Understanding The Steering Linkage On Your Car

Your car would be mighty useless if you couldn’t select the direction you wanted to go. Steering seems like a basic concept, but many car owners are completely baffled when asked how the steering process actually works. The answer is found in the steering linkage.

What is the steering linkage and how does it let you take command of the direction of your car? The steering linkage is a phrase that simply refers to the entire steering system. There are different systems used on cars, but the rack and pinion system is one of the more common so we’ll choose it for the discussion in this article.

The rack and pinion steering linkage is comprised of seven basic parts depending on how you count the components. They are the steering wheel, steering shaft, pinion, rack, tie rod, control arm and wheel. These parts form a mechanical extension from your arm input to the wheel. When you turn to the right, each step of this mechanical system reacts in kind until the front wheels turn the direction you wish to go. Let’s take a closer look.

We’ll start at the top – the steering wheel. When you turn the steering wheel, you are really turning the shaft. The steering shaft runs into the engine compartment. At this point, it connects to the pinion. The pinion is a metal bar with a gear on the end of it. The pinion slots into the rack. The rack runs horizontal between the tires and has grooves matching those on the pinion gear. When the steering wheel is turned by you, the shaft turns and the pinion does as well. As the pinion gear moves, it pushes or pulls the rack to the left or right and that turns the tires in or out.

The rack does not connect directly to the wheels. Instead, it connects to tie rods. Tie rods are adjustable mechanism that can be lengthened and shortened slightly. This is important as this adjustment is a critical part of the alignment process for a car. Tie rods also serve as a stress break point for the system, creating a hardy buffer between the rack and any damage that might occur to the wheel area.

The final step of the steering linkage assembly is the actual connection to the tire. This is done in many different ways these days. All effectively involve the tie rods connecting to some type of control arm that contains a ball joint in it or is connected to such a joint. The designs differ greatly for many cars. Regardless, this is where the turning action meets its end and the wheel actually turns.

The modern steering linkage system is very refined. It is also very reliable and steering problems are pretty rare in modern cars. If they do arise, it is usually with the ball joints or greased connections to the tie rods. Even then, said problems are easily fixed.

About The Author

Dirk Gibson is with http://www.dcjautoparts.com - your online resource for high performance auto parts.

Understanding body kits and other car aftermarket products by: Louie Liu

As you plan to spend on your car after you have bought it you will have a wide variety of products to choose from. If you are a car enthusiast you should enjoy this process of understanding, evaluating and choosing a product.

The process starts with understanding a product. For some products such as car body kits this is not such a difficult step. However for several other products this will take some effort. Also there is the issue of how deeply you will understand a product. You can get either some superficial knowledge or indepth detailed knowledge. You may not have the time to understand all of them fully but you should take time to understand them as much as you can.

Car aftermarket products can be categorized as below:

1. Products that enhance the looks of the car
2. Products that enhance the performance of the car
3. Products that do both

Is it that simple? Well not quite. Because several products do both but are really used for only one of the two reasons.

Body kits are primarily used for improving the looks of the car. In general products that improve the looks impact the color scheme of the car and the styling of the car. They may also include adornments.

Products like engine pulleys only enhance the performance and are not visible and so have no visual impact. In general products that improve the car performance improve the aerodynamic performance, the engine performance, the performance of other car parts such as lights or the control and handling of the car.

Amongst products that improve both performance and looks are products such as projector headlights that look great and also flood the road with light at night. Another such product is a camber kit. Though the kit by itself is not very visible if you change the camber of your car by a significant amount it will be clear you have got a camber kit installed.

Another example is a cold air intake that is used mostly because it improves engine performance but since the air intake has a visual component it also enhances the visual appeal of the car.

You can find a wide range of car aftermarket products at http://www.ilovebodykits.com

About The Author

Louie Liu has been in the car aftermarket products industry for 5years. He has specialized in body kits, headlights, cold air intakes and other aftermarket products. He has deep knowledge of a wide range of products including knowledge of benefits of body kits and other products, product options and how to choose a car aftermarket product. You can learn about a wide range of body kits and other car aftermarket products at his site http://www.ilovebodykits.com.

