Cultural translation is a complicated thing, and it seems to get more complex the deeper one looks.  This suggests that there is no easy way to ever know for sure if people really do understand each other.  A local restaurant claiming to serve a European style food is entirely too general, although it might not make a difference to the diners if the food is really good.  In the same way, perhaps the way raggare culture works in Sweden has an essence that is the same, or similar enough, to its counterpart in the U.S.

Raggare is a subculture in Sweden that rose almost simultaneously with car culture in the U.S.  The almost is key here, because it was a quotation, or a rough copy, of what the kids in the states were doing.  The term “raggare” translates roughly as “pick-up artist,” so there is no question that the main force behind the culture is and always has been the elusive search for love.  The biggest distinction between the local version of rock and roll car culture and its counterpart across the pond is not found in attitude, however, nor in style.  It’s found in the way they treat their cars.  In the states, the rockabilly lifestyle is one that takes its cheap tires very seriously.  Finding the right way to modify the ride is a contentious issue, and one that sparks a great percentage of the conversations and head space.

In Sweden, it hasn’t been as much of an issue in the past, because the relative difficulty in finding parts made it a moot point.  Instead of looking for new wheels to give the car a new look, the stress was placed on the driver’s appearance.  The cars there could have the same factory design they were born with, and still pass with flying colors in the subculture.  Living a life devoted to good times, loud music, and of course, looking for love, is the heart of  raggare.

For the serious car fan in the U.S., this might seem to be a breech of all that is holy in hot rod culture.  For some, the mods are the heart of it, and there are plenty of people, young and old, who sleep and breathe the daydreams of their next modification.  For others, of course, the heart is that same pulse for rock and roll, a perfect night out, and the search for the most romantic story anyone ever heard.  It’s a question of essence, then, and one that translates in different ways, back and forth across countries and generations.

Essence and Car Culture is a post from: The Map Seeker

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It’s time to buy new wheels for your car. You have a little extra money in your pocket, maybe from a tax refund or quarterly work bonus. You can take a little time shopping around. Suddenly you’re confronted with an avalanche of choices for what used to be a simple process.

You used to go to your local tire store and pick the best pneumatic tires you could afford. Now you can choose to order tires directly from manufacturers or buy from online dealers all over the country. This means you have so many more brands, styles and models to choose from.

Perhaps the core choice you will need to make is whether to buy just tires or whether it is time to invest in a new set of both rims and tires for your car or truck. Rims come in so many different finishes, styles, and colors that you can really express your personality by the choices you make here.

Just how many choices can you expect to make? It really depends on where you shop and the initial decisions you make. Small stores offer fewer choices while online warehouse are practically limitless. Just make one choice at a time and you will be fine.

Lots of Choices Involved in Buying New Wheels is a post from: The Map Seeker

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1. The Care of Tires
2. Using a Bubble-Type Wheel Balancer
3. Completing Your Room Design

Tires should be checked for balance, and custom wheels should be aligned regularly to ensure that your vehicle handles properly and safely.  If either the balance or the alignment is off, not only may you have problems handling your vehicle, expensive tires on your custom truck wheels will begin to wear unevenly, thus creating situations where your tires may blow out, or at the very least cause you the expense of needing to replace them sooner than necessary.  The bubble-balancer is one of the oldest tire balancers still in use today, and it remains a very effective way to check the installation of tires.

Once you have replaced a tire that has been repaired, and is mounted on the rim, inflate it to the right pressure, and then double check it to make certain that is properly inflated.  If the pressure is not correct, then balancing the tire will not be possible.  Take off the existing weights, as they would interfere with correctly balancing the tire now.  You lock the bubble wheel balancer into position and place the wheel into the floating device.

The side of the tire that faces out, the street view side, should be turned upwards.  Once you unlock the bubble balancer, you will be able to come to a position wherein you will find a fixed and correct reading.  Your cooper tire should be floating in a level state.  Now is the time to look at the bubble, which should be visible in the middle of the window of the floating hub.  This is much like the bubble that floats in the middle of a level that is used in the construction of houses.

