Carmentary.com

By Christina VanGinkel

If you own a car or truck, chances are you have a decal on it. Many decals are standard, placed there by the dealership that you purchased the vehicle through, with their name, and logo, sometimes, even details such as phone numbers and addresses, much like a mobile calling card.

Other decals are much more personal, and are placed on your car or truck by you, the vehicle's owner. These personal decals can be big or small, installed by a shop that routinely does this sort of vehicle embellishment, or you can install them yourself. I have seen decals that represent a person's job, their hobbies, decals that are just poking fun, and some that even represent some aspect of a person's life, possibly their faith or some cause that they feel strongly about. Have also seen decals that were strictly decorative, with no purpose beyond making the vehicle they were applied to, look better, or different.

Thanks to personal media cutters becoming popular with home based crafters, you might even be able to create and cut your won decals. I have a Wishblade Media Cutter, and this is exactly what I have done. The purchase started as a means to create my own die cuts for my favorite hobby, scrapbooking. Once the machine is installed, they work via input from a personal computer. I use mine with aid of secondary software not necessarily needed, but making the ease with which to cut connected words easier. Once I had mine all set up, and learned to use the software I bought to use with it, I quickly began to explore all of the possibilities the two together created. What I learned was that besides cutting various types of paper and cardstock, what it was perfect for, was cutting decals! Now that I have had my cutter for nearly nine months, I find that I use it more for cutting decals for friends and family, and for my husband and myself even more than I do for creating scrapbook die-cuts! It cuts them easier than butter, seriously, and is just fun to use.

Some people might wonder what all the fuss is about when it comes to applying decals to a vehicle, and I use to be someone who wondered just that my self. I would hear one of my husband's friends mention they had just gotten a decal of this, or that, and then my husband mentioned he would love to have one to place on the tailgate of his truck, and before I knew it, I was shopping right alongside of my husband for yet one more decal to place on one of our vehicles.

Recently, a friend asked me why I liked expressing myself through my vehicle's decals, and I had an answer that surprised even me. When she asked me, I realized that it was an easy way to express myself; much like a person gets a tattoo, yet without the permanency, and without the pain! I can make a decal, or buy one, and by applying it to one of our vehicles, it allows others to see what we are all about.

A few weeks ago, I made a decal in the shape of a black bear, and on the inside of the bear, I placed both my husband's name, my own name, and my youngest son's name, the only one of my three children that still lives at home, the other two already being adults and with family's of their own. I also put the words The VanGinkel's beneath the bear design itself. Parking at the local grocery store, I went in to grab a few items while my husband waited outside for me. When I came out, he told me that an elderly woman had parked next to us, gotten out of her vehicle, stopped to read the names inscribed inside of the bear design aloud, and then told her husband that was with her, that look, the vehicle they had parked next too must be a family because it had our names.

If you do not have a cutter or access to one, there are many online outlets that sell both ready-made decals or custom cut ones, and most are very reasonably priced. Decals can be a great way to express yourself, to add a bit of bling to your vehicle, or just as a bit of fun.

Written by James Fohl

A lot of people go out and purchase new cars, hoping that their new car will be, amongst other things faster than their older car, in which the new car is replacing. Most of the time, the new cars are indeed faster than the car in which they replace. However, a lot of the time the new cars fail to impress drivers in terms of performance.

While you can do a lot of things to your automobile to enhance its performance, one of the most performance enhancing things that you can do to your car is install either a short ram air intake, or a cold air intake. A lot of people are put off by these two items, because people think they either too expensive to purchase, or incredibly hard to install.

First off, an air intake for a car is just what it sounds like it is; it's the gadget that allows air to flow into your engine and aid in combustion. Factory installed air intakes are usually rather small, have the air travel through a
thick filter, and enter in the engine relatively slowly. The air is usually hot from the engine compartment, and this also hampers performance.

A cold air intake on the other end takes a much bigger pipe, and sucks air from a area away from the engine. The cold air intake also pushes the air through a filter; however this filter is usually a much larger cone shaped filter that allows more air to be brought into your car's engine. A short ram air intake does essentially the same as a cold air intake; however it takes warm air from the engine compartment, instead of an area away from the engine area. When installed correctly, both short ram air intakes, and cold air intakes give a noticeable boast in your vehicle's performance. The new air intake systems will also make your engine sound a lot deeper, as the engine is sucking in more air than before.

