Our 1985 Nissan Maxima was heading south on 219 from Niagara Falls at 70 mph. The Falls are beautiful in winter, but of course traveling through New York at that time of year can mean bad roads. My dad was behind the wheel and, with no snow in sight, he was confidently chauffeuring us home to the Carolinas. That’s when he turned to my mom and said, “I wonder if this is black ice we’re driving on? Let me tap the brakes and see.”

“Dad! WooHoo!” I grabbed onto the silver metal posts holding his head rest up with both hands. That tap of the brakes had sent the tail of our Maxima suddenly passing the front of the car for the lead. Of course, as a kid I was safely buckled into a child seat. That is, if by child seat you mean we had the seats folded flat and sleeping bags spread out so we could lay down and play. Oh, the 1980s.

“Daaad!” I was still convinced at this point in my life my dad could do anything, which would include throwing our family sedan into a 360-degree spin on the highway on purpose. As cool as the first spin was, I was ready for it be over. What with the semi truck barreling towards us from behind and all.

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After my last article about cleaning wheels two years ago, I was inundated with as many as one letter that requested I write about how to repair fabric that has come unglued.

Typically fabric repairs are not something that would be done during a car detail, but I like to give my fans what they want.

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On this Father’s Day, I’m thankful my dad showed me his love of cars.

Unlike some fathers and sons, we have never turned a wrench together. Instead of teaching me how to fix cars, my dad, a quality engineer at Honda, taught me how to look for paint runs and inconsistent panel gaps. While some families sit around the dinner table sharing stories of a classic car they restored, my dad reminisces about the time I found a hair in the paint of a new Dodge Viper at a car show.

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Obviously, the Ford GT was the big hit from the Chicago Auto Show. But what about the rest of the field?

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You may have noticed that Ford has been advertising its EcoBoost line of engines everywhere lately. Where I live ads for their EcoBoost Challenge event seemed to be on TV every commercial break. You’d know if you have seen one of these ads if you have heard any of the following lines:
“The Escape blew my mind. Yee Haw!”
“I love love love love it.”
“I don’t know when Ford went out and just like got awesome.”
“I felt like I was driving my mom’s car when I was in the Camry.”
“The Rav4 feels outdated. Feels like, hmm, maybe 20 years ago this could have been great.”
“Does this car also un-park itself?”
“If I had to choose between the Fusion and the Lamborghini Aventador, I’d take the Fusion.”

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When the snow melts here in Ohio it can only mean two things: there are more potholes in the roads, and it’s time for me to start detailing cars again! Let me tell you, one of my favorite things to do is get a winter’s worth of salt off a car. Since my hose is still frozen under a few inches of snow, let’s start by looking at cleaning the inside of the car, specifically, the carpet.

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After two days of walking the floor at this relatively quiet show, here’s a recap of what has happened:
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One nice thing about being the company that builds the Prius: you can get away with stuff like this.
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We’re on the floor at the Chicago show, checking out the new Transit Connect and NV200 competitor.
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Is your car ready for winter? Have you put on one last coat of wax, installed the rubber floor mats, and maybe a nice layer of Rain-X? Well, even if your hose is already hibernating there is one more thing you need to do before winter and that is to get all the bugs off the paint. Some of these buggers contain acidic substances that can actually eat away at the clear coat and eventually even the paint. That’s right, leaving dead bugs on your car will destroy your paint. In my mind it’s just their revenge for killing them. What happens is that as an insect decomposes, they produce enzymes intended to break down the carcass. These enzymes also break down automotive paint, resulting in etching. It is always best to get bugs off the paint as soon as possible. It is especially important to get them off before winter when most of us don’t hand wash our cars as much. In fact, in many cases people have had to repaint bumpers because they didn’t take the time to get bugs off in a timely manner. Don’t believe me? According to a statistic I just made up, Americans spend more than $30 million every year on repainted bumpers and poorly fit car bras to cover bug damaged paint.

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It’s not every day you’re offered an opportunity to drive a 500 horsepower actual race used NASCAR, so you can imagine my excitement when my dad presented me with a gift card to the NASCAR Racing Experience for Christmas last year. After all the wrapping paper was put away, I realized I had the hardest decision of my whole life ahead of me.

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The 2014 Ford Fiesta ST is finally here! When I found out that I’d be covering the Fiesta ST for TTAC in place of E-I-C pro tem Jack Baruth, said E-I-C offering some lame excuse about pneumonia, I went over the comment sections of previous ST posts to find out what the B&B were wondering […]

Like any red-blooded American, I have some pet peeves… like people that wait to merge until the last second, discovering a lack of toilet paper, and brake dust. Why God allows brake dust to exist will be one of the first questions I ask Him when I arrive at the gates of St. Peter. A molecular engineering textbook written in Wingdings would make more sense to me than why we can’t invent brakes without brake dust, or at least something that stops brake dust from getting on our wheels. I will get into how to clean wheels in a future post, but for now I’m trying to stop the monster from ruining yet another set of wheels. It’s not just an appearance issue either; brake dust is corrosive and over time will damage your rims. As always, I will only use products that the average car owner has access to and could easily use. I’m sure there are differences in brake pads that effect the amount of dust produced, but they will have to pay someone else $0 to do that test.

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Having just attended the 97th Indianapolis 500, I’m feeling especially passionate about telling others to get there in person someday. I believe Indy to be one of those special experiences that you have to see in person to appreciate. I’ve attended IndyCar, NASCAR, American LeMans, NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, MLS, and many other sporting events, but the Indy 500 stands out as something special.

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