You will know that your tire is properly balanced when the bubble sits at dead center of the window.  If this is not happening at first, place weights on your wheels until you reach a proper balance.  Place them along the rim, one at a time, slowly increasing the weights until you find the bubble in the middle.  Once you have this achieved, you can now mount your balanced tire onto your vehicle, and know that you will be safe, and that your tires will have an increased lifetime on the road.

Using a Bubble-Type Wheel Balancer is a post from: The Map Seeker

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1. The Care of Tires
2. Lots of Choices Involved in Buying New Wheels
3. How Important is My Vehicle’s Oil Filter?

When doing your own oil changes it is important to follow the guidelines in your Chevrolet Silverado repair manual regarding the size of the filter that is correct for your particular vehicle.  Many filters look very similar, even the same, upon a general look, but the internal valve systems may be drastically different.  Many engines require what is called an anti-drainback valve which prevents the oil from draining from the engine when the car is turned off.  It also ensures that the oil pressure will remain such that the oil will reach the right parts of the engine at the right time, and quicker, when the engine is started again.

All filters that are set on the side of an engine require this kind of filter.  The threads on a filter must also be the correct pitch and the correct width for your particular vehicle.  A Chevrolet S-10 repair manual will give different recommendations than a Ford Taurus repair manual, so be sure to check depending on which make and model you are working on.  If you install a different filter, with different thread diameters, those threads will become damaged.  They hold your filter in place, so it is important that they do not release the filter while you are driving.  This would cause a drastic and sudden loss in the pressure of the oil and your engine may quickly become damaged beyond repair.

While you are doing the oil change, take note as to the heat of your engine.  Some will suggest that doing oil changes on warm engines is easier as the oil becomes thinner with heat, which will make it drain quicker.  While this is true, that thinner more viscous oil will be extremely hot, so take care to not get burned.  It is always best to just keep any car oil from touching your skin, as the health risks are questionable at best.  Home oil changes are a great way to save extra cash and a good way to get to know your car engine better, just remember to always follow the tips of the pros.

How Important is My Vehicle’s Oil Filter? is a post from: The Map Seeker

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1. Using a Bubble-Type Wheel Balancer

Everyday driving habits affect the life of the tires on one’s car.  Speeding is a habit of many drivers on the road, and the friction that is created causes the temperatures of the tires to soar.  Aside from the act of speeding being dangerous in and of itself, this creates an even more dangerous situation, as the durability of the tires will decrease, and the tire will simply wear out sooner.  Any fast maneuver, such as the taking of turns quickly, to stepping on the gas or screeching to a halt also causes unnecessary wear, and although there are many discount tires available on the market as well as chrome rims, replacing tires and rims can become a costly expense that is easily avoided.

One should also take care in avoiding obstructions in the roadways, or the potholes in the road.  Should one buy a used car, there is an easy way to find out how old the tires of that car are.  This is a number that is printed on the side of the tire, this is a Department of Transportation requirement in the United States.  The number begins with D-O-T and may have up twelve more letters and numbers following.  It is the numbers at the beginning and the end of the list of characters that are important in revealing the ages of the tire.

The first two numbers or letters will reveal the tire manufacturer.  Before 2000, the final three digits revealed the week, and the year in which the tire was produced.  So if the last three numbers are 348, the tire was made in the thirty fourth week of 1998.  Any  Toyo tire that was produced beginning in January of 2000, will have four digits in that end code.  So like wise, if the code is 2703, the tire was produced in the twenty seventh week in the year 2003.    This is a very helpful bit of information when one does not know the original age of the tires on a newly purchased vehicle.

The Care of Tires is a post from: The Map Seeker

Related posts:

1. Using a Bubble-Type Wheel Balancer
2. Lots of Choices Involved in Buying New Wheels