Maintaining your Car Wipers

Wipers are an integral part of a car and are extremely useful during rains and whenever we need to wipe the dust and muck settled on our car's windshield. Everyone loves to pull the wiper switch near the steering wheel and see water squirt with full force onto the windshield while the wiper cleans the windshield.

I realized the importance of wipers when it started to rain all of a sudden whilst i was driving and my wipers refused to budge in spite of me pulling on the friggin wiper switch as hard as i could . I couldn't see a thing and had to pull over to the side and wait for the rains to stop.Later, i found out that the pesky rats had bitten off the wiper wiring ! More on how to stop rats from screwing with your car here.

The wipers are always subjected to a lot of wear and tear. The hot sun especially in a country like India wears out the rubber on the wipers.As also , usage of wipers during the monsoon season causes a lot of wear and tear. And when a stream of dust mixed with water coming from the tires of the car in front of you  settles on your windshield that's when most of the wear occurs. I have experienced this many times, for example you are driving on the highway and all of a sudden it starts to rain heavily. A jet of muddy water from the car in front of you keeps shooting at your car's windshield.When your wiper works on cleaning this! you can imagine its plight.So,bottom line you have to take care of your car wipers !

Let me discuss a few wiper problems and how to resolve them :

1. Water not getting completely wiped or Streaks of water still left

In this case your wiper blade must be worn out or your car windshield might be really very dirty.
Try changing your wiper blade and cleaning your windshield with a light soap solution.If you are not using any wiper solution and simply plain water , I recommend you to use one. Ask your car service as to which is the best wiper solution and use it .

2.Water Beads that Simply Wont Vanish

Beads are usually easy to clean away but somehow these beads stay "put" to your windshield.This problem occurs in areas with high pollution.The residue and muck in the polluted air causes these water beads to stay stuck to the windshield.

Give your windshield a thorough cleaning to make sure no residue is left. Use an effective windshield cleaning solution to remove all the sticky residue. I recommend all of you to make use of 3M Car Care Products they are one of the best in the world.I have been using 3M car care products since almost 3 years now.

3.Chattering Noise

The Chattering Noise that comes from your car wiper is really annoying isnt it ! The noise might be due to oil and grease settled on your windshield but its rarely because of this reason.The main reason for wiper chattering is because of a bent wiper arm.

You must see that the wiper blade is in full contact with the windshield and the blades are parallel with the windshield. If not, use a plier to twist the wiper arm so thats it parallel to the windshield.

Wiper Problems will seldom occur if you :

1.Replace wiper blades at regular intervals.

2.Use an effective wiper fluid instead of plain water in your wiper tank.

3.Treat your windshield with a water repellent.

Picture Perfect

I would love to share some fotography with my car on the outskirts of mangalore

Traffic in India

Enough with the car care stuff, people in India need to care about the way they drive ! If you travel across our country you will find that traffic only gets from bad to worse and from worse to worst! I live in the city of Mumbai where the traffic is bad but then i went to Pune to find out that the traffic is worse ! and then i went further south to notice its a fucking circus over there!!


Unnecessary honking ,changing lanes at will ..are we racing at the Budh International Circuit or what!.Everyones in a hurry over here. And if you are a foreigner and want to drive here in India let me give you a tip : Dont stop at a red light the other drivers will honk you to death , coz nobody stops at a signal.The government is actually stupid to install so many traffic signals across the country ! it just consumes electricity thats it ,has no value.On a serious note, traffic is indeed a very serious problem here.Most people blame the narrow and pot hole filled roads but I feel otherwise. Roads do pose a problem but I highly doubt that the traffic problem will be solved if we give these rat basterds good roads, they will still drive like fucking idiots and again create a nuisance.

Let me share an experience:
I was once on my way to Mangalore from Mumbai and I was travelling on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway.The Mumbai-Pune expressway is one of the finest roads in India. I was travelling at around 100 km/hr and when all of sudden a huge SUV crossed the short divider onto my lane from the other side of the road.I banged on the brakes real hard and managed to stop the car. The driver of the SUV coolly drove past me wrong side on the the expressway as if nothing happened.Hence my point good roads not a solution !

