Auto Glass Cleaning - Tips for Sparkling Clean Windows and Mirrors

The windows of your car take a beating from dirt, bugs, bird droppings and other debris. But with a few simple techniques and a little know-how, you can make even the dirtiest windows sparkle. Here's a list of helpful glass cleaning tips to get your windows brilliantly clean - and without leaving behind streaks, scratches, residue or lint.
1. The first step is to choose an auto glass cleaner. Make sure your glass cleaner does NOT contain ammonia, alcohol or any ingredient that could produce toxic fumes. Beyond the obvious health concerns of inhaling these fumes, consider the impact your automotive cleaning products have on the environment. There are car care products on the market that are 100% biodegradable, non-toxic and recyclable that have the same great cleaning power as traditional cleaning products.
2. Any product containing ammonia is a definite no-no when it comes to auto detailing. Ammonia and ammonia fumes cause plastic, rubber, vinyl and leather to dry out, and will damage any tint your windows may have. Do your homework and you won't end up destroying your vehicle's interior while you're trying to clean it!
3. The type of towel you choose to clean your windows with can make all the difference. Choose a high-quality, glass cleaning microfiber towel of at least 300 GSM. Microfiber towels can hold up to eight times their weight in water, are lint-free and will not cause scratches. An electrostatic charge causes dirt and debris to be lifted up and away from the surface, rather than dragged across it. Old t-shirts, towels, socks and newspaper are not the best choice when cleaning your car's glass, and will likely cause scratches, streaks and missed spots.
4. If you are cleaning the entire interior of your car, save your windows and rear-view mirror for last to avoid getting stray spray from other cleaning products on your freshly cleaned glass. You can also avoid stray spray by spraying your window cleaner (and other applicable interior auto detailing products) onto the microfiber towel - not directly on the surface.
5. Another factor to keep in mind is the motion you buff with your microfiber towel. While a circular motion may appear to be actively buffing away any streaks from your windows, a straight back-and-forth and then up-and-down motion will ensure that the entire surface has been cleaned and wiped down thoroughly.
6. Remember when cleaning your windows or mirrors to use one towel (or one side of a towel) to wipe the surface clean, and a second to buff the surface to a residue-free shine. Not only do you need two clean towel surfaces per swipe, but per window. The last thing you want to do is spread the dirt and dead bugs that you wiped off of your windshield onto the next window you clean. Make sure you have enough clean towels to avoid contaminating one window with the last one's mess.
7. Avoid cleaning your vehicle's windows in direct sunlight or very hot conditions, if possible. This is especially important if you are using a window cleaner containing harsh chemicals. When the liquid evaporates, the fumes left behind could easily be inhaled, posing a serious health risk. Even with non-toxic window cleaners, evaporation can also mean a spotty residue before your towel even hits the glass.
8. The easiest place to overlook when cleaning your vehicle's windows is the small edging area at the top of the window. Often, this area is especially dirty from build up in the rubber lip. Be sure you roll each window down several inches to clean this area on both the interior and exterior of the glass.
9. Ever get a build up on the edges of your windshield wipers that causes blurry areas on your windshield? Wipe down your blades with a damp cloth and a bit of white vinegar. The vinegar will remove the debris that's stuck on the blades and allow them to make full contact with the windshield again. If after a wipe down, your windshield wipers haven't improved any, you may be due for a new pair. And don't forget to clean out your wiper cowl once in a while! The wiper cowl is the area at the base of the windshield where your wipers lay when not in use. Keeping this area free of grime will greatly reduce the amount of debris on your wipers.
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How to Connect the Music on Your Phone to Your Car Stereo