Lowering Springs – What's That?

You take your car out for a drive and enjoy the experience of driving it. You may wonder what more can be done to improve its performance. After all modern cars enjoy the benefits of more than a hundred years of research. They are made by large car companies famous for their product's quality.

Yet there is a thriving market for car aftermarket products which allow you to tweak the car and make its performance better. Often this improvement is done by making the car performance better suited to your needs.

One such product is lowering springs. These springs lower the center of gravity of your car and therefore make the ride more stable. But you ask how can they lower the center of gravity of the car. And if it is better to have a lower center of gravity why was it high in the first place?

A modern car is not mounted directly on the wheels that carry the car. It were the car passengers would experience as rough a ride as the wheels do. Which is not a smooth ride at all. Therefore the car is mounted on shock absorbers. In their simplest form car shock absorbers are springs. And when the car wheel goes over a small stone and lifts up the car does not lift up as much because the spring compresses and absorbs some of the deflection. Now for such a spring to be able to absorb a lot of deflection it has to be quite long. This length of the spring raises the body of the car and therefore the center of gravity of the car.

What lowering springs do is that being shorter they bring down the body of the car and so lower the center of gravity. So how are they able to absorb the deflection if they are shorter? Well they are made of special material that needs to deflect less and are a little “harder” than stock springs. Though quality lowering springs will still give you a comfortable ride even though they are harder than stock springs.

The lower center of gravity makes the car more stable and its response and handling is much improved as well. You will enjoy the low slung racing car look, especially if you have also added products such as racing body kits. You can know more about lowering springs and other car aftermarket products at http://www.ilovebodykits.com.

About The Author

Louie Liu has been in the car aftermarket products industry for 5years. He has specialized in body kits, headlights, cold air intakes and other aftermarket products. He has deep knowledge of a wide range of products including knowledge of benefits of body kits and other products, product options and how to choose a car aftermarket product. You can learn about a wide range of body kits and other car aftermarket products at his site http://www.ilovebodykits.com.

Gas Saving Tips

Most people need to drive their cars to work, take their children to school, to shopping, to buy the grocery and many other things to do. Everybody will also like to save money on gasoline, therefore people will like to find out how to save money on the gasoline for their vehicles. There are many ways and habits that people can practice to save on driving.

The first thing to save gas is to well maintain your cars, periodically take it for a tune up. Things like making sure the air filter, carburetor and spark plugs are clean, which can make the car using less fuel. Also, lubricate and change the motor oil periodically, and use low viscosity oil so the engine will run smoother with less resistance. You should inflate the tires properly to improve the gas mileage. Pay attention to the MPG or Mileages per Gallon, to constantly monitor the progress of and try to improve the gas savings. There are more tips about cars at http://www.fidetips.com/car for you to read.

Remove the cargo rack that may be mounted on the roof or trunk of the vehicle will reduce the fuel usage too. Try to take out the unnecessary weight from the passenger and trunk, things like boxes, wheelers, and extra tire. The lighter the load the less gas will be wasted. Also keep the car clean to reduce the resistance, especially the mud and soil that may stick to the, bumpers, bottom and tires should be removed. Another thing like a tailgate trailer will add more burdens, and should be unattached. You should fill the regular gasoline rather than the premium or high octane gasoline, unless there are special reasons to do so.

There are daily habits for the way you drive that will result in the savings. During the hot weather, try to turn the air conditioner to a lower setting. If you are driving on the highways, keep the speed constant will help the gas efficiency too. Park the car near the exit of a parking lot may save the expense, and also improve your health for doing more exercises. Car pooling with the co-workers and friends will also help reducing the fuel using. There are many more ideas for saving gas on the web, just go to the research and that will help you with more ideas.

About The Author

Teeny is a writer for finance, computer, travel, cars, shopping and other subjects for many years, please visit http://www.fidetips.com/car for more information.