What our country needs today are strict traffic rules and good drivers.Getting a traffic licence in India is easier than taking a walk in some park.I scoff at the words written on the cover of my drivers licence "Driving is a privilege and not a right".I suggest you need to have a tough drivers test as opposed to the current "walk in the park drivers test" where most of the times there is no test at all.I remember the day when my dad had his drivers test and he was all prepared with all the traffic rules, the signs and was looking forward to his driving being judged by the traffic inspector. Sadly, to his surprise there was no test at all.It was like they were distributing free licences like festive sweets! No wonder people drive like retards here!

Rules and regulations can be best imbibed in a person during his childhood.I strongly believe that the RTO and the schools must come together to organize traffic workshops, I remember participating in one when i was 10 years old , where there are cars with peddles which kids can drive, the aim being driving in a lane and stopping at a red light.And this workshop exercise must be a serious thing like part of the curriculum for the kids.There are workshops like these especially in schools located in the south of Mumbai but they are more like a fun event.There has to be a certain degree of seriousness associated with such an event otherwise children wont understand the main purpose behind these workshops making it a waste of time and money.


You stay in a foreign country and  get used to their organized way of driving and later when you come back to India you feel like you are being punished .Its not that India cant be like the other developed countries but the sad part is nobody cares here! Or let me put it this way people like playing car games real time rather than the playing it on their computer.However over the past decade the quality of life has improved , the literacy rates have gone up and a new brand of indians are out on the prowl who seek quality in their lives and . Its just that this new brand must come to the fore take on the challenges and problems amidst us and redeem the pride and self respect our country once had.

How to get reduce fuel consumption

Hey there folks,

You guys must be dying to get some tips on improving fuel efficiency especially if you belong to a country called India where it seems the cost of fuel is soon going to overtake that of gold.If we wish to avoid using the public transport which is horrible in itself we better learn some facts on improving fuel efficiency.

1. Avoid rapid acceleration and sudden braking.The more you press the gas peddle higher will be the RPM causing lot of stress on the engine, consuming lot of fuel.Similarly,sudden braking also consumes fuel because when you accelerate to travel around 300 meters and brake within 100 meters you end up wasting fuel.


2.Accelerate gently ,shift to the topmost gear and maintain a constant speed.The most recommend driving configuration is progressively shifting to the fifth gear and maintaining a speed between 80 kms to 100 kms which is the "speed region" for the maximum fuel efficiency in cars.


3.Avoid frequent changing of gears and keeping a foot on the clutch.While waiting at a red light avoid keeping the clutch pressed.


4.Shift to a top gear as swiftly as possible and come down to a lower gear when required.


5.If you are waiting at a red light for more than 20 seconds it is advisable to turn off the engine.

6.Last but not the least service your vehicle at regular intervals.Servicing will keep the engine well lubricated lessening friction and thereby maintaing proper mileage.If you dont service your vehicle at regular intervals then the friction between moving parts will be high, drawing more fuel and if you continue that way for long your car will drink more fuel than an alcoholic !! and eventually you will have to send it to rehab , which will cost you quite a fortune.By the way the emissions will also be under check if you service regularly.




I would like to share an interesting thing about Mahindra cars like the Scorpio which comes with Micro Hybrid technology.It shuts off the engine when the car is stationary i.e when you stop at a red light you need to depress the clutch and put the car in neutral, the engine stops and when you select a gear by depressing the clutch again the engine starts !
Dunno why other car makers havent implemented this technology in India!! 


Always adhere to the following fuel economy speeds (Petrol cars) :

Gear	Speeds
1st Gear	10 kmph
2nd Gear	20-30 kmph
3rd Gear	30-50 kmph
4th Gear	50-70 kmph
5th Gear	70 onwards

But preferably keep the speeds between 80 kmph to 100 kmph for maximum fuel efficiency

Car Discounts this October

Hi Folks,

For all those of you who are planning to buy a new car this festive season i.e the months of October-November are in for a treat coz there are cool discounts offered from the various car manufacturers.

