Automobiles

A good set of tires has always made a big difference in safety, fuel economy and handling, but one area that is getting new attention is the quality of tires to reduce or increase the amount of noise a vehicle makes. Tire manufacturers are racing to develop tires that reduce noise, aiming to meet tough new standards mandated by European and Asian nations that want to reduce noise pollution. Though U.S.

If you are planning to sell or trade in a used car, the next couple of months might be the most optimum time. Prices of late-model used cars are expected to peak for the year over the next six weeks or so, according to analysts at the National Automobile Dealers Assn. Used Car Guide. That's because auto dealers are trying to stock up on their used-car inventory for the busy spring and summer seasons and there is a shortage of good used cars, an echo effect of the recession.

Question: I am looking to the L.A. Times for help in trying to find out what is causing the orange/yellowish spots that are appearing on our cars in increasing numbers. I have lived here for 24 years and have owned white cars for all of that time. In the past four or five years I have noticed dark orange/yellow droppings on my car, about the size of a pencil eraser. Within the last two years they have increased in number. Once dried, it is very difficult to get them off.

Re "What to do about $4 gas," Editorial, Feb. 23 Who wrote this editorial? Not someone who lives in Upland but works in Irvine. Not someone who is an outside sales representative and needs to visits clients. Not someone who is keeping his old car because he cannot afford a car payment. How could someone live in Los Angeles and say that if you are not able to afford an expensive electric car, you can ride public transportation? In Los Angeles, what percentage of the workforce lives close to a public transportation line that will take them to work without any transfers?

Nearly a third of older-model cars stopped for roadside smog tests in Southern California failed them, despite having received a passing grade at inspection stations within a year, a state audit has found. The results of those surprise inspections of 6,000 models manufactured before 1996 have led law enforcement officials to crack down on unscrupulous stations, step up fines and file more criminal charges. Legislation introduced in the California Assembly this week would allow the state to bar low-performing test stations from conducting smog checks.

Is the fuel-injection cleaning sold by many independent garages and dealerships a sound investment in your vehicle, or a marginally beneficial service pushed on consumers to fatten profits? Fuel-injection service is part of a bigger trend in automotive maintenance that includes such procedures as flushes for crankcases, power-steering pumps and cooling systems, as well as for differentials and other lubricated parts.

Are the biggest of the big sport utility vehicles -- the carbon kings of the highway -- violating weight restrictions on public roads? SUVs are at the center of an ideological debate, particularly because these versatile and popular vehicles are among the biggest producers of carbon dioxide on the highway, though nobody apparently has examined whether their gross vehicle weights exceed limits on certain local and state roads.

Re "What to do about $4 gas," Editorial, Feb. 23 Who wrote this editorial? Not someone who lives in Upland but works in Irvine. Not someone who is an outside sales representative and needs to visits clients. Not someone who is keeping his old car because he cannot afford a car payment. How could someone live in Los Angeles and say that if you are not able to afford an expensive electric car, you can ride public transportation? In Los Angeles, what percentage of the workforce lives close to a public transportation line that will take them to work without any transfers?

Boyd Coddington still remembers his first car. It was a truck, actually, and he traded a shotgun for it. "I was 13 years old. In Idaho, you could drive when you were 14. I had traded without asking my father, so my dad made me take the truck back and get the shotgun back. Later on, I was able to come up with some money and get the truck back."

At a time when county government is slashing programs for the mentally ill and homeless, social service agencies are fuming over recent disclosures that Orange County is spending $750,000 in car allowances for 88 top officials--some of whom are leasing Lincoln Continentals and Town Cars at taxpayer expense.

John Chamberlain, a prolific American sculptor whose use of crushed automobile sheet metal became his signature during a career that spanned half a century, died Wednesday in New York City. He was 84. Reportedly in poor health, he had been working on a retrospective exhibition scheduled to open Feb. 24 at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, his second at the Manhattan institution. The artist's death was announced by his wife, Prudence Fairweather, although no cause was given.

