All-Season vs. Winter tires, explanation follows.

The good news is that winter is long gone, but at least you’ll be informed for next year. It’s quite important to know what you’re getting into when you’re buying tires.

The difference in winter tires starts with the rubber compound, which remains flexible during cold weather rather than hard like all-seasons. Deep grooves (1) in the unidirectional tread blocks (2) clear snow and slush efficiently; small cuts, called sipes (3), grip tiny variations in slick surfaces.

All-seasons wear longer because of harder rubber compounds. Drainage channels (1) limit hydroplaning; fewer grooves (2) mean better dry-surface grip. Bidirectional tread (3) allows tires to be rotated to both sides of the car.

Braking

"I'll be fine, I have all-wheel drive." It's called all-wheel drive instead of all-wheel stop for a reason. On all-seasons, the AWD car stopped in the longest distance. On snow tires, both cars came to a halt about a car length sooner—often the difference between a close call and a call to your insurance company. So long story short, Winter Tires will drastically improve your braking distance.

Acceleration

The difference between Winter Tires and All-Season Tires in terms acceleration time is not that great. 

Cornering

This is a very important part of the test, this will allow you to go around an obstacle and back on track safely. Luckily, this is the best result for winter tires, make sure you are riding on winter tires if you often drive on curvy roads, or at higher speeds.

Uphill acceleration

Going uphill on snow or ice can be quite difficult. Especially if your car is heavy and if you’re towing a trailer or anything. On this particular test, having All-Wheel-Drive is the best thing you can do for yourself, but it’s hard to ignore the fact that winter/snow tires do help quite a lot.

Make sure your Hyundai stays cool during summer!

Car fires are getting more and more attention in the news. They’re usually affiliated to design flaws and exotic cars. Unfortunately, you could be playing your role in preventing them from happening to you. Here’s a quick list of things to look out for, if you can’t do it yourself, we understand. Come to us! Our service department will be glad to check on things for you!

1. Fuel system leaks
As you can imagine, they play a large role in regular car fires. They occur when the plastic on the tube starts to crack away, forcing flammable liquids onto warm engine parts can be the easiest way to get a fire started.

2. Electrical System Failure
These are the second most common causes for Car Fires, and no they don’t have to be the ones you find Electric Vehicles, any regular car battery can make quite the damage if not kept up properly. 

3. Spilled fluids
A car has plenty of different fluids that allow it to run smoothly. Fuel, engine oil, transmission fluid, power steering fluid, brake fluid and even engine coolant can all be found leaking in en engine bay. In the event of a car accident, if these fluids are leaking across your car, the chances of a car fire to initiate are higher.

4. Overheating Engines
A motor that tends to overheat is due to poor maintenance. Keeping your car in good working condition will help you avoid overheating, especially during longer road trips. It doesn’t actually cause the fire but sets it up perfectly (unfortunately) to bring fluids temperatures way up, and making it a real risk. 

5. Last but not least, the catalytic converter
As we all know, the exhaust pieces are one of the warmest in a car. It is very important to help keep the exhaust at a safe and lower temperature! In order to do that, one simply needs to make sure their spark plugs are functioning properly, anything to ensure the car’s burning process is happening properly, so that the Catalytic Converter doesn’t have to work extra hard.

Don't feel bad about traffic, some people have it worse!

This world is filled with automobiles and other means of transportation as we know it. Most of us are lucky to be living in the cities that aren't so bad in terms of traffic congestion, even we think otherwise at times. Let’s go over this reality-check and see what this world has to offer us when it comes to heavy-traffic cities.

5. Johannesburg, South Africa

Even though South Africa is known for gorgeous landscape and beaches, Johannesburg is quite a large city with many motorists. 3.2 million people called Johannesburg home in 2013.

4. Mexico City, Mexico

What makes Mexico City one of the worst driving cities in the world is the fact that its population has quadrupled in the last 40 years. The worst part is that the roads and streets have remained unchanged during all this time.

3. Manila, Philippines

Philippines residents will be shocked that Manila isn't number 1 on the list as they perceive traffic congestion as their number one problem – above respiratory problems, mountains of trash, and even drowning.

2. New Delhi, India

India is known to be a very crowded place with underdeveloped infrastructures. The government is working on that as we speak. These rough conditions make India the country with the highest number of road-related deaths.

1. The winner is….Beijing, China!
The population of Beijing is over 21 million people, so we can let you imagine where traffic is the worst. Urban planners are trying to best to defy the over population and the saturation of the land. Hopefully, City Transit will improve as we don’t see many other solutions.  

Relax and be safe at the wheel, it can save your life!

Pay Attention. 

There are plenty of distractions in this world. And, you can almost always get away with not giving the road your undivided attention. What scares us, and what should scare you, is that one time in 10 years, when one-tenth of second will save you from plowing into the back of a tanker filled with spent plutonium fuel rods--or worse, a minivan full of kids, possibly your kids. Don't try to do several things at once. You're driving now. Other people's lives depend on it.

What's the hurry? Slow down. 

What's the worst that could possibly happen? You're late. Big deal. What's the worst that can happen if you drive too quickly? You never get there at all. We rest our case...What you can do to prevent that is, give the person you’re meeting, or work and say you’ll be slightly late. Or best case scenario, leave earlier!

Leave enough stopping distance. That is, don't tailgate. Pick a stationary object ahead of you on the roadside. When the car ahead passes that object, start counting off two seconds. (One mississippi, two mississippi.) If you got to the object before counting the full two seconds, you're tailgating.

Be courteous to other peopleWhether it is a car, motorcycle, wheelchair, bicycle, try your best to be courteous. Let them go in front of you if it’s safe, if someone wants to make a lane change, they probably have a good reason, let them do it!

Don’t let your feelings get the best of you!
Do you see a crazy driver on the road? Don’t let him anger you, just relax, put on some music, roll the windows down and enjoy the weather! Stay away from him, and give him room for all of his crazy (and sometimes illegal) moves.