However, reports suggest that these discounts are primarily for the city of Mumbai .People living elsewhere don't make that sad face there might be discounts near your place too ! These reports are not true always, so Relax!

The car companies offering discounts are 

1. Maruti 

 One of the most popular cars by maruti "WagonR" can be yours with a cash benefit worth upto Rs 29,000.You can also use the exchange bonus and save upto Rs 25,000 more.Similarly, if your interested in the A-Star you get a cash benefit of Rs 25,000 and a further exchange bonus of Rs 25,000.

All the variants of the Alto 800 come with an exchange bonus of Rs 10,000.The LX,LXI variants come with a cash benefit of Rs 27,000 while VXI fetches you a discount of Rs 15,000.

2. Mahindra

You get a cash benefit of Rs 30,000 on the entire range of Scorpio.While quanto offers a discount of upto Rs 40,000.

Mahindra XUV on any of the variants offers upto Rs 30,000 while Xylo offers upto Rs 45,000.

Moreover, Mahindra has also launched the limited edition Scorpio range  500 units only.You can get that at a discounted rate too.

3. Chevrolet

The Chevrolet Cruze is offered at a discounted rate of around Rs 50,000.

4.Ford

The Ford Figo is available at cash or accessories benefit of upto Rs 40,000. The new Fiesta can be yours at a cash benefit ranging from Rs 40,000 to Rs 50,000 , while The Ford Fiesta Classic is offered at a cash benefit of an impressive Rs 60,000.

5.Honda

Honda is offering discounts on The Honda Accord.The discounts are upto 1.4 lakhs!!

6.Hyundai

The Hyundai most popular car The Hyundai i10 can be all yours at a cash benefit of Rs 40,000 while the Sonata offers a discount of upto 1.5 lakhs ! Tough competiton for the Honda Accord I must say !

7.Renault

The French car maker who has acquired quite a foothold on the indian car market with its impressive brand of cars offers a discount of Rs 50,000 to Rs 65,000 on the Fluence.

8.Skoda

Skoda is offering a cash benefit of upto Rs 1 lakh on the Yeti and the Superb.

9.Toyota

The liva hatchback is gonna take you home from the showroom at cash benefit of upto Rs 40,000. While the most loved MPV of India the Toyota Innova is available at a discount of upto Rs 40,000.

10.volkswagen

The volkwagen Passat can be all yours for a benefit of upto Rs 75,000.

Synthetic Oil vs Regular oil

Hello all ,

Today I am going to draw your attention to a very important question which I believe might have crossed your mind several times but you might not have researched  it to a great extent. Many of us just give our cars to the service station when a service is due and go for a regular oil change without giving much thought. I too did the same for 3 years , didn't care a damn about the type of oil I used just told the service people to change the oil that's it !  But then I learnt about synthetic oil and have been using it till date now.

Lets us look at the various differences between Synthetic and Regular oil with respect to their :

1. Chemical Composition.
2. Performance. 
3. Cost
4. Environmental Impact.

A detailed analysis of the above factors will clear your

1. Chemical Composition

Lets put in a very simple way

Synthetic Motor oil consists of chemical components which are artificially prepared.They contain chemically modified petroleum components rather than the whole crude oil.

On the other hand , Regular Motor Oil is derived from petroleum itself. It has no artificially prepared or modified components.

Here is an extract I found very useful :

"Conventional oils come from crude oil that is pumped from the ground. Crude oil is made up of a complex mixture of molecules that form chains and rings of different sizes and shapes. Long chains of carbon atoms produce a thick, viscous fluid that flows slowly. Shorter chains produce fluid that flows more readily.

In an oil refinery, crude oil is separated into various fractions. These become the basis for lubricating oils and fuels. Thick tangled masses of carbon chains become asphaltic materials used in roofing tar and road work. Very short chains and ring compounds of carbon are volatile and can be refined to produce gasoline and other products.

While petroleum refining is an advanced science, small amounts of contaminants, such as sulfur and reactive hydrocarbons, cannot be completely removed from petroleum, and may end up in motor oil base stocks.

