MotorVating

Fresh Bites this morning 14.07.06

The Black Bits!

Tyres are what keep you on the road and the little black stuff is only a few square inches/centimetres in area so it’s very important that you know how to look after them and how to recognise problems immediately!

First of all you need some Kit which is not expensive but absolutely invaluable!

Tyre Kit

1. Tyre Pressure Gauge.
2. Tyre Tread Depth Gauge.
3. Mini Compressor (runs off the cigar lighter)
4. Small Wooden Plank (about 12 inches long)…for supporting jack in soft conditions.
5. Professional Cross Wheel brace.

Go to the article on Tyre care for the full explanation of all these pieces of kit and how they will deal with all of your tyre problems.

Hints and Tips

1. The pressure gauge will give you an accurate reading when the tyres are cold before your journey.

2. The Mini Compressor will give you a very quick correction of tyre pressures when they are down and will also enable you to increase the pressures correctly when you are carrying a heavier load or full passengers when going on Holidays for example. The recommended increase in pressures will usually be found inside the fuel filler cap or the Car Manual.

3. You can spot a slow puncture very easily by checking the pressures daily. It only takes a couple of minutes.

4. A nail in the tyre will usually shed 6psi per day so if it’s down by this amount 24 hours after you have checked the tyre you have got a nasty nail in the black stuff which will need to be dealt with by your tyre shop immediately.

5. The plank is a necessity to support the jack when you get a puncture since punctures usually happen miles from anywhere and often in the winter with soft verges .It’s really important to get the car off the road if you are in a dangerous position to change the wheel. People get killed by passing cars when changing wheels!

6. It’s possible to get a greater mileage out of your tyres by rotating them periodically. The front tyres will be wearing at twice the rate of the rear tyres due to the weight of the engine that they are supporting and all the turning that they undertake. The rear tyres just mind their own business and go round and round!

7. When you are re-locating your tyres this is an ideal time to have a close up and personal look at their condition, wear rate and tread depth. It’s not always easy to spot uneven wear by bending down and peering at the tyre. With the wheel off it’s easy to highlight a flat spot or uneven wear which can lead to a slide or skid if not dealt with!

8. Even if the tread depth is still within the legal parameter it is likely that the tyre will be 80% worn at that stage. So we recommend that tyres are replaced before that stage of wear is reached. Winter months particularly will highlight the need to become an expert tyre analyst. What you may get away with on a dry road in Summer will be lethal in the Winter especially if you do a lot of country road driving .What is the significance of this remark? Leaves…Leaves… and more Leaves!

Astral Driving School. Limerick. Ireland.

Saving Money by Eco Friendly Driving Techniques: Not Such a Bad Idea!

Saving and conserving energy when driving will assume greater significance in the coming months and years as the pressure on world oil prices continues to bite. In Europe over the last thirty years we have experienced several petrol price spikes with critical shortages and queues at times. The situation has been extreme for the last year or so with the result that alternative fuel sources are getting plenty of media coverage and rightly so since we need to be embracing these alternatives for a more secure future!

There are many ways to conserve energy and save money when driving. We are primarily concerned with getting a better fuel consumption from each tankful be it Petrol or Diesel or the still very rare Bioethanol.

Let’s start with a favourite subject…Tyres and move on to the Feet, followed by the Engine and its Occupants and Loading.

(1) Under inflated Tyres enjoy a greater friction with the road leading to increased gas usage for each kilometre travelled. As well as this they wear out much more rapidly, give a rougher ride, particularly on Irish rural roads and generally upset the overall handling of the car, not to mention a less than comfortable ride for the passengers.

To Read the rest of the Article go to the New Web Site at Astral Driving School.ie

Will there be Life after the Oil runs out?

Europe is taking the Lead again in the search for suitable alternatives to the ever increasing price of Oil and the ever present threat of the greenhouse gas effect on the Environment. As prosperity grows so does our greed as we put more and more gas guzzling vehicles on the road in an attempt to impress our neighbours!

