Archive for the ‘Automobile’ Category

Cash for Clunkers

An old car dropped in an industrial trash bin serves as a roadside advertisement for the Cash for Clunkers program at Battlefield Ford in Culpeper, Virginia, August 1, 2009. Americans flocked to auto dealerships this month to take advantage of government rebates for gas-guzzling "clunkers" and promptly drained the program's $1 billion in funding, leaving some prospective buyers in limbo.

My take on the Cash for Clunkers program is that anything assembled in the US should get the rebate.  Anything else should get minimal funding, maybe 50%.  Though, I must say, I think it’s doing a pretty good job at that already. 7 of the top 10 are assembled here. I have no clue on where the parts are coming from. I’d assume most everything is globally supplied at this point.

Autos made in the USA Has a list of where most of the cars are manufactured.

The Top 5 selling cars backed by CforC:

  1. Ford Focus – Wayne, MI
  2. Toyota Corolla – Fremont, Calif.
  3. Honda Civic – Greensburg, Ind.
  4. Toyota Prius -  Currently built in Japan and China, Soon to be Fremont, California due to it’s popularity.
  5. Toyota Camry  – Georgetown, Ky.; Lafayette, Ind.
  6. Ford Escape – Clayco, MO
  7. Hyundai Elantra – ???
  8. Dodge Caliber – Belvidere, IL
  9. Honda Fit -  ???
  10. Chevy Cobalt – Lordstown, Ohio

Now I guess we need to find out where that 1bil is coming from.

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Update on SilBlade Windshield Wipers

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I had a race this weekend and I came in dead middle. My class was running only 3 cars, I came in second. Everyone running consisted of roughly 100 people, I came in 50th. I hit no cones. It was pouring down rain half of my runs.

Luckily I had SilBlade. Even when the wipers weren’t on I had a relatively clear view in front of me. They seem to have some additive on the blades that bead up rain on the windshield.  I must say, I wasn’t too keen on this at first. However(and there is always a however in life) I fell in love with the beading rain, and the SilBlade, this week.

Normally when it rains, I have a thin layer of water streaming down my windshield. This is not good at high speeds when you need to see where you are actually going.  Even with a light mist, the ability to see out the windshield is greatly improved.

Now to the wiper. I say wiper because I purchased only one. What can I say, I’m cheap and I wanted to compare directly the difference. The SilBlade wiper glides smoothly over the windshield weather it’s wet or not. While my passenger side blade is chattering due to lack of lubrication, the SilBlade on the driver side is perfectly wiping the light mist away. That sold me on this blade instantly.

Get your SilBlade on Amazon

To give you an idea of what it was like sunday, here is a video of a fellow autocrosser…  And this was the dry part of the day.

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K&N air Filters

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I race autocross in St Louis. It’s great fun and I’ve really learned how to push my automobile to it’s limits. One thing( among many) it’s lacking, is power…

So when I started racing last year, I wanted an easy modification for under $100 to give me a little umph. I bought some cheap aftermarket ram air intake. Basically, That just made it sound cool. that’s about it.

Last weekend I put a K&N filter in place of the old filter…. Wow. The car runs better, Zero Hesitation, I can’t wait for the first race this year… See if I can actually beat someone this year :)

See photos of their Corporate HQ in Riverside, California that is nearly 400,000 square feet.

∞Buy K&N filters for your Auto.

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Wiper Blades – Right down my alley

21dxxsxd0dl_sl500_aa280_I’m big into cars, I like driving and racing(autocross).  5 year warranty wiper blades? Sign me up.

I especially love driving in questionable weather, it’s challenging and much more interesting.  However, my wiper blades never seem to last but a season.  Currently I have some el cheapo blades on my car, they are OK for now, but when I go to replace them this spring (before autocrossing season starts), Silblade will for sure be going on there. Silblades seem to be a great solution.

Buy Silblade from Amazon or buy Direct from Silblade

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