Tire or Tyre?

As we all know, the spelling of some words differ due to American and British English so both Tire and Tyre are respectively right.

A tyre/tire is a rubber covering, placed around a wheel to form a flexible contact with the road.

American rapper, The Game sitting on a tire wrapped around a gold spoked rim/wheel (Nigerian artistes don't seem to have clean enough tyres to sit on)

As large as a car may be, the only thing connecting it to the road is the tyres. The perturbing thing is, just a little part of the tyre makes contact with the road at a time,The Contact Patch.

Tyres are a critically yet largely ignored component of any car. Attention is only paid when it brings our cars to a halt (hopefully only our cars).
This is an avoidable gamble.
For those who are fortunate to own (buy,rent or even steal) brand new cars. The brand new tyres come as default, so for the next couple of months or years they wouldn't need replacing. Noticed I said months?

Lifespan of a tyre
Well that's because there isn't any specific time or period within which tyres must be changed, it all depends on usage. Some people can cover 50,000km in 6 months, others would cover same in 6 years (not forgetting that some of us can't resist the slightest opportunity to burn rubber).

Not saying that tyres die but the rubber starts to degrade some years after its manufacture regardless of whether they have been put to use or not. When this happens, it loses its flexible properties, the treading is more prone to breakage when the powerful forces from hard acceleration,braking,cornering and maneuvering come into play.
In summary,a general nightmare.

                                                           
When should tyres be changed?
It's advisable to change all tyres at once and most importantly,with the same brand.

What difference does it make?
Tyres of different brands and sizes affect efficient braking. This goes without saying, it is incredibly dangerous.
Also, it affects the Tyre Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS)causing car performance to be severely altered.

Maintenance Tips
*Periodically Rotate your Tyres
This is the practice of moving the tyres from one position to another, this allows the tyres wear evenly and saves you money by delaying replacement. (would soon explain how this is done properly because of the pattern and type of tyres)

*Maintain The Right Tyre Pressure
You can check your tyre pressure with a tyre pressure guage

The max pressure a tyre can be inflated to is written on the sidewall. e.g MAX. PRESS. 44PSI

DO NOT TO INFLATE MORE THAN THIS NUMBER! as excessive pressure increases the chances of puncture from all the "stones" used to fill potholes in some parts of our Wonderful Nigeria,although close to or at this pressure decreases tyre wear and gives the driver a better feel of the road as the tyres send majority of the road force to the suspension BUT that could take its toll on the suspension if its not built for performance.

Meanwhile,low tyre pressure reduces fuel efficiency and an increase in tyre wall movement which can be detrimental during an emergency maneuver. On the bright side, when going off-road, the tyre pressure is sometimes lowered resulting in wider contact with the ground and reduces chances of getting bogged down.

Whats the right Tyre Pressure for your Car?
Its written on a sticker on the driver's door on some cars. It's also found in the owner's manual.

More tyre tips and info coming up ....

Thanks for your time

CAR LOGOS, BADGES, NAMES AND NUMBERS

Cars like some humans, have courtesy, they introduce themselves to us.  They do so via "the writing on the wall" (car body in this aspect).

When we see a particular car  we haven't seen before, especially one that doesn't bear much or any resemblance to previous or other models from its maker,  the first way the car introduces itself is by showing you the "logo" of its maker. Which is  easily spotted on the middle of the car (front and rear).

It's this logo that we use to recognize cars by their "surname" (calling car names is the way your name would be called from your driver's license, the surname comes before the first name)

The location of the logos aren't limited to the middle of the front and rear. Various auto makers place more logos at other various parts such as

-wheels

-steering

-gear stick 

-headrests and/or seats

-head lamps

-foot mats and a host of other places.

Logos help you recognize car brands.

Some makers have more than one means of identification e.g

Jaguar's pouncing jaguar

 Rolls Royce's Ecstasy.

Another way the car introduces itself is by showing you its "badges and numbers"

These badges tell you it's first name, and what it's "packing"

By First name, I mean what it's actually called which could be 

Corolla

CX-7

4008

 Evoque 

etc" And what it's packing simply means what it's got under its hood (the way tight fitting attires give onlookers an idea of the "merchandise") such as  its displacement (1.8 or 2.5, simply tells you that it's cylinders would inhale 1.8 or 2.5 liters of "air" for it to rotate the crankshaft twice). I'm sure you are wondering; "air", isn't it meant to be petrol? (stick around for that)

You are also informed about what "trim" (option, specs,package) level they belong to. The SE and LE on Toyota Camry's just tell you the SE is the "sport" option 

and the CE cries out to you that its the "base"(lowest) option therefore the cheapest of the pack. Luckily the CE isn't restricted from getting some of the optional packages available as standard on the XLE trim Camry. (would go deeper into that as well)

*They tell you their "valve timing": You see "vvt-i", "i-vtec" and "cvvt" on and not limited to Toyota, Honda and Hyundai vehicles respectively. Different car makers have their own valve timing technology names and want us to appreciate them as well. 

Therefore, the numbers and letters you see on the car bodies actually have uses being there.

Would interpret further as time goes by

Images: google, bing.

Toyota Ten Facts

Here are 10 facts about one of the top selling car brands in Nigeria. 

10) Toyota Motor Corporation is 77 years old.

9) Toyota Exports to Nigeria commenced in February 1959

8) The luxury vehicle division of Toyota is Lexus. The original form of the name Lexus is Alexis.

7) A city in Japan, Koromo, renamed itself Toyota city, 22 years after the Founding of Toyota.

6) Toyota Corolla is the company's bestselling Automobile.

5) The Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) wrote Toyota over the safety of Hiace Buses after a spate of Accidents.

4) Saved by a war. Toyota was almost out of business until the US ordered 5,000 vehicles for the Korean War.

3) Toyota was involved in the creation of Kiribo, a Robot Astronaut.

2) Between Sept 2007 and Feb 2011, Toyota had a total of 17 major Vehicle recalls.

1) The Toyoda Family of Japan were originally Textile Manufacturers, they sold the patent of their automatic loom technology to the Platt Brothers of UK. The family invested the proceeds into the Automobile business.

The rest is history.

Funfact- The Toyoda Family maintain the Textile business till this day!

  

Please post your comments on topics or cars you wish to learn facts about.