Is it really necessary to be changing that Car (we don’t mention SUVs, Jeeps, People Carriers, Range Rovers and the like in this column) every year or so? I don’t think so! The Manufacturers and the Car Dealers who have profits and shareholders to think about are bombarding us with news of the latest Models, the latest Deals and the latest tricks that our vehicles can perform and we have become used to this and fall for it every time!

Here in Ireland the exponential growth of new Drivers on the road due to Prosperity, Demographics and Immigration is putting a strain on just about every aspect of our Infrastructure that you can think of…Traffic Flow; Noise Pollution; Air Pollution; Driving Test Waiting Lists; Road Improvement Programmes; Inner City Trade and so on. What’s the answer you might suggest?

Announced just last week the highly acceptable and Eco friendly B.E.S.T project(Bio Ethanol for SustainableTransport) was given its opening Fanfare in Stockholm Sweden, a country long known for its excellent Technological achievements and concern for its Citizens and the Environment.

B.E.S.T is collaboration between three vehicle Manufacturers, Five Bioethanol Producers and Four Universities throughout Europe in a dynamic Plan to speed up the introduction of this alternative automotive propellant before we run out of time!
Naturally enough the home base for this project is Stockholm and vehicle manufacturer Saab. Saab has long been known for its excellent Cars partly due to the fantastic success on the Rally front in the sixties with Eric Carlsson and partly due to their Aeronautical activities which are the backbone of a very enterprising advertising campaign currently for the latest models in their stable.
Saab is going to provide the base infrastructure for the project with some Test Cars and their obvious technical expertise.

It is an amazing concept and deserves the support of all the motoring organisations, every Government and every Motorist. The initial stage of the project consists of an expected 140 bioethanal pumps at ten specially selected locations which will include 8 Cities, 6 of which are European…Stockholm, Dublin(yippee!), Madrid, Rotterdam, La Spezia, Baskia, and Nanyang in China and Sao Paulo in Brazil. In addition there has been included the Bio Fuel innovating Country Sweden and believe it or not the County of Somerset in England known for its strange accent and massive Cider production. Maybe one day in the distant future loading up with a bootful of apples might get you through a couple of days of motoring?

Who is producing this fuel? Well, Sweden naturally, Brazil, Holland (they have always been very innovative) Great Britain and wait for it …Ireland! With major contributions coming from Universities in China (Tsinghua); Sweden (Umea); Italy (Genoa) and U.K (Imperial College)

What the heck does Bioethanol do when it’s at home? Well the beneficial effect is that during driving the amounts of CO2 emissions are counterbalanced by the removal of Co2 from the atmosphere by the crops that are grown to produce it. A fascinating concept and one that will gain momentum I am sure in the months and years ahead.
Going back to SAAB it is a great credit to them that already nearly 5000 vehicles have been sold that are powered by this new technology and it shows that something as Eco friendly as BioEthanol can take on a life of its own given the right infrastructure .The Green movement has long been regarded as a fringe group and viewed with suspicion by the masses much like the Anti Nuclear, Ban –the Bomb campaigners throughout the Sixties. At that time Chernobyl was twenty years in the future. Any concerned citizen should view this ground breaking BEST project as certainly the best thing since the Internal Combustion Engine (I nearly said sliced Bread!)

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We all have our views on that most unfriendly and hideous looking of gas guzzling machines. Personally I think they should all be banned or at the very least the intending purchasers of such monstrosities should be forced to take so me additional Eco- friendly and Socio-friendly courses followed by a Driving Test concentrating on courtesy to other Road Users.

The small number of genuine usage-need drivers of this type of vehicle are far outweighed by the attention seekers and wealth flaunters in the community. Of course a good deal of these vehicles are cavorting in the building Industry which continues to boom relentlessly, fuelling yet more Sherman –Tank like legions on every road in the country.

There is a very excellent post about the Subject across the Atlantic which has attracted a mountain of comments so head on over to http://www.autoblog.com/2006/01/19/suv-owners-someones-on-yourside/ by Stuart Waterman and read to your hearts content!

The actual facts about the safety record of these vehicles I am sure would fill more than a book or two; my concern primarily, as always, is the driving style of any particular road user which often matches his or her vehicle in a disproportionate ratio to that of the cost of said machine!

