Category: Car Protection

Car enthusiasts often replace the factory supplied standard wheel and tire set of their car to look different or sportier from the standard factory model. The safest way to clean your wheels is to use a wheel woolies.

If you want to give your car a new look and you are considering changing your tires, you need to decide first what kind of look you want for your car as well as their suitability. In addition, you will also need to decide the wheel size that you want to put on your car.

Do you want a different wheel size or the same wheel size? Do you want a wider or a taller wheel size, noting that wider wheel rims cater to wider tires for your car. Bigger tire means having better acceleration and cornering ability on dry pavement. Taller rim fits with a lower profile tire enabling you to retain the same overall tire diameter.

The next thing that you need to consider is the style that you want for your car’s wheels. In this aspect, your decision is purely subjective. You can choose from many styles of wheels. Choose the best wheel that not only looks good but also fits well on your car. You can choose from polished aluminum, chrome, wire wheels, or spoke wheels. You can also choose the wheels that match the color of your car.

The next step that you need to think about after considering the looks and type of wheel that you want is how you use and drive your car. You need to answer certain questions, for example: Do you haul or put heavy loads on your car often? Is your car a rear wheel or a front wheel drive?

After considering all these factors, the next thing you need to do is to look for car shops that mainly focus on selling automotive parts and accessories. If you are on a tight budget, you may want to check or ask around for automotive stores that sell wheels at cheaper prices.

If you find a online tire shop, you may want to visit the shop and check out the styles and the brands available in their store if you want to be sure of what you are getting and that the shop has a decent looking workshop. Go for stores that offer you wide selections of tires, the wider is the selection available, the better it is for you. This increase the chances of you getting what you want. As a rule of thumb, followings are the 3 major criteria that you want to look at: Widest selection, best prices, and excellent customer service.

Visiting the shop will also assure you that they really have the wheels that they offer and advertise. After choosing the wheel that you wanted, you need to ask the store if they also install the wheel if you will buy it from them. If they do installation, check their installation area, if it is clean, organized, and neat. If you are not comfortable to let them install your wheels, you can go to the shop you are comfortable with to do your wheel installation. Doing so possibly mean higher cost and can be a hassle in transporting the tires and is therefore not recommended.

Your Tire Size, Type, And Tread

Apart from choosing the best set of wheels for you, here are a couple of information you need to know regarding tires, especially the tread pattern of the tire which can also make a big difference.
Do you know that tires have also traction rating? Without getting too much into the technical terms, The UTQG (Uniform Tire Quality Grading) traction rating basically indicates the tire’s ability to stop a vehicle moving straight forward on wet pavement or putting it differently, the tire’s grip on the road during straight line breaking in wet conditions. Its primary purpose is to help the consumers to compare the wet-road braking performance of a tire. Traction rating consists of A, B or C. Essentially, the better the traction rating, the better a tire grips the road. A traction rating being the highest available and it represents the tire’s superior ability to stop on wet pavement.

A couple of pointers to take note here:
1. Traction rating is based on the design of the tire and not the actual traction.
2. Traction rating does not relate to the cornering ability of the tire.

There are different types of tires. They come in bias ply, radial, and bias belted type. Most of the tires sold today are radial tires – reason being that they tend to roll more easily and have better traction than other types of tires. From another perspective, there are tires that are designed for general conditions such as the all-season-tires, and there are tires designed and built specifically for snowy conditions such as the winter tires. The best approach when you want to be sure of what kind of tires are best for your car, is to check with your tire dealer, letting him know about the driving conditions, your driving habits and preferences.

Remember, a good set of tires not only can make your car look better but can also mean safer journey and smoother rides. Drive safe.

Wil Yeo is a mechanical engineer by training and own the business and the site Avani Revolve Chrome Valve Stem Cap which features a unique patented anti theft tire pressure valve stem cap product. You can also read about more tire related articles at Tires Related Articles. There site also gives away a handy guide entitled: Tire Maintenance Guide. He can be contacted at wil[at]avanigroup.com.

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Have you ever considered using your vehicle as a way to advertise your business? If so, you probably have heard of car decal, vehicle decal, car wrap, and vehicle wrap. How do you choose the right option for you? Whether you have a truck, SUV, Scion, trailer, van or Mini Cooper you have many options for using your vehicle for effectively advertising your business. Our auto paint protection kits are a great way for you to ensure that your vehicle’s paint and body stays unblemished, even when you find yourself putting your vehicle through a lot of use.

Vinyl Car Wrap vs. Car Decal

A car wrap uses similar vinyl material to a car decal, only a car decal material does not require material that can cover the complex curves of an entire car. Car decals typically cover a very small area on the car, similar to a car magnet. Whereas with a wrap, you can cover any part of the vehicle, including bumpers, the hood, and other curved areas. Car wrap material has a grey backed adhesive that has air egress channels that allow for air bubbles to be immediately smoothed out creating a sheer painted look to the car wrap – especially when a gloss finish is chosen. The vinyl car wrap material can be heated around the bumpers and complex curves of the vehicle to cover the entire surface area. Your clients will never know it’s not a paint job. You will though, when you go to re-sell the vehicle and all you have to do is have the wrap removed to reveal the manufacturer’s paint job underneath, preserving the resale value of the car.

