Sharpening Your Parallel Parking Skills

For teenagers, when first taking their driving test, parallel parking is often considered the strongest challenge. For adults, this doesn't change much, especially if you aren’t in the practice of parking this way.

What is parallel parking? Parallel parking is a method of parking a vehicle in line with other parked cars. Cars parked in parallel are in one line, parallel to the curb, with the front bumper of each car facing the back bumper of the adjacent one. Parallel parking requires driving the car in reverse gear into the parking space. Roads that facilitate said parking have an extra lane or a large shoulder for parked cars. It is also employed anytime parking facilities are not available - usually in large metropolitan areas where there is a high density of vehicles. Driving forward into a parking space on the side of a road is typically not possible unless two successive parking spaces are empty.


If you have forgotten the rules of parallel parking or it has been a while since you have had to try it, this is how it goes:


1. Make sure the space you are looking to park in is big enough for your vehicle. A large SUV will obviously need more room than a Mini Cooper. Typically you will want to park in a space that is about one and half times longer than your vehicle.
2. Check the traffic beside you and behind you, then signal your wish to pull over and stop. Drive alongside or parallel to the vehicle ahead of the empty space, leaving about a three feet between the vehicles. Stop when your rear bumper is in line with the other vehicle.
3. Look out for the rear corner of the car in the side window. While reversing, begin turning your steering wheel to the right toward the curb when the front of your car passes the rear of the car you are next to.
4. When you can see the outside rear corner of the vehicle in front of your space, straighten your wheels as you continue in reverse.
5. Making sure the nose of your car will clear the car in front of you, begin turning the wheel to the left.
6. Turn the steering wheel fully toward the road to bring your vehicle in line with the curb.
7. If your vehicle is not parallel to the curb, drive forward to straighten.


Once you are properly parked, set the parking brake and put your car into park or if you have a manual transmission, shift it into reverse. Of course you want to check traffic before opening your door.

If this sounds intimidating, try practicing in an empty parking lot with cones or trash cans with flags sticking out of them. Perfect parking takes practice and practicing on cones rather than somebody's vehicle may be the wisest solution.

Do All Engines Benefit From Induction Kits?

If you have a car and love speed, then you are quite familiar with induction kits. These are cone shaped filters that help increase a car’s air intake thus increasing the horse power in the process. Induction kits are often required by speed racers and are used when fine tuning a car or increasing its racing capabilities.

One of the reasons why people love fast cars is the sound the engine emits when racing. The sound gives the impression of power and torque to the car. Nothing else is responsible for this other than induction kits.

Now, speed is not something that you could easily achieve with the normal or factory car configurations and applications. If you must race or boost your car speed, then you should prepare for an application that encourages cold air intake.

Research has shown that cold air induction encourages more cold air intake in the car engines –more oxygen- which further results in the car’s speed increasing significantly. Thankfully, cars these days come with that allowance thus giving all intended drivers the opportunity to increase their car’s speed.

While cold air induction kits are a favourite among car racers and speed lovers, it also has its disadvantages. These are not exactly very big problems per se, but they are still a little bit inconveniencing.

Too Much Noise

In order to increase a car’s speed, the engine often creates a roaring sound. While some car owners love these sounds, others think they are too much noise and would rather wish for a more subtle sound. The reasons for this vary and can include the fact that the police are often on the lookout for fast cars.

Since a roaring engine is a signature of fast cars, it definitely attracts that kind of attention. However, if you want speed, then you have got to love or at least tolerate the sound; it is a pretty small price to pay for such pleasure and feel of power on wheels.

Cars with Small Engines May Not Adapt Well

Cold air induction kits are often good for big engine cars, however, they may be counterproductive for cars with smaller engines. This is because smaller engines get pretty hot faster and it takes more time to deliver cold air to the engine. It is also important to note that smaller engines have less power if they are fitted with air induction kits. In this case, simply replacing it with a panel air filter will do just fine.

One other important thing is cold air induction kits requirements vary across the different states and countries. It is best to be informed of this before installing an induction kit in your car. Also, watch out for promises of guaranteed power when buying cold air induction kits. These are not usually realistic.

Plastic Bumper Repair

Occasionally, these plastic bumpers receive minor damage and when that occurs, a plastic bumper repair can quickly and easily restore their appearance. The external plastic bumpers are essentially just cosmetic covers, and directly behind them are the actual steel superstructures which serve as the bumper to absorb harsher impacts encountered when the vehicle is involved in a crash.

A plastic bumper cover can be mildly damaged due to an impact which chips or scratches the paint, scratches the underlying soft plastic substrate, or cuts through the soft plastic if that soft plastic fascia gets pinched firmly against the hard steel superstructure behind it. These situations will result in an unsightly and visible flaw in a vehicle's appearance which is unsettling to the owner and decreases the vehicle's value when it's eventually sold or traded in. A plastic bumper repair will eliminate the defect and restore the vehicle's appearance.

New materials have been developed which make such plastic bumper repairs easier, quicker, and less expensive when repairs are performed by a trained technician. New body filler products have been developed that are essentially two-part epoxies which adhere to the damaged area, cure quickly, are very strong, and are very sandable and paintable within a very short time period. The technician will thoroughly clean the damaged surfaced and surrounding areas using a solvent designed to remove all waxes, oils and road grime. When the area has been thoroughly cleaned, the two-part flexible epoxy is mixed, applied and smoothed. After curing for a short time, the epoxy is sanded into the rough shape using coarse sandpaper. A thin layer of flexible body filler is applied next and after it cures the final sanding is done using progressively finer sandpaper.

Once the physical repair is completed the technician primes, paints and clearcoats the areas using an airbrush or touch-up spray gun. The paints used are specifically designed to retain their flexibility even after final curing. The entire plastic bumper repair is done quickly and inexpensively. It can even be performed by the technician working in your driveway or garage, eliminating the hassle of dropping off your car at a shop and arranging alternative transportation.