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Wipers and Wiper Blades (Priority: Medium) Some people just don’t find the need to change wipers.
However, when you think about it, this is your primary defense against
the possibility of slamming into an 18-wheeler head-on. A
simple visual inspection would indicate whether your blades are cracked or
deteriorated. Check wipers for streaking also (water lines left behind
after the wipers have gone through them), as this could also be an indication of
worn-out wiper blades. If you ever decide to change your wiper blades, we highly recommend buying something other than the factory branded blades. This is because brands such as Bosch last longer than typical Mitsubishi or Honda wiper blades, plus they cost a lot less too. However, there are some cars with special fittings such as the Nissan Cefiro. In cases such as this, there’s no choice but to buy factory brand wiper blades. Periodically, don’t forget to give your wiper blades a good cleaning by just a simple dry cloth every week or so. Lights (Priority: Medium-High) Check all lights to make sure they’re working. Much like the wipers, the car’s lights are primary driving tools. This is especially true with the brake lights and the headlights. Though one may not notice it, driver reaction time quickens when a brake light is flashed, compared to when the see nothing at all. This could very well save your life, if not your rear bumper. For those living alone, simply turn on the lights and go around the car one time to make sure all driving lamps are working. Parking the car near a white wall and pressing the pedal repeatedly to test a brake lamp. The hazard switch is a good way to test the turning lights. In case you guys aren’t informed as of yet, if there’s a burnt out turning light on say, the left side, the left set of lamps will flicker at a faster rate and will also make the clicking sound faster from the instrumentation panel inside the vehicle. The reason for this is that these bulbs are interconnected in such a way, that when one bulb is removed, all the others will respond. A tip for those want to ‘soup-up’ their lights: though it’s highly recommended that you buy yourself some driving aids such as front and rear fog lamps use them properly. There are some that do help in bringing better visibility, such as blue-tinted headlamp bulbs (e.g. PIAA), mainly because they increase the lamp’s output temperature, but there are some that are utterly stupid and quite dangerous. Examples of these include those completely white rear tail lamp clusters with white bulbs. Though they do look good, they temporarily blind other drivers, and this could very well cause accidents and probably ‘the finger’. These white lamps are meant to be used in combination with colored bulbs. So if you can’t spend an additional 30 or so pesos for colored
bulbs, then don’t try spending around 5,000 pesos replacing your rear lamp
cluster. The same is true for those
who re-wire their lamp clusters to the point that the reverse lamp will be the
brake lamp, and the turning lamp the driving lamp and so forth; as well as those
who replace key color bulbs such as yellow signal lights with blue or even green
light. These could very well cause
some disasters, not to mention make your car look tacky. |
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