All motor oils are made up of base oils and additives. In general, fully synthetic motor oils contain non-conventional, high-performance fluids. Synthetic blends usually use some non-conventional, high-performance fluids in combination with conventional oil."

2. Performance

We now come to the part which you all have been waiting for ! Yes , the performance.

In terms of performance synthetic oils have an advantage over regular oils and its been my own personal experience which I am going to share after i finish analyzing the differences. 

Why is synthetic oil better than regular oil:

• Synthetic oils are better and give enhanced performance because they are manufactured using advanced chemical process where their molecular structure and properties are closely controlled.
• They are less volatile than regular mineral oil.
• They are more resistant to heat and are protected from anti -oxidant additives easily.
• They are designed to flow easily at start up temperatures where most of the wear occurs.
• Less Sludge problems

All these advantages clearly improves engine performance resulting in better mileage, longer engine life and smoother drive.I have personally experienced all these changes when i switched from regular mineral oil to fully synthetic oil.

Having said that i suggest you to also take a look at the manufacturers recommendation of engine lubricants.Based on the engine design some car makers recommend regular mineral oil , most of them dont have a problem but neverthless please do check.

3. Cost

As mentioned earlier synthetic oil manufacture is a technology , its a smart process where the molecular structure of carbon compounds are controlled to obtain desirable properties .Hence it is much costlier than regular oil.Almost double the cost of mineral oil to be precise.

A normal 4 litre can of regular oil costs 1700 indian rupees and lasts for no more than 10,000 kilometers.

And a 4 litre can of synthetic oil costs 3600 indian rupess and lasts for no more than 25,000 kilometers.

So you guys can do the math here, so for cars with fairly less runnning and little wear i would go with the regular oil rather than conventional one.

4.Environmental Impact

From an environmental standpoint both types of oils are harmful as conventional oil is derived from petroleum and synthetic oils are derived from chemical compounds which are also no less harmful.

So, bottom line both have a significant impact however as synthetic oils lasts three to four times longer than the conventional ones you will end up dumping far less oil unless you are reusing it.

My story:

I switched from the conventional oil to fully synthetic oil in my SX4 and found a significant improvement. My mileage improved by 2 kilometers per litre , the drive was much smoother and was cost effective too. The oil lasted for 25,000 kilometers which was pretty impressive !! 

I will share two links which are pretty useful with respect to this topic

• link 1
• link 2

I would like to recommend a great great Book which has got so many amazing reviews by its readers called "Motor Oil For a Car Guy's Soul " by Kevin Clemens , it has 3 volumes 

            

Another Great book which I would like you all to read is "The Motor Oil Bible " by Michael Kaufman

As the name suggests it is The Bible for choosing the Right motor oil for your car and the knowledge you gain from it will help save you a lot of money.CLick below to take a look :

Keep rats out of your engine

Hi all once again,

Are you one of those guys who have had serious problems with rats screwing around with your engine, gnawing the insulation in wires and worst of all making a nest in the hood of your car. How frustrating it gets when you leave for work and your car wont start!! You then open the hood and lo and behold its like the rats had a crazy drunken party inside last night ! Wires strewn around everywhere ,bird feathers, trash and what not.

As if going to work wasn't frustrating enough you now have to call the local mechanic get it repaired, waste a lot of precious time and then leave with an annoying look on your face. This has happened to me like a thousand times and pissed me off like a million times. Once you get your car repaired you keep cursing these stupid rodents on your way to work ..really pissing off !

This Rat problem is indeed a serious issue because it can cost quite a bit ! Rats gnaw away at many things in your car.So if they gnaw the fuel line it will cause all fuel to leak and will cost you around Rs 2000-3000 minimum to get it repaired.They gnaw at tail lamp wires, head lamp wires ,ac wires with an utter disregard to the electronics in your car! And if they gnaw at the spark plug wire your car wont budge an inch.