Louis Borick, the founder and longtime chairman of Van Nuys-headquartered Superior Industries International, one of the world's largest manufacturers of aluminum wheels for the automotive industry, has died. He was 87. Borick died of natural causes Monday, two days before his 88th birthday, at his home in Beverly Hills, said his son, Steven. A onetime used-car salesman who sold his half of a business that made clear plastic seat covers in St. Paul, Minn., before moving to Encino in 1956, Borick founded Superior Industries in a 4,000-square-foot plant in North Hollywood a year later.

Angel Sawle was one of the thousands of Southern Californians who heeded the "Carmageddon" warnings and curtailed her weekend routine, choosing to stay close to home in Los Feliz. Sawle was glad to do her part, but she doesn't see herself making this a permanent thing. "I didn't mind doing it to help out," Sawle said, though she enjoys exploring in her car on weekends too much to give it up. The success of Carmageddon has given way to a political and lifestyle question: If L.A. residents can cut their driving for one weekend, how can they be encouraged to drive less the rest of the time?

High fuel costs are expected to drive down the number of Southern Californians traveling this Fourth of July weekend, but road trips may come roaring back later this summer if gasoline prices continue to fall, as experts predict. The Automobile Club of Southern California is predicting that 2.9 million Southern Californians will travel at least 50 miles this holiday weekend, a 2.3% drop from the same weekend in 2010. "High gas prices this spring have started to impact travel, but the good news for consumers is that gas prices are continuing to drop," said Filomena Andre, the Auto Club's vice president for travel products and services.

California's authority to enact automotive air pollution standards that are stricter than federal law has withstood legal challenge after a U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Automobile Dealers Assn. did not have legal standing in the case. Under the 1970 Clean Air Act, California may request waivers of federal standards to enact its own, stricter laws — a right granted because the state had its own pollution laws before the federal government's.

Soaring fuel prices have drivers running on empty. The Automobile Club of Southern California said nearly 16,000 members a month are making one of those mildly embarrassing "stranded, need gasoline" emergency calls. That's up 13% from the year-earlier pace and represents the biggest jump since California motorists were paying a record average of $4.61 for a gallon of regular gasoline in July 2008. "It's happening again to a lot of people," Automobile Club spokesman Jeff Spring said.

The drastic reinvention plan that General Motors Corp. unveiled Monday would leave the onetime world goliath a smaller, leaner company -- with its legendary Pontiac brand discontinued -- but puts the automaker on a collision course with bondholders that could still land it in Bankruptcy Court. GM proposed a painful downsizing that would eliminate 21,000 workers, 2,600 dealers, $44 billion in debt and four brands -- while making the U.S.

Major rental car companies are systematically funneling wrecked automobiles into the used-car market without making proper disclosure or providing salvage titles as required by state law, a series of lawsuits has alleged in recent months. Auto safety advocates say public safety is being jeopardized by many thousands of seriously damaged rental vehicles put back on the road every year in California alone by a network of rental car companies, salvage vehicle auctioneers and secondary repair shops.

With the scale of the disaster in Japan still being measured, concerns are growing that last week's earthquake and tsunami could lead to a long-term disruption in the world's supply of automobiles, consumer electronics and machine tools. Japan is the world's third-largest economy and a huge exporter of cars, electronic components and industrial equipment as well as steel, textiles and processed foods. In turn, it's a voracious consumer of petroleum, imported agricultural products and luxury consumer goods.

Molly and Stan Hyman are hitting the road and they've put their garage up for sale. And by the way, their six-car garage comes with a house. The Burbank couple are automobile enthusiasts and restorers who in 1995 custom-built their garage/house to give themselves room to rebuild and showcase vehicles. The building replaced a home destroyed in the 1994 Northridge earthquake, said Stan Hyman, a 76-year-old retired hospital administrator and real estate developer. "Molly wanted a new 1930s-style Mediterranean place, and we both wanted good garage space.