Side View Mirror Positioning

How To Correctly Position the Side-View Mirrors

I hear people complain about blind spots all the time. There are thousands of accidents every year where someone did not see someone else in their blind spot and then those people just had a very expensive meeting.

I have found that most people adjust the side-view mirror to see the side of their own vehicle. THIS IS NOT WHAT THEY ARE THERE FOR! THE MIRRORS ARE THERE TO SEE OTHERS NOT YOURSELF!!

First make sure that your main rear-view mirror is properly adjusted.

Start by positing the side mirrors on the vertical axis so that a vehicle or other objects will appear in the middle of the mirror.

Now, for the horizontal axis, you will need to position it as follows. I like to start with the left side (driver’s side).

You will want to watch as a vehicle approaches and passes in the lane to your left. As you watch in your main rear-view mirror, just as it goes out of view and into your “blind-spot” It should immediately start to appear in your side-view mirror. As this passing vehicle is continuing to pass, it should start to disappear from the side-view mirror just as its coming into view out of the corner of your eye. This virtually eliminates your “blind-spot” on that side of your vehicle. You might adjust what seems a long way outward and away from seeing any part of the driver’s side of your vehicle. (Remember the mirrors are there to see others not yourself.)

You basically repeat this procedure for the right side (passenger side). In this mirror I find that you will often just barely see the side of the vehicle in the inside edge of the mirror.

Notes: You Should Always Glace Over Your Shoulder Before Changing Lanes.

Sorry for the Vacation

Well this and my other blog will hopefully start seeing more action again. I recently moved and it took awhile to get the new ISP setup.

It is finally working now. So now I just need to come up with content worthy of blogging about.

Thats all for now!!

Tire Safety

Do you know if your tires are safe?
Do you know what to look for?

If you answered “No” to either, then let me help.

Fortunately, tires can speak volumes about their condition as long as we can decipher what they are saying.

Tread depth is how most people will tell if a tire is at the end of its life. This is only one possible symptom to diagnose a tires condition. Tires start with many different tread depths so saying what tread depth you should have at any given point is useless. The issue is when your tread depth gets low. Most experts will declare your tires “bald” at 2/32nds of an inch of remaining tread depth. Several states that do vehicle inspection will fail your inspection if your tires are at or below this point. At this point your tires are unsafe and will not provide adequate traction. It is very simple to measure the depth of your tires. You can simply stick a penny, Lincoln’s head in first, into the tread and if the tread goes above the top of his head you are still above 2/33nds of an inch, if not, then replace tires asap. There are also “wear bars” that are molded into the tread so you can know that you are at the 2/32nds level. Another way is to get a tread depth gauge available at any auto-parts store for a few bucks. This tool will tell you the exact depth of your tread. I recommend that you consider replacing once you get to 4/32nds of an inch and must replace at 2/32nds. I also recommend that you replace in pairs (front pair or rear pair). You also want to make sure that the tread is wearing evenly. If not this will effect the life of your tire. Uneven or unusual wearing can point to other problems with your vehicle such as alignment or proper inflation as I previously mentioned.

Many tires come to the end of their life long before the tread is all gone. “So how can you tell,” you ask? There are a couple things to look for.

Age is another thing that can lead to unsafe tires. Tires should be replaced at around 6 years of age regardless of the remaining amount of tread. Tires all have a code stamped on them from the factory that gives its week and year of manufacture. So 6 years after this date is when you need to replace tires. If you recently purchased new tires it would be worth checking how old they were when you got them. Sometimes you are not getting brand new tires when you think you are. So check that date code. Its on the sidewall and you may have to look on the side facing the car rather than the side facing out for the world to see.

In the photo below I show this date code which is the last part of the DOT CODE. The first 2 digits represent the week of the year and the second 2 digits the year. In the picture this tire was made in the fist week of 2008.


Checking for signs of distress is will also let you know how safe your tires might be. Cracking anywhere along the sidewall and especially where the side wall and the tread meet is a sign of a tire gone bad. Any other deformities you can see in the tires such as bulges, blisters, cuts, and gouges should be replaced immediately.


I wanted to post this information now and I hope to this return to this post with some photographic aids on some examples of tire defects I mentioned above.

Product Review - ScanGauge II

I have been using a ScanGauge II 3-in-1 Compact Multifunction Vehicle Computer with Customizable Display by Linear Logic for a couple of years now and want to share what a great product it is.

1. Its a scan tool.
2. Its a collection of gauges.
3. Its a Trip Computer.

The Scangauge plugs into your vehicles OBD-II port (On-Board-Diagnostics-2 port.) This the interface to your vehicles computer. Its on all vehicles made after 1996. This devices is able to do many things.

As a scan tool it can tell you the error codes to diagnose vehicle problems. Basically, it tells you why the check engine light came on. It also has the ability to clear out the codes (turn off the cel). once you have fixed the problem.

As a collection of gauges it can give the user feed back on a host of different parameters up to 4 at once. a few include GPH (Gallons Per Hour), MPG (Miles Per Gallon), Coolant Temp, Engine RPM, Speed, and several others. While this device does not directly improve fuel economy, having the feedback on GPH and MPG will help monitor your behaviors that can improve your fuel economy. as they say "Knowlege is Power."

As a Trip Computer it provides data on such things like MPG average for a trip, day, current. It also provides max readings for temperature, RPM and speed.


The scangauge is quite small and easily readable with customizable backlight to match your vehicle's lighting scheme. Its also very easy to take from vehicle to vehicle if you have more than one (as long as it was made after 1996. Double check documentation for vehicle specifics.)

You can mount it just about anywhere where you can still easily see it. I choose to mount it directly in front of me on the steering column.

Fuel Economy – Driving Behaviors

Fuel Economy – Driving Behaviors

I mentioned in an earlier post that driving behaviors can be the cheapest and most effective way to improve your fuel economy.

There are several behavior changes you can make behind the wheel that will help save on your gas budget. A lot of these tips work together.

1. Use a feather touch on the gas and break pedal. Accelerate and decelerate slower.


2. Look ahead. The further you look ahead the more you can anticipate what might occur and you can make small corrections keeping your speed more consistent and changes in speed more gradual. This has more than a fuel saving benefit, its also keeps you more aware of your surrondings and therefore safer.
   


3. Don’t Drive Angry! Driving angry will not allow you to accomplish item #1.


4. Slow Down. Give yourself more time and slow down. Now don’t slow down so much that you become a hinder to the flow of other traffic. Stay within the speed limit and no more than 10 mph over of under the flow of traffic. I try not to go ever go over 65 mph on trips except for brief periods when trying to pass someone. You can usually get way better mileage between 60-65 mph than you can at 70-80 mph.


5. Don’t Idle so much! If you hit a red light you know to be a longer wait say 30 sec or more kill the engine. If you are waiting to pick someone up from a home, school, work, shopping center, or anyplace else shut off the engine. Engine running and car not moving is always ZERO mpg.


6. Some people will use “Drafting” or “Tailgating,” as your ticket from law enforcement might say, to increase their mileage. While effective in getting better fuel economy, ITS VERY, VERY DANGEROUS AND ILLEGAL. SO DO NOT DO IT! Please use a safer method above. Your life or the life of someone else is not worth the possibility of saving a few bucks of gas.