Easy New Year's Resolution Ideas

Gift Ideas for Car Lovers Almost everyone knows someone that is a car enthusiast. But for those that aren't, it can be tough to figure out what type of gifts will be most appreciated by the car lovers. That's why we’ve created this helpful list for you to check out the next time you are trying to buy a gift for a car lover! more Read More: What can I do with my old tires? Gift items to buy car enthusiasts While many car enthusiasts are fairly particular and have specific tastes about what goes on or in their car, there are a number of gifts you can give them that will still be very much appreciated! Check out these ideas below! Car Cleaning Gift Basket: items to include in a basket like this are high quality products like soap, a car wash nozzle for a hose, scratch-free wash mitts, microfiber towels, and you can put it all in a bucket! Driving Gloves Phone dash mount Dash mount for a camera (bonus points to buy the camera as well!) Jump starting kit Personalized Key Chain Wheel Cleaning Kit: items to include in a kit like this are wheel cleaners and wheel scrub brushes to get into every nook and cranny, scratch-free towels, wheel cleaner and wheel guard coats. A good tool kit geared toward mechanical work Car seat protectors Cordless tire inflator These are just a sampling of the many things you can get for the car enthusiast in your life. Model-specific gear and accessories like clothing, model cars and more also often make great gift ideas. View Our Inventory For all your automotive needs, come to Palmen Dodge Chrysler Jeep RAM of Racine today!

How to drive a manual transmission vehicle: Downshifting and reversing Learning how to drive a manual transmission model can be tough, but that's why we are creating a helpful how-to guide to help walk you through the steps to drive stick! If you are catching up, check out part one of how to drive stick! Let's dive right in and learn the next steps to driving a manual transmission: downshifting and reversing. more View Our Inventory Steps to drive a stick shift vehicle: Downshifting Once you've got the hang of accelerating and shifting gears (upshifting), you need to learn how to decelerate to slow down and stop safely. Downshifting is especially helpful on hills or in bad weather where it can be dangerous to brake too harshly. To downshift, you should be using the clutch and the brake while you shift gears, rather than the clutch and the gas pedal. Push in the clutch and shift down one gear while pressing on the brake. Let off the clutch slowing to avoid high revs. Repeat this process until you can reach a stop. Note: there is no real need to downshift into first gear, as at speeds that low you can generally just reach a complete stop and put the vehicle into neutral once you hit the bottom of second gear. But always make sure to get back into first gear as you start accelerating again! Important notes to remember about downshifting and stopping while in a stick shift vehicle are that you should only move one gear at a time. When at a stoplight, try not to press the clutch for more than a few seconds. You should put your car in neutral whenever you are stopped for any period of time. Steps to drive a stick shift vehicle: Reversing Once you’ve gotten the hang of moving forward in your stick shift vehicle, it's time to learn how to reverse! There is only one gear for reversing, but often it moves quickly, so it is especially important to let off the clutch slowly and push it back in while stepping on the brake if you need to slow it down. Learning to drive stick shift is a process that takes practice and time. Popping the clutch, or releasing it too quickly, will cause your car to lurch and stall out. This happens often as you are learning to drive stick, so try to get the hang of gear shifts before you drive in heavy traffic. Practice in open (read: empty!) parking lots, on long straightaways of deserted roads, and always have someone that knows how to drive stick shift along with you in case you run into trouble. We hope these blogs were helpful to teach you the beginning steps to learning how to drive a manual transmission vehicle! For all of your automotive needs, come on down to Palmen Dodge Chrysler Jeep RAM of Racine!

How to drive a manual transmission vehicle: The basics and upshifting Have you ever been car shopping and found a car you loved, only to realize it had a manual transmission? With the enormous popularity of automatic transmission vehicles, many people don't learn how to drive manual transmission, or stick shift, vehicles anymore. But manual transmission models can be more fuel efficient if you drive them correctly, and they can put more control in your hands on the road. Learn how to drive a stick shift here! more Read More: Road trip safely with your pet! Parts of a manual transmission vehicle The first step to learning how to drive a stick shift is learning what the different working parts are so that you can learn how to use them. Clutch pedal: Stick shift models have an extra pedal at your feet, called the clutch. It is located at the far left of the vehicle, and you will use your left foot to depress the clutch while you are shifting gears. Gear stick: Manual transmission models don't have gears for "drive, reverse, neutral, and park" like an automatic. Instead, the gear stick has numbers 1 through 5 or 6 and an "R" for reverse. Parking brake: The parking brake becomes especially important in a manual transmission model, because these models don't feature a set "park" gear like an automatic transmission. As such, you should always remember to use the parking brake when you park a stick shift model. Steps to drive a stick shift vehicle: Upshifting Before you actually start trying to drive stick, you should practice learning the gears and using the clutch with the car off to get the hang of the movement and motions. When you are practicing, get used to the feel of operating the clutch and switching gears at the same time, and make sure you are fully placing the stick into gear each time you switch gears. When you are ready to start the car, follow these steps: Ensure the car is in neutral (stick is in the middle, not pushed into any gear) and push the clutch down to start your vehicle. Put your stick into first gear with the clutch pressed down, and slowly let off the clutch as you press on the gas pedal (note: you will still use your right foot for the gas and brake pedals, your left foot should only be used on the clutch pedal). Around 15 mph or 3,000 rpm, you should be ready to move into second gear. Push the clutch in and let off the gas pedal, move the stick from first to second gear smoothly and fully, slowly let off the clutch while you push on the gas pedal, and then completely let off the clutch and keep your foot on the gas. This process will be repeated with each upshift. View Our Inventory Stay tuned to the blog for part two of this blog: Downshifting and reversing in manual transmission vehicles!