vehicles – Adam's Auto Advice

Preparing Yourself and Your Car for Hurricane

: NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center / Foter / CC BY-NC

Preparing Yourself and Your Car for Hurricane

With Hurricane Sandy, aka Frankenstorm, bearing down upon the entire Eastern seaboard and many states getting slammed by heavy rain and wind, I am sure lots of people are wondering what they could have done to prepare for a hurricane better. An important consideration is that your vehicle can be damaged easily during hurricanes, it's important to try to do all you can to protect this valuable asset.

I recommend parking your car as close to your house as possible and in the driveway. The reason is if a lot of home insurance policies will cover damage to a vehicle from trees or debris if it close to a house. This varies on what type of policy you have though. If you have a garage, carport, or some other structure you can park your can that would be the most ideal place to park it. That is certainly not guarantee but is a safe bet.

Obviously though your car is not the only consideration for preparing for a hurricane during hurricane season. Here are some tips to get hurricane ready;

Food: Make sure to have enough food for your whole family. This includes any pets you might have in your family. We have dry dog food and canned dog food that will last our dogs, Cody and Sierra, awhile.
Water: You also need to have clean drinking water too. It is recommend to have 1 gallon of clean water per day. If you are not sure if you have enough, at least have a teapot and heat source so that you can boil and sanitize drinking water if necessary.
First Aid: It’s always good to have a First Aid Kit in case of an emergency. You never know when you might need it. I recommend having hydrogen peroxide (for disinfecting wounds), bandages and gauze, cloth tape, needles, gloves, ointment, and a blanket. It is also a good idea to have a first aid booklet handy as well.
Medications: Make sure to get any medications for your family filled before you need to hunker down at your house or go to a shelter.
Emergency Contacts: Keep an emergency contact list. This includes, relatives, doctors, veterinarians,(if you have pets), or friends. Make sure to know about the nearest nearest shelter if you need to evacute your area due to flooding. If you have pets, be sure to find a pet-friendly shelter.
Rain Gear, Towels, & Clothes: Try not to go outside if you can help it, but it's always good to have a poncho and rain gear in case you do. It's a good idea to have as much clean clothes as you can too.
Cash: Cash, and I mean the real green stuff, is good to have in case power is going to be out for awhile.
Flashlights, Batteries, and Candles: It’s good to have flashlights and batteries if you are going to be without power for a long time. I would also recommend having short stubby candles since they are less likely to tip over and cause a fire. Matches are a good idea to have too!
Full Tank of Gas: If gas stations don’t have power, they can’t sell gas. It’s a good idea to fill up your car’s gas tank if you need to go somewhere with your family.

You should also consider having a spare flashlight with batteries, blanket, and first aid kit in your car if you need to venture out. It's best to not drive during a hurricane, and you have been told not to, you shouldn't.

I hope these tips will help you prepare for Hurricane Sandy, Frankenstorm, or any other hurricane in the future. If you have any recommendations, tips, or advice about hurricane preparedness you would like to add, please leave a comment below.

Hunt Valley Cars and Coffee Picture Gallery

Hunt Valley Cars and Coffee attracts a wide range of vehicles every Saturday. This includes exotics, classic, tuners, motorcycles, race cars, and anything else you can think of.

Here is a great picture gallery kindly provided by Jack Moschetto of Gypsy Jack Racing. You can usually find him at Hunt Valley Cars and Coffee with his beautiful and very customized blue Yamaha R1. I would have used some of my pictures, but his photography skills are much better then mine!

Where: Hunt Valley Towne Centre, 118 Shawan Rd, Hunt Valley MD, 21030

When: Saturdays, 7:30 am – 10:30 am

Why: Because you like talking with other gearheads!

Maserati GranCabrio — Car Financing for a Maserati!

2012 WAPA Rally was a Blast!

Last Friday I attended the 2012 WAPA (Washington Automotive Press Association) Rally at Indigo Landing. The WAPA Rally was quite a lot of fun and I got to test drive a lot of cool cars, all on the same day! The vehicles I got to drive at the 2012 WAPA Rally included the Lexus GS350, Mecedes-Benz GLK, Ford Escape, Hyundai Veloster, Jaguar XF, Kia Optima, and the Subaru BRZ. I probably would have driven more cars if I had gotten to the WAPA Rally on time. I got held-up on the I-83 on ramp heading South, due to this.

Not sure how this Honda Accord got into an accident, just glad I didn't get into an accident getting on the freeway. Anyway I drove about 1/4 of the vehicles there that were available to drive. I wanted to drive the BMW 640i, Audi A8L, Dodge Dart, and VW Golf but most of these were being driven by other auto journalists. I just didn't have time to test drive them all but hopefully I will be have a chance in the future.

By far my favorite car that I drove at the WAPA Rally was the Subaru BRZ. The handling is tight, acceleration amazing, and the car seemed to fit me like a glove. I joked with a guy who came back from driving the Subaru BRZ, “I was almost tempted to drive it home!” his reply “Oh yeah! Me too!” I only wish it was a stick shift. The PR rep from ESI, the company that was handling the fleet vehicles, said they have a Scion FR-S (same car as the Subaru BRZ) that is a stick shift but most are automatics.