A vinyl car decal or magnet will not last as long as a vinyl car wrap for a few reasons:

1) Magnets can fly off the car, fade, or be stolen

2) The decals are typically printed on a cheap vinyl material that lasts up to one year to keep costs down

And of course the major difference is in the perception of your brand… are you the leader, or are you just another small, one-person business?

Vinyl Car Wrap Vs. Partial Vinyl Car Wrap Vs. Car decal

The vinyl car wrap looks like a professional business that can be relied upon, that will be there in a few years in case you need them. If you have confidence in your business, a vinyl car wrap is the best way of projecting this confidence out to your clients. Show them how professional you are and what you can do for them. Tell them you are here to stay. Nobody looks at car decals or magnets anymore. They are like bumper stickers. Nobody cares. They think the person driving the car is a small one-person shop that is trying to make money on the side. Don’t be mistaken for that! Put your business up a notch by crafting your image professionally with a creative car wrap.

The price difference between a decal and a vinyl wrap is definitely there. A pair of car decals are probably in the range of $120 vs. a wrap which run from $2500 – $3500 depending on the make, model and year of the car. If you have invested in other areas of your company, don’t skimp on one of the most public images of your business – your car, that is driving around in front of your customers every day. A vehicle wrap lasts for 5 years, which amortizes down to about $55/month in advertising costs, the most cost effective form of advertising available today to get in front of 30,000 – 70,000 people daily. Where else could you spend $.15 per 1,000 views? Nowhere.

Car wrap advertising creates a client experience, turns heads, brings eyeballs to your brand. It sells you by simply being there while you drive. All you need is a creative vehicle design, a car, and a drive to be the most recalled brand in your market. When a potential customer sees your vinyl car wrap, they should take away three things within the first 3 seconds of viewing:

1) What you do

2) Visual imagery of the results of what you do

3) Contact information/Call to action takeaway

Devil is in the Design

A well-designed partial wrap on a solid base color vehicle can be just as effective as a full vinyl car wrap if designed properly to integrate with the base color of the vehicle. This only truly works on black vehicles because all other colors are very difficult to match through digital printing.

Targeted Parking

Think about it. Want to target your potential clients? Look up events where your ideal demographic goes, and park in front of the event, and put your information in a holder attached to the car. Targeting women with children? Park at a childcare facility. Targeting people who love soccer? Park at soccer tournaments. Construction companies? Park at Home Depot. You see where I am going with this?

Create your own parade for your brand, everywhere you go. It’s a rolling billboard telling the world you are the best in class in your business.

What other form of media can you drive up to your customer?

Bottom Line:

You could be creating brand confidence by putting a full-coverage vinyl car wrap on your vehicle converting it into a billboard on wheels.

Vinyl car wrap advertising boosts name recognition 15 times greater than any other form of advertising.

http://www.crankycreative.com Barbra Bannon is a nationally renowned alternative marketing and branding guru. As the Chief Creative Enthusiast at Cranky Creative Group, an alternative brand promotions company, she leads a group of cutting edge designers, project managers, creative counselors, and graphics installers to continually push the edge of branding possibilities on any surface imaginable.

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Cocktail parties are the perfect answer when interesting people and conversation, mingling, good food and drink are your party planning objectives. Clever cocktail party planning can achieve all of these with some good planning and a little effort.

Some of the critical secrets to great cocktail party planning are:

Invite interesting people who like to mingle and talk.
Stage your food and drink so people need and want to move around.
Plan 6-8 really tasty, but easy to eat, canapés.
Engage your guests in the party and with other guests through a fun ice breaker.

The Guests are the Key Ingredient

Cocktail parties are the ideal avenue in which to introduce new people to a group of others. Choosing the right guests is critical however. If you want to introduce a friend from out of town, your boss, an important client, or even your new love to people you want them to know, consider these points:

Invite guests who like to talk and have something interesting to say.
Don’t invite guests who tend to incite arguments or unnecessarily heated debates.
Let your guests know a little about your special guest in advance.
If it is important for your special guest to meet and mingle with specific people, let them know and be sure they get introduced to each other.
Keep your eye on your special guest throughout the evening.
Consider asking a trusted and close friend to be a “shadow” to your special guest. If they wind up alone or with an empty glass, they can help.
Send out invitations at least three weeks in advance, if possible, and get commitments from people that they will be attending. This may take some phone calling. But…it’s critical for your cocktail party planning process, and more importantly, for the mix and mingle factor so important to a great cocktail party.
You want to invite enough people to make your house feel full, but not stuffed.

Mix and Mingle Logistics

Great cocktail party planning allows and encourages guests to move around and meet new people. Staging your food and drink strategically can help this. Place your food and drinks around the party area so they are easy to get to and require people to seek out the goodies you have prepared… and other people.