Enough Said????? Well not really….due to the ever increasing absolute necessity of replacing a perfectly good vehicle every year or so instead of getting the best out of your buck there are more and more of these contraptions being offered on the second hand market and are now finding their way onto the roads with beginner or novice drivers behind the wheel! Not a good omen for the future methinks!

Astral Driving School Limerick.Learning to Drive with the Right Attitude!

Astral Driving School Blog …. “Arrive Alive”…

Astral Wordpress Blog……… ”Motorvating”

Hellhound on my Trail……. ”Our New Blues Blog”

What are the main costs associated with owning and running a car?

(1) If on Hire purchase or a Personal Loan, then your main payment will be to service that loan. This is going to be a heavy outlay if the Car is relatively new.

(2) Next comes Insurance, which as we all know takes a second mortgage to fund.

Quite likely this could be annually more than the Car is worth if it’s seven or eight years old and you are a first time Male driver.

(3) Road Tax is something that we have no control over, the bigger the engine capacity the greater the cost.

(4) National Car Test. This came in five years ago and now requires cars of three years and over to be tested every two years. Current cost of the Test is €49.00.

(5) These are the fixed costs that have to be paid whether you drive the car or not.

(6) A hidden fixed (well not so fixed) cost is that of Depreciation. Whether you drive the car or not it will be silently losing its value while you sleep. After the first hit which is the biggest; when you drive your car out of the showroom, the annual depreciation will be approximately the same. For the average car about €1200 per year depending on the mileage you clock up. The first years’ hit will be maybe two to three times this figure.

(7) Now we can talk about the running costs which will obviously depend on the mileage you do; how you drive; the type of roads you most commonly drive on.

(8) Fuel comes next and while Diesel was cheaper until recently there is not much between Petrol and Diesel in Ireland currently. However it does pay to shop around and find a reliable Garage that is competitive. One of the key parameters in choosing a Filling Station is whether or not they maintain all their essential services adequately. We are talking about Tyre pressure Gauge, Water and Car wash and Paper Towels for cleaning you up after you have checked your tyres!

(9) Servicing should be done on a regular cycle according to your Manual and your actual Mileage. Cars vary but the trend with all newer cars now is for a much longer service cycle sometimes as high as 20.000miles for certain engines. Service costs cannot be calculated that accurately prior to your Car arriving for its appointment since invariably there will be additional things to be attended to or spotted by the Garage once the Car is up on the hoist. Good Garages will of course not proceed with any major work that was unforeseen without your go-ahead. This could mean bringing the car back for a second visit on another day. The price for a basic service is readily available and quite often displayed in the reception area.

(10) Tyres come next and must be looked after and checked very regularly
.Again it’s difficult to predict when you will need to replace since a tyre there are many factors in tyre wear. A good careful driver who keeps an eye on the tyres and any unusual wear patterns should get at least 20.000 miles out of a set and probably more. Switching the tyres round periodically will even out the wear since the front tyres wear out at a much more rapid rate than the rears; due to the fact that the front tyres do all the work and in addition have to support all the weight of the Engine and Transmission.

(11) Accident repairs costs are an unknown quantity but will be heavy and major mechanical replacements will stretch the bank balance as well. An example of just how expensive it is to run a car is our own bill for four trips into the Garage in just a little over two months…€2000.00 As well as the bill we are talking about approximately three full days off the road so you need to have suitable other profitable activities line up for these situations.

That’s enough to be getting on with now go and earn some money to pay for it all!

Astral Driving School Limerick.Learning to Drive with the Right Attitude!

Astral Driving School Blog …. “Arrive Alive”…

Astral Wordpress Blog……… ”Motorvating”

Hellhound on my Trail……. ”Our New Blues Blog”

Today’s post after a long lay off is a letter to an excellent Craftsman who along with several others runs an amazing Craft Shop in Ennis Co.Clare.