The people who are most affected by this problem are people who live in rural areas and people who seldom use their car. For people who use their car like once a month don't be surprised to see a frigging rat Disney land opened under your hood

After all this venting of anger and frustration it is clear that prevention is the best cure. At least better than cursing the son's of bitches
Let me put forward the various methods people have used over the years to prevent this so called "Rat Attack" and then we can discuss each at length :

• Scattering tobacco powder in and beneath the hood of your car.
• Doing the same with Naphtha Balls.
• Placing an Ultrasonic Electronic Deterrent in the hood.
• Placing Adhesive Floor mats in and around your car.
• Cable covering exposed cables and wires

Scattering Tobacco powder:

This is one of the most common methods of protecting your engine from rats. It has proved to be effective in many cases. However, Tobacco is useful only so long as the smell lasts, so you need to keep changing after sometime or best some people tie a tobacco leaf , the smell lasts a bit longer.And dont worry about the smell of tobacco entering your car through ac vents ..it doesnt  ! You wont get poisoned by tobacco dont wry.

The same is the case with Naptha balls but Tobacco has proved to be better and far more effective than Naptha because Naptha evaporates in 2 days time growing smaller and smaller each day.

Ultrasonic Electronic Deterrent

For people having no luck with Tobacco and Naptha I recommend an Ultrasonic Electronic Deterent. These deterents are directly connected to your car battery and they emit high decibel ultrasonic waves between 20khz and 50 khz which keeps rodents at bay. Moreover it doesnt harm non rodent pets like dogs,cats.But a thing to note i wouldnt recommend this to people who seldom take their car out because one of my friends who installed this deterrent told me that when he took his car out after a week or so after installation found that the current drain of this equippment was high that the car wouldnt start and needed a jump start which forced him to disconnect the unit.I am in the search for good quality deterrents and as soon as i find one i will let u all know

Adhesive Floor Mats

This is one of the cheapest and effective methods.Its a simple Gluey Mat like thing easily available in almost all supermarkets. You place this beneath your car near the hood side and when rats or rodents come they get stuck to it real bad. Trust me the Adhesive on this mat is damn strong i have used it and got lucky just the next day itself !Caught two mice tryin to sneak in my hood . Should have taken a picture silly me ! Anyways try it 

Cable Covering 

This method involves covering the exposed and vulnerable wires with a cable cover. These are available in most of the electronic shops.This is also one of the best methods out there and its pretty easy too. You cable cover the wires and when our rodent "friends" enter they can't do much harm. But i doubt cable covering all the wires would be possible because there are a large number of wires in your hood running to different places some of which are far beneath. So i would recommend to cable cover the most crucial ones especially the spark plug and the fuel line wire so that at least the car can start ! 

So here i conclude my post on protecting your car from rodents 

I would like to share one last thing before ending this post , from an environmental stand point i dont endorse the use of rat poison to kill rats as it causes other problems like killing of birds, pet animals and also pollution.

To check my profile post Click here

Buy a Cool jaguar keychain

A car in need is a car indeed

Hi all , owning a new car is one of the best feelings you get especially if you live in a country like India where a car is a luxury and not a necessity like in other countries. You get attached to your car , you count on your car. Here's a story about me and my car

My name is Nikhil Bhat  and I am an electronics engineer by profession and a very avid car enthusiast. i currently own a Suzuki SX4 - the best car I have owned so far. I simply love it!! My father and I have driven almost lakhs of kilometers between us,almost 5 lakhs to be precise leaving aside the daily 120 kms we travel to and fro for office.

We have had some amazing road-trips over the years and I owe it all to my car.It has never betrayed us on any of our road-trips and has proved it's reliability over rugged Indian roads filled with potholes ! You know how Indian roads are!

Here's a pic of my car in The South Indian coastal city of Mangalore ,Karnataka which is about 1000 kms from Mumbai....

My interest for cars has been an ever evolving and growing process , Whenever i m stuck in traffic I look around at the various cars around me ,the way they look, manufacturer's logo, I try to recollect the features a particular model of a particular car has ! Its fun for me !

I learn something new daily which is what I am gonna share on this blog of mine ....You will come across many car care tips and tutorials.I am also going to throw light on many car accessories which have proved to be very useful for me.And lastly, reviews of popular and upcoming cars in india ! :D

So Stay Tuned For More.......