One common ground of people who buy mobile phones is the desire to use their new gadget not only for communication but also for entertainment, especially playing music. Many are thrilled with the idea too that these mobile phones can be connected to the car stereo, giving the driver the chance to play music from the phone's memory through loud car speakers. There are three ways to do that: through an auxiliary audio cable, Bluetooth or via the FM transmitter.
Auxiliary Audio Cable
Of the three options given, this one is the cheapest, if the car already has an Aux outlet installed. To find out if your car is indeed configured to this specific purpose, locate the Aux outlet on your car's stereo. The outlet should look like a regular headphone or speaker banana jack (about 3.5 mm) and it should be labelled with either "Aux", "MP3" or "Audio". If this outlet is not available, you have to resort to other options given below. However, there is a good chance that two options will not work for you too since the use of Auxiliary audio cables in connecting phone and car stereos is the oldest of the three technologies. If your car does not have an "Aux" outlet, then there is a very high chance that your car does not have Bluetooth too. But don't worry; you can have the auxiliary in added into your car stereo at an affordable cost.
If you have everything ready, just plug one end of the auxiliary audio cable into the headphone jack of your and the other end to the outlet on your car stereo. The connection is virtually uninterrupted because of the direct cable connection.
Bluetooth
If your car is already Bluetooth-compatible, then using Bluetooth to connect your phone to your car would cost you nothing at all. Well, Bluetooth-ready car and phone are both expensive so connection cost is actually out of the question. However, to be able to use Bluetooth in audio streaming, your Bluetooth devices should be able to access the same "profile". Bluetooth profiles allow different Bluetooth devices to interact with each other despite their different functions. If you can make them access the same "profile", then the only thing left for you to do is to pair your devices and you will be able to start playing music. The downside of using Bluetooth lies in the fact that it is a wireless connection, thus audio quality is a little bit affected. It also consumes more battery so it is almost necessary to install a phone charger in your car.
FM Transmitter
This solution is only advisable when the other two options are impossible. The problem with the use of FM transmitter is that audio quality becomes highly dependent to the radio traffic in the area where you are at. In places where the radio traffic is jammed, different interferences can occur. Interferences like static sounds and bleed-overs can really make your listening experience suffer. But if you are left with no choice, all that you need to do is to check whether your car radio is working (please be aware that your radio may seem broken just because you have a damaged antenna).
You can always check the reviews concerning how to connect your own phone to your automobile stereo by visiting the Bluetooth sites.
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Emergency Police Lights for All Weather Conditions

Emergency police lights by the sound of it need to be extremely reliable, resilient in all weather conditions and energy conserving. There are several designs which offer these advantages while looking stylish at the same time. Sleek police lights and beacons are available in multiple colors. The beacons usually comprise of a LED light source with gyrating ability. This allows for 360 degree visibility of the light. It is covered by a dome shaped casing made of thermoplastic material. The dome usually has a polycarbonate base that ensures that the light is moisture resistant. The beacons are shock proof and also come with magnetic mounting that makes them resistant to vibration as is required in case of police vehicles. The rotating signal effect is excellent and with a life duration of 50,000 hours, can be ideal for emergency purposes.
Emergency police lights are manufactured to be maintenance free, offering light intensity sometimes in excess of 70cd. The impact resistance is also in excess of 20 Joules making them highly reliable and apt for rugged usage. The magnetic mounting of some emergency lights allows you to mount them on top of any vehicle with ease, without any hassles. With 180 rpm and 120 flashes per minute, the beacons are quite popular for emergency vehicles. Other forms of emergency lighting like LED bars are also beneficial especially with a variety of mounting styles and shock proof and weather proof construction.
The emergency police lights come with several in-built flashing patterns and operational modes. The most popular ones include static, dimmer, blackout, strobe, off-angle and linear flashing modes. These modes are not only adjustable for frequency but also for the intensity of the lighting. In other words, they can be brightened or dimmed, depending upon the circumstances. The LEDs used for these emergency lighting systems vary from 1W to 30W depending on how much intensity is required. Similarly the dimensions too vary from as small as 3mm to bigger ones measuring 10mm or more. The emergency lights also come with color mixing and color changing operations allowing you to create a more attractive flashing display that will catch anyone's attention with high intensity beams.
Emergency police lights can be installed easily with the help of mounting brackets and clips, interlocking connectors, 6, 12 or 24 V cables, power supply and other mounting hardware. The rubber grommet bases of some strobe lights not only help in installation but also help in keeping the lighting mechanism steady and impact resistant. One can opt for 3 LED mini bars as well as powerful light bars with more than 2 dozen LEDs. Emergency vehicle lighting is usually cased in crystal plastic or metal. Aluminum casing for example, has a heat dissipation structure, which proves useful when the lights are on for a long time. Bright pair lamps could also be used on emergency vans on both sides. The sleek flash lights can be controlled with a wheel for slowing or accelerating the blinking and make for excellent replacement for parking lights, backup lights and brake lights.
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