I was very fortunate to stumble on this Gem of a shop last Thursday while giving My Trusty Steed it ’s annual makeover outing to the Garage.In other words this is not just another load of ramblings but a serious attempt at turning my Car (steed) into something respectable for the New Year and to ensure that my Motoring over the Holiday season goes off WITHOUT A BANG!
I have Western Garages Ltd (Main VW Dealership) to thank for their fantastic expertise and excellent service over several weeks. It’s worth pointing out that this is the third time in a month that the (Bavarian Princess)..acknowledgement to Killian of the Motors Supplement of the Irish Times) has been in the “Garage”. No bumps or scrapes in case you are wondering…just routine servicing but of course nothing routine about the PRICE.
This month has seen €1500 Euro disappear as if by magic from my already perilous account.

We are planning an extensive “How much does it really cost to run your Car” article shortly.The results will surprise you especially if you are running your first car. Here’s the e-mail…..
”
Hi Remi,

Thanks for your time last Thursday. I expect you were glad when I departed! Had a great day and had the most wonderful service everywhere I went which is really refreshing. I definitely will have to shop in Ennis more often.

In fact virtually all my stops were in Parnell Street.The Photographic shop, your Craft shop; Patrick Bourkes Menswear; the Bedlinen Speciality Shop, The Watchmakers, and even O’Briens Sandwich Bar. Even my Car loved it now it has a brand new set of Brake Discs!

The Web’s best and fastest growing Article Directory is run by Christopher Knight who is an amazing Professional and he is all of about 37 years old!
The Directory URL is:-
http://www.ezinearticles.com

My special page with all my articles to date is:-

http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Robin_Piggott (note no WWW)

The best ways to create some traffic to your Web Site are with a Blog (web-Log) to which you “post” articles and comments on a very regular basis, particularly when you are starting off.. say the first three months. My Blog is now six months old and is helping to create a profile and an expert status in my chosen field. I am told that it will take about 6 months and quite a lot of “posting” before you will see results. In each blog post you can create live links to your web site or to any other web site that you feel would be of interest to you readers. There are many Blog Directories including several specialist Irish Directories that publish your current posts shortly after you make them. This also helps you to be seen and directs traffic to your site. Go to http://www.blogger.com to set up your free Blog.
I have subsequently set up a second blog at blogs.ie which utilises the “Wordpress” Blog Software which is superior in my view. I will be shortly setting up a wordpress blog on my own Hosting account which I recently set up. If you have a spare Domain name I would be very happy to host your Blog/website for you for free for a few months ( I have a re-seller account) For example “RemiCornuWoodTurningMagic.com” The wordpress blogging software is free.

Now onto Article Marketing …it has for some time been flavour of the month to write and submit articles in your chosen field or fields to Article Directories. You are usually allowed to include an “Authors Biography (brief) together with two live website links. This then drives traffic to your website / Blogs and will enhance dramatically your web site traffic and search ratings since Web site owners are allowed to use your content on their Web sites/Blogs PROVIDING that the article is retained completely without changes and that your live links are retained.

Here’s an exercise for you to evaluate the techniques and see what can be achieved:-

Type in the following search to GOOGLE “First Steps for the Learner Driver” and see what comes up.

Also try “Limerick Driving Schools” and “Driving Test Tips”. You will see that my articles and blog posts are showing very well. All of this has been a big experiment for me in preparation for taking control of my Web Site and launching some new “Niche ” sites. Yes article writing is quite time consuming initially but the search Engine results in just a few weeks are staggering.

Let me know how you get on Remi and if I can be of any further help in developing your Web presence please ask. You yourself have a fantastic niche to work in and I am convinced, with some hard work you could do very well on the Web and work to your own standards. There are many niche web sites making a fortune. I am not saying that Money is everything in life (not at all) but it would be nice not to have to worry about the bills that most people spend their lives worrying about.

I will see you hopefully before Christmas. Let me know if you are having a Closing down sale!

