When I come in the morning to work and do my read on the daily news and sports to settle in for the morning before I start my work day, I stumbled on a car article featuring the 10 most beautiful cars currently for sale in the world. It did not surprise me that 9 out of 10 cars were European. One car that stood out like an eye sore was the 2008 Alfa Romeo Competizione, a sheer brilliance in car design. When it comes to elegant cars I can’t help but to think European. I think European car designers have a more sophisticated and “clean” look to their designs, a beauty that attracts not only the prestige upper class but anyone who gets a chance to see one. The competizione is a prime example of that classic European elegance.

I was thinking to myself when I took the first glance at the car, this car looks like 3 or 4 other exotic cars combine in one. The funny thing is that the car is derived from 3 or 4 other car manufacturers. The Competizione uses a modified Maserati platform and powertrian. The engine bay is equipped with a Ferrari/Maserati derived 90 cross-plane dry-sump lubricated 4.7 liter V8 assembled by Ferrari. The engine performance figures to about 450 hp at 7000 rpm. The Alfa Romero also comes with the “F1 style” six speed transaxle gearbox levers which located behind the steering wheel. To hold down the vehicle, Alfa Romeo equips the Competizione with 20 inch wheels: 245/35 at the front and 285/35 at the rear. Performance numbers are 0-60 mph at 4.2 seconds, and quarter mile time at 12.4 seconds. According to Road and Track, this car can top 190mph.

Note: Need Perfomance brake parts for your exotic car? visit us at R1 Concepts

  Everyone knows how great a basketball player Michael Jordan was, but did you know about his 6 year struggle to win his first championship ring and become known as the best basketball player in NBA history.

 During Michael Jordan’s first season in the NBA, he was averaging 28.2 ppg on 51.5% shooting. He quickly became a fan favorite and got voted to be a starter on the All-Star game. Some of the veteran players such as Isiah Thomas didn’t like the thought that Michael Jordan was getting so much attention where they chose not to pass the ball to him during the game. He ended up getting the rookie of the year award regardless, but his team went to a 38-44 season record and lost in the first round of the playoffs four games to Milwaukee Bucks.

 In his second year, Michael Jordan got injured with a broken foot and missed 64 games. Surprisingly with a 30-52 record, the Bulls made the playoffs and Jordan recovered to come back to play, but lost against to one of the best teams in history, the Boston Celtics by being swept in the series.

 In his 1987-88 season, he got himself in the NBA history books by joining Wilt Chamberlain, to score 3,000 points in a season, averaging a league high 37.1 points on 48.2% shooting. He also got recognized for his defense by becoming the only player in history to record 200 steals and 100 blocks in a season. Through all that glory, he didn’t win an MVP award and got swept by the Boston Celtics once more.

 

Struggle and Disappointment

Finally At Last

Posi Quiet Brake Padsspeaks for itself.  The “Posi” in Posi Quiet brake pads means these pads are positive mold.  What the heck is positive mold?  Positive mold (Image #1 below) is a Original Equipment Manufacture process in making an OEM brake pad.

Posi Quiet Positive Mold Process - (Image #1)

In positive mold, the fictions material are highly compress into a brake pad molding plate and then is bonded by extreme pressure into the backing plate of the pads.  With positive mold, there will be consistent fiction material density throughout the whole pad.  Meaning, even brake wear and consistent performance throughout the pads’ life.  Also, with positive mold there’s no need of worrying about any adhesives being in the friction material.  (Many non-positive mold pads use adhesives to combine the fiction material with the backing plates.)

The “Quiet” in Posi Quiet is because these are truly quiet pads.  There are many key characteristics in making a brake pad less noisy and squeaky.  Posi Quiets are pads are all mechanically shimmed (Image #2) and shimmed accordingly to specification of each brake pad application.  Many other company shim their pads, but using universal shims, where they cover only some section of the pads.   That can lead to possible noise and vibration.  Another feature Posi Quiet brakes pads have to noise minimization is having precision cut or shave backing plates (Image #3.)  This with ensure proper fitment into the calipers, resulting in consistent braking power and brake pad wear.  Posi Quiet fiction formulation makes the pads less noisy and squeaky as well.  Also, these pads (depending on your application & specs) are chamfered on the sides to minimize noise.  All these noise abatement features in Posi Quiet brake pads also makes it less noisy but also keeps the pads from vibration.