The car I was most impressed would have to be the Kia Optima. Compared to other Kias I have driven the Optima I was drove actually felt like a car and not a toy car. Kia has definitely stepped up their game and it showed. The Optima wasn't fast, but was agile and responsive and the interior was quite nice. My only gripe would be the audio and navigation controls are a little confusing. Still I am sure the other PR reps were looking over at the Kia and thinking, “How did Kia get that good so fast?” That is something everyone is wondering.

The Ford Escape Titanium I drove was also much better then any other Ford SUV I have driven in the past. The interior felt plush and well-appointed and the handling wasn't bad either. It still felt like an SUV but a capable small SUV which is exactly what Ford was aiming for. At $33,000 for the Ford Escape Titanium model I drove, I guess you get what you pay for.

My favorite luxury car at the WAPA Rally was definitely the Jaguar XF. I mean it just looks sooo pretty and when you get in you feel great about yourself. In my opinion this is just what luxury car should do. The Jaguar XF also felt fast and responsive compared to some of the other luxury cars I drove at the WAPA Rally. It's not a driver's car, but it sure fools you. Like most people, I don't like the dial shifter for changing gears. Seems cool at first until you use it. If I owned a Jaguar XF I feel I would go into the wrong gear by accident a lot.

After the driving the cars there was a nice catered lunch. Jessica Anderson, President of WAPA, handed out awards for Best Tweet, Best Picture, and a few other awards I can't remember. You got points for filling out a questionnaire and driving as many cars as you could. As well you were supposed to spot WAPA signs that were set out on the 3 different driving routes. Apparently there were 10 but I only noticed 3. Also I hardly took any pictures or tweeted since I was focused on driving as many vehicles as possible. I guess I was having too much fun!

I love my Toyota Camry since it is a great and reliable car. However, it is a bit disappointing when you get back into your own car after having driven so many other cars you want to own, all on the same day!

Hunt Valley Cars and Coffee

Hunt Valley Cars and Coffee is having it's 6-month anniversary tomorrow morning. My friend Gypsy Jack has told me it's turned into quite a big and fun “gearhead” meetup for people from around Maryland and Pennsylvania. People will even drive up from Virginia for Hunt Valley Cars and Coffee to my understanding.

The Hunt Valley Cars and Coffee not only attracts a wide range of people, but cars and vehicles are diverse too. Classics, tuners, exotics, sportbikes, cruisers, lowriders, hot rods, etc. You name it, someone is going to come by with it, probably has, or eventually will. Check out some pictures from Hunt Valley Cars and Coffee.

Where: Hunt Valley Towne Centre, 118 Shawan Rd, Hunt Valley MD, 21030

When: Saturdays, 7:30 am – 10:30 am

Why: Because you like talking with other gearheads!

People usually gather in front of the closed Best Buy, since that is where the most parking is. Most people go over to Caribou Coffee to get coffee. Some people stay until 10:30 but I believe most are out of there by 9:30.

FYI after or before) Cars and Coffee I would recommend going to the Pennsylvania Dutch Market on York Rd. All you do is take a right on York Rd and go for about half a mile and then turn left onto Ashland Rd. The baked goods, donuts, and food there is AMAZING and it's run by Amish. Also the coffee here will be better in my opinion. It's a great thing to do if you have out-of-town guests or want to treat yourself. The Amish have me hooked on their apple fritters and cookies!

What’s That White Gunk On My Car? Griot’s Garage Dried-On Wax Remover Might Help

One nice spring day when you are washing your car you decide, “Hey, why don't I give it a wax too!” While you are waxing the car, you are a bit too enthusiastic with the wax and cloth… and you get it on your plastic and rubber trim. Whatever, you will just be more careful. As you continue waxing it is hard to control all the wax and make sure it doesn't get on the plastic and rubber. When you are done waxing, letting it dry, then buffing it out, your car looks great. Then you say, “Hey, what is that white gunk on my trim?” It is tried wax!

What are you to do? You try washing it off with soap and water. Doesn't work that well, right? I know, because I tried it.

The car care experts over at Griot's Garage have a good solution for this problem, Dried-On Wax Remover. It removes dried wax, that you might otherwise not be able to get off your car. How does it work? Pretty well actually. I had some dried wax on my Honda Accord that was bothering me for a couple months. Click on my pictures below to see the before and after.

It can be hard to see from pictures how well car cleaning products work, but I think you can tell the Dried-On Wax Remover is a good solution to getting that pesky dried-on wax off your car.

What the pictures I took did not show, was that some wax that was really on there took several applications to get off. There was some residue still on there, so I used Meguiar's Ultimate Black Plastic Restorer to give my car's trim extra pop and mask any remaining wax residue. I noticed the bottle said that you might need to use a toothbrush to scrub off the really tough dried wax. I have not had been willing to try this yet, but I am fairly sure if you did scrub the residue remover in with a toothbrush it would work. It worked well enough without it.

Overall, Griot's Garage Dried-On Wax Remover definitely works at getting the pesky dried wax off your car's trim, for the most part. It is a good solution to a common car waxing problem.