Very Best Wishes

Robin Piggott
http://www.astralmotoring.ie
http://astralmotoring.blogspot.com
http://astraldrivingschool.blogs.ie
http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Robin_Piggott ”

For those of you who might be looking for that something special as a gift for Christmas why not give the “Clare Craft and Design Shop” in Parnell St. Ennis Co.Clare a call or email them at

clarecraft.ennis@eircom.net

they have an astonishing array of handmade crafts from Woodturnings to Quilts to Dried Flower arrangements nicely framed and other wall hangings and pictures.Apart from Remi’s salad bowls in beautiful and unusual woods he has a range of Clocks which make a practical and beautiful present .I am looking at one right now .

Happy Shopping and Safe Driving

Astral Driving School Limerick.

Astral Driving School Blog …. “Arrive Alive”…

Astral Wordpress Blog……… ”Motorvating”

Listening to a contributor to yesterday morning’s broadcast on Limerick 95fm on saving and conserving energy prompts me to give my slant on the same subject as it relates to Driving.
There are many ways to conserve energy and save money when Driving. We are primarily concerned with getting a better fuel consumption from each tankful.

(1) Let’s start with my favourite subject…Tyres. Under inflated Tyres enjoy a greater friction with the road leading to greater gas usage for each kilometre travelled. As well as this they wear out much more rapidly, give a rougher ride, particularly on Irish rural roads. Over inflated tyres also wear out rapidly and unevenly leading to more frequent replacement. Good for the tyre shop but not for you! Oh yes a soft tyre will pick up foreign bodies much more easily, leading to further replacement and expense.
(2) An untrained Right Foot is a leading cause of excessive expenditure during all driving activity. Accelerating too hard, braking too hard, and driving too fast in general all contribute to excessive fuel usage and the corresponding increase in noxious emissions.
(3) The speed for optimum fuel consumption has been recognised over the years to be 55mph or approximately 90kph. As you increase your speed above this level your fuel consumption increases dramatically.
(4) A poorly tuned engine will also use an excessive amount of fuel so the money spent on proper professional servicing will repay you in the end although at the time it may seem expensive.
(5) Open windows and sun roofs contribute to drag and an increase in fuel consumption but clearly you can’t drive safely if you are about to expire from heat exhaustion. Thankfully not something we experience too often here in Ireland.
(6) Carrying piles of rubbish in either the cab or the boot of your car will increase your fuel consumption steadily over time so give your boot a make over every so often and clear it out of all but the essentials.
(7) One more point about tyres. If you are carrying extra passengers and luggage, even for a short journey you should increase the tyre pressures. This will give a smoother, safer ride for all concerned and avoid excessive tyre wear. This latter point is particularly relevant if you are planning on rural driving since you will have to deal with an especially Irish phenomenon, that of potholes. Sometimes these are as big as a garden pond and will damage your underside easily, not to mention the ecological impact of disturbing the resident fish, frogs and other amphibians.
(8) Since we seem to be constantly exposed throughout the country to major road works, which is an admirable activity from a safety perspective, you should always switch off your engine if there is going to be more than a minor delay. Sitting for several minutes with the engine running wastes a lot of fuel and puts more greenhouse gas into the atmosphere than need be.

We will continue tomorrow with our mini series on Driving Test Preparation.

P.S. Thank you to the two bloggers who contributed comments yesterday.
(1)We have been experimenting with Wordpress for a couple of weeks now and will eventually transfer all our content to the ”MotorVating” Blog. For those who should have gone to Specsavers!
http://astraldrivingschool.blogs.ie

Astral Wordpress Blog……… ”Motorvating”

(1) Check your Oil every week or every 500 miles. You can top up to the Max when the level reaches half way to Min. This will usually take one litre.

(2) Keep an eye on your Calibrated Coolant Temperature Gauge a slight rise in the Red Needle indicates a coolant leak which is probably a drip /drip type of leak. This can get steadily worse and lead to a catastrophic cooling system failure (and a big repair bill)

(3) Use fifth gear when you reach 60KPH it will save a lot of fuel and that is getting very expensive now due to the Oil crisis.

(4) Keep your tyres a peak pressure .Incorrectly inflated Tyres are unsafe and create drag leading to excessive tyre wear and extra fuel usage.