While cold air intakes are a bit difficult to install, since you have to have a long pipe situated somewhere outside fo your engine area, short ram air intakes are not all that difficult to install. Short ram air intake installation consists of
removing your vehicle's factory air box (which houses the air filter), and connecting the short ram air intake (which is a small pipe with the
large cone air filter connected to it) to your vehicle's air hose.

Once everything is all connected, you will have to disconnect and reconnect
your car's battery and let the car run idle for several minutes so that your vehicle's computer can make adjustments.

Short ram air intakes can be found on the internet for as low as $20 from cheap Chinese manufacturers. These cheap intakes are just as good as the ones made by companies such as item that retail for well over $200, however since they are produced by a no name Chinese manufacturer, the price is drastically lower.

If you decide to install either a short ram air intake, or a cold air intake you will no doubt notice a small increase in the performance of your automobile.
Because the engine is getting more, cooler air into the engine, it is able to burn the gasoline more efficiently. Not only will you notice a small amount of added performance, but you may also actually see a increase in your fuel economy. While it may not be drastic, the little bit of increase can be noticed when you go to fill up your gas tank.

As mentioned earlier, both cold air intakes and short ram air intakes are inexpensive ways to easily get a little extra performance out of your automobile, as well as increase your vehicle's fuel economy. Both are pretty simple to install on any vehicle, and in most situations the modification does not affect your vehicle's warranty. Keep in mind however, that installing either a cold air intake or a short ram air intake is not for everyone. If you aren't a very handy person, you probably should consider either having a friend install the air intake, or taking
your vehicle to a mechanic so the air intake could be installed professionally. One slight problem in the installation could cause some serious damage to your vehicle.

By Christina VanGinkel

When it comes to buying a brand new vehicle, choosing the best time of year to buy can be almost like a game. Sales incentives can be literally worth thousands of dollars, and buying before or after such a sale can equal the loss of this money right out of pocket.

So how does one find out when such a sale is going to be held, and for what length of time before it expires? Knowing when sales were held in previous years is one way to start to narrow down the timeframe of the next big sale, as is watching the news. With the rising cost of gasoline affecting the economy as much as it has, spreading news on major sales and incentives has spilled over from traditional advertising to the front news desk in many cases.

Asking at your local dealer is another good way to find out what sales are coming up. They will often sit right down with you and spell it out in black and white the difference in the cost of a vehicle at regular sticker price and if you buy during a sale or incentive offering.

Checking the websites of the manufacturer that you are interested in will also often spell out exactly what offers they have currently available, along with any expiration dates for such deals. Some may offer extensions when the end date comes close, and others will end right on the date listed. Getting the best deals available can often feel like a game of chance.

Knowing what incentives you qualify for is also a good way to save more money on a purchase than you thought you could too. If you are a first time buyer, a college student, a member of the armed forces, a police officer, a firefighter, or any number of other categories, you might be able to save even more money than you originally believed. Asking about special incentives is often the only way to know if they exist.

Mailings are often sent out to previous owners of certain vehicles with incentives and special pricing available due to what is often referred to as a loyalty incentive. By sticking with the same brand, purchase after purchase you can often build up savings on future purchases. Again, unless you pay attention to when these deals are offered, or ask about them at the dealership you are buying from, they may go un-accessed, meaning money down the drain in savings that could have really added up.

Some people save up credit card miles for flights, but there are actually cards available that allow you to save dollars towards a new vehicle purchase. As I write this, some companies are also offering pre-filled credit cards with the purchase of new vehicles to offset the cost of gasoline for running the very vehicles that are being bought. These are often given with the new vehicle purchase on top of other incentives, such as cash back or zero percent financing.

Deals such as zero percent financing, cash back, and special upgrades that would normally cost thousands of dollars for little or no additional cost are all ways companies are enticing customers to buy in a somewhat lackluster new vehicle market. Knowing what you qualify for, what incentives are available when you choose another incentive, and which ones cancel others out are all part of the game of getting the best deal available to you. Sitting down with your dealer with calculator in hand is often the only way to figure out which is the best deal for you. Tossed into the maze of deals, rebates, and incentives is also the fact that not every vehicle on the lot will qualify for every, or even any, of the special deals. Again, finding out which ones do and which ones do not can mean a huge difference in money saved or money spent when it comes down to the bottom line of buying the vehicle and bringing it home. Adding features such as extended warranties and disability insurance to the cost of the sale can also alter the bottom cost greatly. When you think that, the cost of some new vehicles equal the cost of some houses, taking care to know exactly what you are paying for is made all that much more important.