OEMs – Please No More Interior Chrome Trim

It refracts sunlight too well.

It’s morning or afternoon > sun comes in on an angle > bounces off chrome > into driver’s eye > and temporary blinds them

Happened to me 3 times in 1 week. It’s only half a second but it’s jarring and catches you off guard, and hopefully you don’t jerk the wheel when it does.

Not picking on Jaguar here, tons of manufacturers use it, and to all: please no more.

 

 

The Problem with Chinese Motorized Vehicles

They’re often cheaper, and come equipped with more features, like the below ATV that has disc brakes.

Sounds pretty great right?

Finding parts and repairing them is the problem.

Once it breaks, often the only solution is to replace the entire vehicle because finding Chinese replacement parts is difficult.

In the example above, that’s a broken axle, and the solution is either to weld it (won’t work) or drill, thread then bolt it (the torque will knock it loose right away.) So the owner is stuck.

My ATV is a hand-me-down from China, and same thing – the tires are bald, and finding new ones is like an Olympic event.

 

 

Last Chance to Summer Road Trip is Now

Road trips are guaranteed fun, adventure, and consistently yield one of _those_ stories… “hey remember that time we went to Wherever HAHA the best memories yup.”

Meet Michael Palmer, the “CEO of Family Travel.” The Calgarian has road tripped over 900,000 km, part of which is detailed his upcoming book, No Tranquilizers! 17,000 kms, 63 Days, 3 Kids, 1 Van 

He teamed up with Canadian Tire, so we had a good laugh on the phone, talked cars, and here’s his list…

Michael’s Top 3 Road Trip Tips

1 – Safety First

Have it serviced, check and inflate the tires, you know the drill.

2 – Find a Rhythm

Arriving at 11pm one night, then 6pm the next, that will tire you quickly. Be consistent, find a rhythm. Michael drove those 17,000 km in 6-hour per day increments.

3 – Keep it Clean

“Things can get out hand real quick, ” Michael says.  He points out food is always coming in and out of the vehicle, and you don’t want a rotting-grapes incident like he experienced, “organization is critical.”

Plus, if you have to brake hard and suddenly, you don’t want stuff taking flight.

Canadian Tire introduced Glovebox, a new line of auto storage solutions. I attended the media launch in January, there’s a good weight and handle to the fabric.

Or do a 24-hour trip, they’re great, here’s one I blogged.

We live in the best country in the world,
go explore it!

***

No money was exchanged for this post.

Canadian Tire introduced me, he’s a fun guy and I like his list so I blogged it. This post has been a beta test of my latest idea.

 

 

40 Thumbnails: Bet 1 gets a Laugh, 1 gets a Hmmm..

They’re thumbnails of random blog posts.

They’re not clickable sorry, to find the real post you’ll have to search.

The new blog theme will make it easier to find stuff. Got it picked out, it’s like this one but refreshed, updated. With a better mobile version… considering forcing the desktop view…

Think the colour theme will be green and gray with classic blue links.

Above top right though.

Below – the Pressing Play post needs a photo #p

If you’ve ever wondered what blogging is like, here’s the tag Blogging (42)

And if you’ve ever debated starting one, DO IT.

Can you dine out alone?

Auto security 40 years ago.

I used to think this was a good idea.