Before we step into what type of pads Posi Quiet carries,  there are more key features why these pads are considered bang for the buck.  These pads are scorched meaning for no break-in required.  The pads surfaces are pre-heated in a state of the art scorching oven (Image #4), simulating the initial break-in process performance by installation technicians.  No need to worry about pad glazing since these are already scorched.  Take a look at the Scorched chart to compare scorched to non-scorched pad(Image #5.)

Posi Quiet brakes pads comes in 3 types of formulation:  Posi Quiet Semi-Metallic, Posi Quiet Ceramic, and Posi Quiet Extended Wear.  Depending on your driving conditions and  what you’re looking for in a brake pad, Posi Quiet has it for you.  Please take a look at the chart and see what type of pads fits you (Image #6.)  The chart have 6 categories: high temp fade resistance; operating friction level; rotor life; pad life; anti-dust capability; and noise abatement.

Semi-Metallic Quick Features:

-Outstanding wear characteristics

-High Friction level

-Stable friction performance wide temperature ranges

Ceramic Quick Features:

-Longest wearing most advanced material available

-Lowest dust

-Stable friction performance wide temperature ranges

Extended Wear Quick Features:

-Long wearing

-Low brake rotors wear

-Stable friction performance wide temperature rages

-Excellent for fleet service

Posi Quiet Shims - (Image #2)

Precision Cut or Shave Backing Plates -(Image #3)

Scorching Oven - (Image #4)

Scorched to Non-Scorched Chart - (Image #5)

Posi Quiet Brake Pads: Semi-Metallic, Ceramic, Extended Wear

Posi Quiet will give the performance bite on the brake rotors.  These are aboslutely the best bang for the buck.  If you’re a daily driver, and stop agressive here and there while driving, than these pads fit perfectly for you.  If you’re a aggressive driver/street/track, and always hard on the pedals, than I would recommend Axxis Ulitmates or Hawks HPS. Here at R1 Concepts Inc. we carry Posi Quiet brake pads as well as other brands. Be sure to check us out.

We are now in 2008, but I must to tell you my daily grinder to work has yet to fail me.  I drive a white 2000 Honda Accord V6 to work every day, and I have put 120K miles on this car and it’s still running like a champ.  I have ran into a couple problems such as the transmission slipping on me, but after getting that fix, I have not encountered any other major problems.  Gas mileage is not too bad, and maintenance on this car is fairly cheap.  I can tell you with the abuse that I put on this car, no other car can actually last this long.

Pros:

- Low cost on maintenance.

- Still maintain a trendy look.

- Roomy back seats and trunk space.

- V6 engine, but doesn’t need to take Premium Gas.

- Solid Suspensions.

Cons:

- There is no 5 speed on the V6 version.

- Sound system and LX rims are cheesy.

- No Traction Control.

- Transmission will last up to only 100k miles.

- Road Noise.

I remember when I was a kid waking up at 6am just to watch cartoons. I remember one of my favorite shows was, Transformers. How cool was cars transforming into machine robots. I also watched a show called Speed Racer. A kid teaming up with his fast, high tech car.

The Cartoon Show "Transformers"

 When I grew a little older and started watching mini-series. The one television show I remember the most and many people who grew up in the 80s would agree with me was, “Knight Rider”.  The show was about a former police detective named Michael Knight who drove a sentient talking car with artificial intelligence called KITT (Knight Industries Two Thousand). KITT was disguised as a 1982 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am which had a turbo boost, could drive by itself, resistant against conventional weapon fire as well as artillery and explosive blast, and also had a distinction smooth looking scan bar which allowed KITT to see.

The mini series "Knight Rider"

 There are many times you see a car chase with smooth looking cars that opens your eyes and get you excited, especially when its not a common car you see driving around. For example, James Bond’s “Die Another Day” movie. The movie had James Bond driving an Aston Martin Vanquish.

Aston Martin Vanquish

Note: Get yourself a set of sleek looking premium drilled/slotted rotors at R1concepts.com.

 How about a movie with a story plot surrounding modified, fixed up cars like “Fast and the Furious”.  There aren’t much to the movie except for the combination of nice cars and attractive girls. The movies were a success which resulted to a “Fast and the Furious 4” releasing next summer.

Veilside RX-7

 Cars have always been a cool piece of motorized metal from the very beginning until the present, and will be till the end of time.