For those of you that are looking for some fun, aftermarket centercaps for your Dodge or Chyrsler car/truck, I found a place for you on the internet. One website that I found for the centercaps was Billettechnology.com.  They have all kinds of custom centercaps to buy if you are bored of the factory made centercaps that come with the vehicle and looking for more exciting ones.  Some choices of the aftermarket centercaps are Hemi, Skulls and Bones, and several others to choose from as well.  Then after you buy your aftermarket centercaps, you can go and get your aftermarket rims to really soup up your vehicle!     

According to an article at detnews.com by Eric Morath called “Lease woes sting automakers” Chase Auto Finance, one of the leaders in lease lenders as well as Chrysler Financial has already dumped leasing and more are on their way.  If you have leased a car/truck/SUV in the past, times are changing and so is leasing.  Yes, you can still lease a car from dealerships, but it’s going to get more expensive and harder to find a lender.  The reason being that automakers are having a harder time finding buyers for the used cars after the lease period is over and they end up taking a loss in the end.  Rumors have circulated that Ford Motor Co.will be raising their leasing prices on trucks and SUVs to the point of impractical.  Ford would not comment on these rumors, but it would make sense. Leasing is not making the money for these automakers as it was now that the automotive market is down the most it has been in 15 years.  

The luxury cars will not be pulling the leasing plug though. GM and Ford, which own Cadillac and Lincoln, lease upward of 75% of their new Cadillacs and Lincolns. If they got rid of leasing, this would shut down these high end vehicles.  Luxury cars are leased most of the time, so if you want a luxury car, you should have no problem leasing them. 

It makes sense for the banks to do away with leasing especially trucks and SUVs and are losing value alittle more each day the gas is over $4.00/gallon. Best bet would be to find a good deal on a fuel efficient car, buy it, and not worry about leasing anymore!

Have you ever heard of Minilite Wheels?  They were probably the most successful competition wheels of the 1960s and 70s.  It was originally developed for the new Austin “Mini” of it’s time, but soon became the wheel for race and rally cars. These minilite wheels are made in the UK. According to the minilite wheels website, they are “low pressure die cast, in high grade aluminium alloy, 100% pressure tested, and finally powder coated for maximum protection against the elements.”    Minilite wheels were originally made for race and rally cars, but soon they were being used for all road cars and and these wheels fit most historic and classic cars. 

According to their website, the Minilite Wheels are the only wheel available for the “serious Classic Car Enthusiast and Historic Racer.”   So, if you are looking for some minilite wheels, check out the website.

If you are in the market for a new car, GM is the company to get your car from until July 31st.  According to autoweek.com, GM is offering an extra employee discount through July 31st.  This means that any employee can give one discount to any one person to buy a new car.  An employee discount gives a person a substantial discount. For instance, the Buick Lucerne  has a sticker price of $34,200. With the employee discount the cost of the car would be $29,758.03.  That’s a nice savings!  Normally, the employee discount is only available to family members, but for the rest of this month it’s available to anyone.  So, if you know someone who works at GM, you need to contact them and get yourself a new car for less! 

According to an article on autoweek.com, Ford Motor Co. is going to be bringing several European products to the United States to try to stop the bleeding of the $8.7 billion loss in the second quarter.  The sales of pickup truck and SUVs continue to fall and have greatly hurt Ford and their business.  These “highly praised” European products will be made in the United States and made available in 2009 and 2010.

Here are the five new vehicles that Ford will be unveiling in the U.S. soon:

1.  Four and five door versions of the European Ford Focus that will be arriving sometime in 2010

2. Four and five door versions of the Ford Fiesta that will be arriving sometime in early 2010  

3.  A new Mercury small car arriving sometime in 2010

4.  The Transit Connect Van, arriving in mid-2009

5.  A new European “white-space” entry that rides on the Ford’s B-segment (Fiesta) or C-segment (Focus) platform that arrives in 2010. Details of this coming soon.

In addition, Ford is going to try to “green up” their trucks and SUVs to try to boost sales. The Explorer will be more fuel efficient by 25 %, and EcoBoost engines will be put in several models.

Hopefully, these changes will help improve Ford’s sales, so that they can get out of the red and back into the black soon, and help improve our economy.

Now that the gas price is so high for even regular gas, many people are asking if they can just use regular gas even though their owner’s manuals recommend premium.  According to an article by Roland Jones, an associate editor, on MSNBC.com, you need to check your owner’s manuals.  There are three differnt wordings that are used in owner’s manuals about gasoline usage; only regular gas is required, premium gas recommended, and premium gas required.  According to John Nielsen, director of AAA’s Approved Auto Repair and Auto Buying Network at the AAA, unless your car says premium required, you can get away with regular gas without doing any damage to your car.  If you use premium gas when only regular gas is required, there is no benefit to your car. If you use premium gas when it’s recommended, you will get better engine performance.  The only cars that really usually require premium gas are luxury brands such as BMW, Lexus, Mercedes-Benz, Audi, VW, and some Acuras.

