Modifications

Fitting a sunroof brings extra fresh air and light inside the car, making driving more of a pleasure as well as considerably increasing the resale value of your car - provided the job is well done. Read more

Although you may not smoke, fitting a cigarette lighter inside your car could be more useful than you think. Car accessory shops are now selling a variety of helpful, practical electrical accessories that are designed especially to work from a cigarette lighter socket. Read more

One way of changing your car's appearance is to fit a front or rear spoiler. These can also reduce the drag factor and improve stability. Read more

Reversing is one of the most difficult manoeuvres you can perform with your car, especially at night. The manoeuvre is made much safer and easier if your car has a pair of reversing lights, which come on automatically when you engage reverse gear to light up the area behind your car. Read more

As well as improving the look of your car, rear windscreen blinds have a number of practical benefits. First they make your car more secure because they hide any valuables on the rear shelf (including radio-cassette speakers) from a casual car thief passing by. Read more

A caravan or trailer must, by law, be fitted with certain warning lights. These are wired up to a standard plug socket called a 12N socket which provides a 12 volt supply to power the indicators, stop lights, tail-lights, number-plate illumination and fog lights. Read more

No car is acoustically perfect. This can mean that your stereo system does not sound as good in your car as it did when you heard and bought it in the shop. Read more

Brake lights are a vital warning signal to other road-users and a legal requirement, so you need to make sure they are always in working order. You should check them every day but, because this is awkward to do on your own, they are often checked only rarely if at all. Read more

Most new cars are fitted with an automatic choke rather than a manual one. The choke automatically opens and closes the choke butterfly (or valve ) in the carburettor depending on the temperature of the engine . It may be plumbed directly into the cooling system , or linked electrically to the engine temperature sensor . Read more

The original wheels fitted by your car manufacturer may be rather plain or they may have become scratched, rusty and dirty with age. But there are several things you can do to improve their appearance and the overall look of the car. Read more

More and more top-of-the-range cars are being fitted with tinted windows as standard. Tinted windows have practical benefits. They provide extra privacy inside the car, making it more difficult for a thief to peer inside for any valuables; they help to protect the upholstery from sunlight, which might otherwise fade the fabric; and they also help keep the interior cool. Read more

The working temperature of your engine is normally kept to an optimum level by the cooling system . But there are occasions when your engine is worked harder and reaches temperatures higher than normal. This can happen, for example, when you are towing a trailer or another vehicle, or if your engine has been tuned for higher performance. Read more

All cars have a fan to help cool the coolant as it passes through the radiator . On most cars, the fan is driven directly by the engine , usually via the generator drive belt. But this arrangement means that the fan always runs at the same speed as the engine. This has several disadvantages. Read more

There are two main ways to get more power from a car's engine . The first (and until recently the most popular) is to increase the capacity of the engine. The second is to increase the amount of fuel /air mixture going into the cylinder . Read more

The standard twin-speaker car stereo system has one obvious drawback. If you mount the speakers on the rear shelf, to hear the sound clearly you often have to turn up the volume to a level that is too loud for the rear seat passengers. Read more

The oil in your engine needs to be kept at an optimum temperature so it can still carry heat away from the engine and lubricate the moving parts properly. If the temperature of the oil is allowed to rise, the oil will become too thin to lubricate properly and too hot to disperse heat, and there will be a risk of damage to the engine. Read more

Fitting an electric, thermostatically controlled fan in place of the mechanical, engine -driven type can save you fuel and allow you to regain engine power normally wasted in constantly driving the fan. Read more

One of the main reasons why so many cars are stolen is that a thief, even if inexperienced, can force a standard car door lock in a matter of seconds, often using nothing more than a piece of coat-hanger wire. Read more

Car theft or car break-ins are always a worry to the motorist and it is wise to take every precaution against them that you can. Read more