(5) A flickering Alternator Warning Light indicates a loose or slipping drive belt. Get it tightened immediately or your battery will suffer.

(6) Ease off your Gas pedal in good time when you know you are going to have to slow down or stop .Using the brakes at the last minute wastes fuel and there is always the chance of being rear-ended by Drivers that are following you too closely or on the phone and thinking about things other then Driving .

Just a quickie Today… Safe Driving

Astral Driving School. Limerick .Ireland

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Contribute to our Learner Driver and Driving Test Tips Forum at Startpage.ie

A follow up to yesterday’s post about tyre care. We will have a look at some simple equipment that will enable you to take really good care of your rubber.
One investment I have found to be absolutely invaluable over the years is a small compressor, which will run off the cigarette lighter. This piece of kit will enable you to check your tyres when they are cold, before your drive, and will give you an accurate reading. Checking tyres that are hot is inaccurate.

Utilising this little angel will establish if you have a nail in your tyre otherwise known as a slow puncture. A tyre with a nail through the Tread will lose approximately 6psi overnight which roughly equates to 20% of the required pressure. So if you notice a drop of this degree overnight, having previously checked the tyre then you should get straight to your Tyre Shop

If you decide to change your tyre and you live some distance from Tyre Heaven (your local expert) then there is the chance that you could be stranded if you happen to pick up a second puncture on the way .Its happened to me many times over the years picking up two punctures in a day or even within two hours.

In the winter months particularly, with soft grass verges, it’s often difficult to raise the car on the jack after a puncture, due to the weight of the car. A small plank of wood about a foot long (30cms) will provide the necessary support to raise the car without it continually sinking.

Finally a useful additional tool is a cast iron cross-over wheel brace which will remove the most stubborn of wheel nuts, particularly if they haven’t been removed for a while or have been over tightened in the tyre shop with a gun. I have had my own brace now for twenty five years and they last forever. With one of these babies you can help another Motorist out of trouble quite easily due to the four different socket sizes which will fit all cars. White Knights here we come!

Astral Driving School

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Contribute to the Learner Driver and Motoring Forum at Startpage.ie

Basically there are three parts to a tyre. The Tread; The Sidewall; and the Tyre Pressure.

Starting with the pressure; it is essential that you know what the correct setting for your particular tyre is and that you check them regularly. Every week or every 500 miles (800 kms).The correct pressures can be found in your Owners manual or if this is missing then have a look inside your fuel filler cap. Since many Garages seem to have great difficulty in maintaining all their forecourt equipment, the best option is to invest in your own little compressor which will work from your cigarette lighter connection. You can then check your tyres when they are cold, which gives you a true reading and spot irregularities easily. I gave up driving miles to my regular Petrol Station years ago because the air line and the car wash were constantly out of action .Garages take note!

The Tread depth is an important consideration for all drivers. First you have the legal limit which is??? . Worth pointing out here that tyres on the legal limit are 85% worn out so do your math and have a guess at what sort of adhesion you have while driving. In the dry you may be ok but in the wet you will be in a perilous condition. So remember my phrase ………..”Legal but Lethal“
Tyres wear at a different rate depending on which axle they are on. What does this mean? Well, since the front wheels do all the work and support the heaviest part of the car, the power plant, aka Engine, the front tyres wear out twice as quickly as those at the rear .A useful tip here is to switch the tyres round periodically to even out the wear. Your tyre shop will do this for you when you are in getting a puncture repaired, your wheels balanced or tyres replaced .Remember your best tyres should always be at the front.

The Sidewall of the tyre is the most vulnerable since it is often in contact with the Kerb, potholes and other nasties. The depth of the sidewall is quite thin hence it’s very easy to destroy a tyre by thumping a kerb so keep your distance. A regular check on the sidewall for cuts splits and bulges is important and if you find any of these then you should replace the tyre immediately.

All of these checks form part of the new Technical Check questions you will be asked on the Irish Driving Test. So get used to becoming an Informed and Aware, Learner Driver, instead of an Air Head!

Safe Driving and Pump up de Volume ( sorry Pressure)
Astral Driving School Limerick

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