If the car requires premium gas, that means that those cars are designed to run on premium and regular gas over a prolonged time could cause damage to the car.  If you use regular gas, in high altitudes and high temperatures the engine could “knock” and the engine could not perform as well. The knock sounds similar to marbles in an empty coffee can.  If you occasionally use regular gas instead of premium gas and your car has some knocking that’s ok, but it’s not ok for a prolonged time and could really hurt your engine.  

Premium gas is gas with a octane level of above 91. Regular gas has an octane level of 87.  According to this article, the author suggests that you use regular gas until you hear the knocking and then use premium gas for awhile. Another idea that was suggested to me was to alternate the gas. One fill-up use regular gas, and the next fill-up use the premium. That would save you alittle for sure on your gas bill over the course of a year.

The MirrorPilot

The latest technology in the GPS world is the MirrorPilot.  This MirrorPilot is a GPS navigator integrated into the rearview mirror made in Germany. The GPS size is 2.2 inches. You will no longer have to have the cables and suction cups that the other GPS systems have.  The cost is approximately $1000 and it gets installed in your car when you buy it.  The MirrorPilot includes “ANTARIS 4 Chipset with SuperSense, 2D and 3D maps, voice, and TMC” according to techno-angel.blogspot.com.  The only problem with the MirrorPilot is that it is currently only available in Europe with pre-loaded maps of European countries. No good for Americans, but hopefully it will be available in the United States soon.

A Tweel

Did anyone see the newest, latest technology for wheels?  According to techno-angel.blogspot.com,  the newest wheel, known as the tweel is an “airless, integrated tyre and wheel combination.”  No one will have to worry about air compressors, air valves, or flat tires.  These wheels are a long way off from the passenger car, but first they will be in iBot mobility devices and Segway’s Concept Centaur. These two vehicles will be able to increase their “performance potential” with the tweel.  The tweel is being studied to be used on construction skidsteers and some military vehicles in the future.

The maker of the tweel is Michelin.  According to Terry Gettys, the president of Michelin Americas Research and Development Center, “a new century has dawned and Tweel has proven its potential to transform mobility.  Tweel enables us to reach levels of performance that quite simply aren’t possible with today’s conventional pneumatic technology.”  The picture above of the tweel is shown on a Audi A4, in which Michelin says there is a “strong potential” to have the tweel on this car and others in the future.  If you want to see the tweel in action, watch this YouTube video….

According to an article on the American Lung Association website, says that diesel exhaust causing alot of air pollution.  Diesel exhaust consists of over 450 different components.  Over 40 chemicals in diesel exhaust are considered toxic air pollutants by the state of California.  Exposure to the mixture of these chemicals can cause cancer, asthma, and other health problems.  According to this article, “for the same load and engine conditions, diesel engines spew out 100 times more sooty particles than gasoline engines.”  As a result, diesel engines account for about 20% of total nitrogen oxide in outdoor air and 26% of the total nitrogen oxide from on-road sources.  Nitrogen oxide are a major contributor to ozone production and smog. 

Diesel exhaust is linked to several scientific studies on cancer, asthma, and other respiratory problems as well. 

The solution to less pollution is to use alternative fuel methods and try to stay away from diesel.

Everyone keeps talking about hybrids, but one thing that should be mentioned and more often is alternatives for fueling vehicles.  Some of the alternatives are electricity, ethanol, methanol, natural gas, and propane.  Each of these alternatives has advantages and disadvantages but they still produce less pollution than gasoline or diesel fuel.  According to an article by the American Lung Association,  the automobile is still the single biggest source of air pollution.  Air pollution can kill causing about 60,000 premature deaths per year, compared to 40,000 deaths associated with traffic accidents.   We obviously need to find ways to clean up the air that we breathe daily. 

These alternative fuels also reduce the need to import oil.  The United States uses about 25 percent of the world’s oil supply, but produces only 10 percent.  Most of the alternative fuels are produced in the United States, therefore creating more jobs for Americans and less dependence on foreign oil. 

Here is a list of the alternative fuels:

1. Electricity - the Environmental Protection Agency says that electric cars are the best way to reduce motor vehicle emissions in polluted cities.  electric cars can produce dramatically less pollution

2. Ethanol - a liquid alcohol fuel produced from biomass (trees, grasses, wastes), grain or other agricultural waste.  Cars made with ethanol are made up of 85% ethanol 15% gasoline. Ethanol produces less ozone forming compounds and toxic air pollutions. The downside is that mileage is reduced due to the lower energy content and it may be hard to start in extremely cold weather.

3.  Methanol - also called wood alcohol or methyl alcohol and is made from natural gas, wood, coal, or biomass.  it is also mixed with 15% gasoline for cars or light trucks. heavy trucks run on straight methanol.  Vehicles that run on methanol need special oil engine and need more frequent oil changes.

4.  Natural Gas - originates from the ground but could also come from biomass. it causes very low levels of pollution  but it is not convenient to refuel. buses, taxis, and police cars are more likely to run on natural gas. these vehicles have limited driving range.

5.  Propane -   usually used for bbq grills and heating homes, this could be used for vehicles.  the problem is that it has a short driving range and will be expensive as the demand increases.

To help the environment, people need to show interest in alternative fuels and try to find ways to lower air pollution.