Prevent Pandemonium For Perfect Performance

Drivers have to cope with a lot more potential distractions nowadays than they had about ten years ago, and those attention-stealers are accountable for crashes that cost money and lives. Thankfully, people who observe in close proximity the destruction brought on by in-car diversions have put together some suggestions for handling and avoiding them.

Steve's CARSTAR Auto Body Repair in Arnold, Missouri is in the industry of correcting mistakes many people make on the highway. It used to be that all a motorist had to distract himself was a single AM radio. Now, you'll find sufficient high-tech electronic gadgets built in to fly a space shuttle, and they can all diminish a driver’s concentration.

Following these tips can significantly lower the possibility of a crash and make a trip more enjoyable for those involved.

•   Choose a rigid no-text policy – According to figures from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the possibility of an accident is twenty-three times higher for those who are sending and receiving text messages when driving. A vehicle moving at fifty-five miles per hour will go over the length of a football field in the 4.6 seconds it takes to type or receive a message. Driving while texting is comparable to driving while inebriated. The appeal of a text message is that it'll be waiting for you whenever there's time for you pull over and read it.

•   Restrict or get rid of cell phone use while driving – A study by Australia’s Monash University Accident Research Centre discovered that the utilization of handheld devices like a cell phone enhances crash and injury possibilities by four hundred percent. If a passenger is on board, let that individual carry out the conversation whenever you drive.

•   Use a hands-free device, but strictly for essential calls – Carnegie Mellon used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to see brain activity of individuals answering a number of true/false questions whilst replicating driving your car on a computer screen. They uncovered a thirty-seven percent decline in the brain’s capability to judge spatial relationships (like between the automobile at speed and other things) when the “driver” focused on responding to questions. This information indicates that any conversation with someone not in the passenger compartment reduces the driver’s reflexes when driving.

•   Program GPS receivers before beginning a trip or errand – Portable and in-dash GPS devices are immensely helpful for getting us where we would like to go, particularly those that call out the step-by-step instructions. They're only useful, however, if the driver doesn't try to input information when in motion. Most GPS devices show a legal warning against this action before they are used.

•   Master a car’s devices and adjustments before you leave the driveway – Modern cars have a large number of buttons, switches and handles that may need activating when you're out, and a motorist ought to be familiar with them to avoid distraction. Adjusting the windshield wipers, headlights, radio settings, climate controls, seat height, steering wheel angle and emergency flashers can easily disturb the driver for enough time to trigger a major accident.

•   Save meals for the rest stop – Americans have perfected the art of eating and driving, which is the reason why cars created for the USA market frequently have more cup holders than seats. Based on the findings of the NHTSA, a driver’s morning cup of coffee and muffin are practically as distracting as a mobile phone conversation.

•   Keep children and pets in authorized seats or locations – Crash-test engineers have established the most secure placement for kids of various sizes and ages in vehicles. Following applicable federal and state laws also decreases a parent’s potential for distraction while driving because the child is less inclined to get injured or into trouble in a moving vehicle if restrained. Letting animals freely roam within a vehicle isn't just a terrible idea; it is illegal in many states as legislators crack down on distracted driving.

Steve's CARSTAR Auto Body Repair in Arnold, Missouri, also repairing vehicles in Festus, Imperial, Oakville, and St. Louis, want you to realize that there are lots of ways to decrease the amount of dangerous distractions within a vehicle. These tips target just a few which are simple for people to fix. Anything a driver can do to concentrate on the highway will only increase the likelihood of a safe arrival.

For more tips on safe driving and collision repair, visit www.auto-body-arnold-mo.com. CARSTAR Auto Body Repair Experts offers high-quality, reliable repair service in thirty-two states and ten Canadian provinces. Just call 1-800-CARSTAR when you want to have a vehicle repair, and they will send a tow truck, get a hold of your insurance company, arrange for a rental car and fix your car.

There Isn't A Magic Wand For Everything...

At first sight, a scratch repair pen may seem like a wonderful idea. What’s not to want about making fast repairs to your car’s finish simply by drawing a line across the damage? It just so happens, the results aren't always like what you see on the TV commercials. Steve's CARSTAR Auto Body Repair in Arnold, Missouri, also serving folks in Festus, Imperial, Oakville, and St. Louis, are pleased to offer these fascinating test results.

For instance, we discovered that they won't work on anything but small exterior scuff marks. And, they'll often make the damage look even worse.

Marketed as a simple way to avoid expensive auto body shop expenses, manufacturers claim that anybody can get professional results from the pens, which cost ten bucks or less. We sampled three to find out if the claims were true.

What We Tested

The Simoniz Fix it Pro ($10), DuPont Pro Fusion Color ($8), and Turtle Wax Scratch Repair Pen ($10) are available everywhere online or in auto parts stores. Advertised to work with any color paint, they have a durable clear coat similar to the protective outer layer applied to brand new vehicles straight out of the factory. But what their packaging does not make entirely clear is that these pens are purely for surface scratches inside the clear coat. If the harm gets into the paint below, you are out of luck.

We also discovered that the pens are difficult to use, and that it is quite difficult to achieve the thin, even line required to nicely fill scratches without overdoing it. With applicator tips which are as wide or wider than an average scratch, our sampled products make it extremely difficult to avoid applying too much filler, and leaving a visible residue that is more noticeable than the harm you are attempting to repair. And eliminating that residue may need sanding and buffing it out, and maybe even some touch-up paint.

Generally speaking, these items will not help on any scratch that is deep enough to feel with your fingernail, or if you are able to see primer or bare metal. For that sort of damage, you will need more than clear filler and a stable hand. The only method to fix damaged paint is by using more paint.

How We Tested

For our assessment, we took the same lab-grade black test panels we buy for car wax testing. These boards are painted and clear coated with automobile finishes. We used them on a couple of automobiles with light scrapes: a silver Toyota Sienna minivan and a dark blue Honda CR-V.

We established scratching for the test panels with a key and a bolt, and then used the products according to manufacturers' instructions on both of the panels and the pre-scratched vehicles. This included washing and drying the damaged area, shaking the pen thoroughly to mix the contents, dabbing the tip on paper towel to get the product flowing, and carefully drawing the pen across the surface of the scratch. After applying the products, we moved the trial samples to the roof of our building where they were allowed to weather for four straight weeks.

The Results

All three of these products loaded the scratches, and we saw no really big distinction between them in either convenience or effectiveness.

From some angles, the repairs looked every bit as good as marketed in the TV advertisements. But some angles revealed a ridge of extremely noticeable excess clear coat. The results had the appearance of an amateur job, at the very best, and generally the repair was much more obvious than the initial scratch. The Simoniz and DuPont products advise wiping off any surplus with a paper towel, but we discovered that this only made things appear worse, as it smeared the paint over the intact surface.

Our advice is that you save your cash and skip these quick fixes for minor damage or try some sort of cleaning polish instead.

For deeper scratching, a visit to Steve's CARSTAR Auto Body Repair in Arnold, Missouri might be your best bet.