have been forced into, but it is definitely to our benefit. It is almost as competitive as the Cell Phone Market, ALL Insurance Companies want their little piece of the pie and are giving AWESOME INSURANCE QUOTES to get you to convert to their company. If you do not believe me, take a moment and check out Esurance easy online car insuranceQuote! The Industry as a whole realize that many customers are looking to Save Money and cut monthly costs any way they can, and cutting Car Insurance Costs is one of the easiest.

There are other Auto Insurance companies that can save you money online like 21st Century Insurance Companyor you can Shop and Compare multiple Car Insurance quotes for free.This will get you the best Insurance Quotes from the best companies so you can compare prices at one time.

I hear many Car Buying Customers say "I have been with XYZ Company so long, I hate to switch." What if it could save you several hundred dollars per year, would that equate to getting a raise? Has your Auto Insurance Provider ever called you and said, I am going to lower your Car Insurance Rates? Why not save some Money where you can. You may be able to trade and get the Car you have been dreaming of if you were able to save some money on your Auto Insurance!

So you want to be a Car Salesman! This is a day in the life of a Car Salesman that may not be so unfamiliar to other Salesman, but you must always keep a smile on your face.

6:00 Alarm goes off

6:00 Hit Snooze on Alarm

6:15 Hit Snooze on Alarm

6:30 Hit Snooze on Alarm

6:45 Wife punched me in back yelling "You are going to be late for work."

6:55 Stagger to bathroom to shower and shave

7:00 All the sales Guru's tell you to look yourself in the mirror and say, "I am GREAT!" "I am the BEST!" Maybe tomorrow I can do it without laughing.

7:30 Cant be late for work again, put shirt in dryer instead of ironing.

8:00 Leave for work to get there early, they tell me I will sell more cars if I am early.

8:10 Return home to get cell phone

8:30 Leave for work again after stalling for another 20 minutes

9:10 Walk into sales meeting 10 minutes late, Sales Manager makes an example out of me. Tells new Sales Reps that early birds always get the worm, bla, bla, bla. I got a worm for ya is what I wanted to say. He must have had knee pads on during his interview to get a Managers Job!

10:30 Finally get out of meeting after hearing the same story, "When I was selling cars...." When you was selling cars, you could get a homeless person approved for a loan.

11:00 Walk almost a mile around the car lot trying to shake off another negative meeting.

11:30 Finally have time to get a cup of coffee, this will surely make me feel better.

11:45 Sit coffee down outside to catch a customer--Reach to shake hands--customer says "I am not buying anything, I am picking someone up from your service Department." Ok, Ok, I guess you can do that dude!

11:50 Coffee should be cooled enough to drink-Forget about rude old man-Wow, coffee has a Cigarette put out in it!

12:00 Go to lunch to keep from strangling someone

1:00 Get back to work--Your cousin is talking to another salesman. (in car sales if a customer does not ask for you, it is not your customer.) Cousin sees you and says "I didn't know this was the dealership you worked at."

1:30 Salesman sales car to your cousin. Wow, I will never live this down, but try to lessen the impact by saying "it was a distant cousin," I have not seen them in years!

2:00 Catch cousin alone and tell them "Give me my house key, you are going to have to find you another place to live!"

2:30 Finally catch a customer that seems very interested in a GMC Yukon. After the test drive, the customer says, "My company is buying the vehicle for me and they usually get it directly from the factory, I just wanted to make sure I liked it."

3:30 Catch another customer that is very interested in a used car, test drive, write up, appraise trade, present numbers....Customer says, "I just got hired at XYZ Motors and they told me to mystery shop to see how the process goes. Thanks for your time." OH, not today! You may want to call XYZ Motors to come and get you because Its a MYSTERY as to where your trade in keys are!

4:00 Get paged to back lot (Customer Waiting) which is not uncommon, but it is about 1/2 mile walk and golf carts are nowhere to be found so take off walking. See Salesman hiding behind cars laughing because they made up the fake page!

4:30 Call doctor and ask him symptoms of high blood pressure!

5:00 All Sales Personnel are needed on showroom floor. Sales Manager says, "We are going to have a lot party." Great finally something fun for today! I find out a lot party is where you rearrange all cars on the lot. You have got to be kidding!

5:30 to 9:00 work with customer on a new GMC Acadia--had trouble closing the deal and had to split with another salesman to close the deal. I was supposed to get off at 8:00, but at least I sold one. The other salesman tells me, "Your part of the commission is $50 dollars!

9:30 Go to Wal-Mart pharmacy to use their blood pressure machine

9:45 See your cousin that purchased a car from your dealership. Told him the car he bought had been wrecked! Maybe his blood pressure will be as high as mine.

The next time you go to your local dealership and it seems if all the salesman are not in the best of moods, realize customers do come first, but it could have been a rough day! Tomorrow, we will try again. No wonder so many car salesman have grey hair.

If you are new to selling cars, remember one thing. WOMEN make the DECISION when buying a new car! I see new salesman start talking to customers and leave the women out of the conversation. This will NEVER lead to a car sale! PERIOD!!! Do not pay too much attention so that the husband is left out or feels you are hitting on his wife, but definitely talk to the wife. If you ever notice when figures are presented to prospective car buyers, men always look at their wives before answering. They can tell by the wife's body language whether she thinks its a good deal or not. I know many men are saying, "I wear the pants in my family." Yea right, but your wife probably picked them out for you. Women always get the new cars too. They may say, this is a car for my husband, but women get the new cars and men drive the old ones.

This should be a hot topic! Everyone says that women are taken advantage of when buying a car, but think again. Women are more informed than men when buying anything. They do there homework, and are not afraid to speak their mind. I found that when I was selling cars, women always negotiated the best deal. Women always use the "I have to talk to my husband first" line, and it works! Lets give women credit where credit is do.

Price Negotiation goes back to your Grandparents telling you to never pay sticker! Many like to Negotiate Price and many customers hate this part of buying a car. Would you like some tips from an Auto Insider on Price Negotiation?

Price Negotiation is where a customer wants to get a car for the lowest price possible and the Car Salesman wants to close the deal at the highest price possible. First, we must discuss why a Car Salesman wants to sell a car for the highest price possible. It all comes down to one word, Gross! Gross Profit is the margin between cost and price sold. If you sell a car for $10000 and the cost is $8000 then this means the salesman has a $2000 Gross Profit. Guess What? Gross Profit is how a salesman gets paid. Most dealerships pay 25-30%. 30% of $2000 is $600 dollars. Now if you Price Negotiate a little more, it cuts into the salesman's commission, but gets you a better price. Remember, Profit is not a dirty word so don't get mad at the salesman, that's their job!
Price Negotiation has become one of the easiest things to overcome because of the all powerful Internet. How would you like to know the price before ever stepping foot into a dealership? Get quotes from Yahoo! Autos and know you are getting the best price. Here is how it works. You follow the link, put in your zip, pick your car, put a little contact info, select ALL Dealers, Dealers fight for your business. When I say they fight for your business, you will be amazed at the first offers. Like I say, Price Negotiation has become too easy.