Wine and wine glasses can be place on a sideboard. Punch or a specialty drink can be served from a dining table or side buffet. Soft drinks, ice, liquor, and garnishes need to be near the kitchen. Be sure to have lots of beverage napkins wherever you have food or drink also.

Place small plates of nuts and candy around the house. Use your cocktail table for two of your canapés. Place the other canapés in places where you want your guests to wander – a living room end table, the dining table, on a porch, poolside, or on the balcony. If you have a kitchen pass-through or an open counter between the kitchen and the living area, that’s ideal for a hot canapé that will need replenishing.

A logistic plan like this will keep the party and the party goers moving and mixing. Another tip to save your furniture and make it easy on your guests is to place coasters around the house. They make it easy to set down a glass and get a tasty mouthful.

If you plan to have hired help, first get a bartender. You’ll need one for about every 50 guests. If you choose to have servers also, have them remove dirty napkins, canapé plates (if you use them,) and empty glasses. If your home or apartment is going to be a tight squeeze with all of your guests, consider having the canapés passed by the servers. This will reduce mixing and mingling however.

Tasty Canapés are a Hit

6-8 really special canapés are better than a table loaded down with chips, dips, and hard to handle munchies. Choose a variety of ingredients and make sure they can be picked up with one hand and eaten in one or two bites. Serve some hot and some cold. Plan for 10-12 canapés per guest. Here are some suggestions:

Hot canapés

• Bacon wrapped scallops with a sherry and teriyaki marinade
• Ramaki – broiled bacon wrapped chicken livers and water chestnuts
• Brie bites toasted on savory crackers and topped with a dollop of preserves
• Mini skewers with one chicken chunk and a piece of pineapple
• Crab dip in mini cream puffs
• Cheddar spread on toast rounds topped with mango chutney and crisp bacon bits broiled until the cheese is warm and a little bubbly
• Mini quiche or savory tarts
• Broiled blue cheese stuffed button mushrooms
• Garlic mashed potatoes topped with parmesan and toasted hazelnuts served in individual spoons.

Cold canapés

Chilled cocktail shrimp with zesty horseradish mayonnaise dip
Savory finger sandwiches of egg, salmon, chicken, lobster, and shrimp salads
Fresh fruit kabobs on bamboo toothpicks – no more than three small colorful pieces of fruit on each.
Devilled eggs topped with petite shrimp
Peanut butter on savory crackers topped with dill pickle relish
Boiled and chilled half baby red potatoes topped with sour cream, caviar, and a light splash of good vodka. (Be sure to cook the potatoes in salty water)
Pickles, olives, and pickled vegetables (green beans, cauliflower, asparagus tips, mushrooms)
Sushi
Shot glasses of gazpacho topped with a piece of crab meat

Food ideas are endless. Just remember they need to be able to be eaten with one hand and in 1-2 bites and your guests will gobble them up!

A Fun and Not too Hokey Ice Breaker

Write an interesting fact about each of your guests on a self adhesive sticker. Leave the backing on the sticker and as each guest arrives give them a sticker with a fact about someone else on it. Ask each guest to seek out during the party the individual the sticker belongs to. Once they find the individual the sticker describes, they should hand over the sticker so he or she can place the sticker on themselves where others can see it.

This gives each guest a reason to seek out people they might not know, to mix and mingle, and once a sticker is displayed on a guest it gives everyone something to discuss with that individual when they meet them.

Here are some ideas about the kinds of interesting facts that will spark conversation:

• Just returned from a trip to China
• Won a sporting event recently
• Has a new baby
• Just changed jobs
• Is moving to a new city
• Wrote a book and got it published
• Is a professional singer/dancer/musician
• Ran a marathon in the last year
• Has a vintage car
• Loves live concerts
• Collects coins/stamps/recipes

These are all somewhat gender neutral and “safe” topics to discuss with a new acquaintance. The idea is to give two people who may not know each other something interesting to talk about and have some fun with it.

Try a few of these ideas and you will accomplish your cocktail party planning objectives. You and your guests will all have a fun and memorable evening to remember. They may have a new friend or two also!

E. Ann Hill is a successful party planning expert and hospitality professional with many years of personal and professional party and event planning experience.

She has planned parties for a broad spectrum of guests and clients – from family and friends to national and international dignitaries.

She loves to entertain and wants to share the easy and challenging lessons she has learned with eager novice and seasoned hosts. Her goal is to instill the #1 objective for entertaining – the host should enjoy planning the party and the party itself as much as his or her guests.

Ann has recently completed a new book on party planning. It will soon be available on her web-site and is titled, “Seven Party Planning Secrets That Will WOW Your Guests – and Are Easy on You and Your Wallet.” Check back soon at [http://PartyPlanningEasyAs123.com/party-planning-information/] to get your own copy.

Check out other articles on her site for more party planning information.

And be sure to sign up for the FREE entertaining, easy-to-follow and implement Planning Fun and Memorable Parties Mini-course on her web-site. Discover how amazingly easy it is to plan for and host parties that are fun for both your guests…and you!

Copyright 2010. All rights reserved. Published by Walk-Away A Winner Publisher, Orlando, Florida.

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