If you have a new addition to your family on the way, it’s probably time to research car seats. Convertible car seats are a great investment, as they’re designed to last for years since they can change from a rear-facing seat for infants to a forward-facing seat as your child grows. Not all parents will start with a convertible car seat however, although many can accommodate toddlers as little as 4 lbs, so they are capable. Other parents may want to start with an infant car seat before switching over to a convertible car seat, once their child reaches the seat’s minimum weight and height recommendations. Unlike infant car seats, convertible car seats are designed to be installed into your vehicle and aren’t ideal for portability and transport outside the car.

We believe every car owner should have access to a set of sockets, even if you don’t often work on your own car. Our vehicles are full of nuts and bolts and even if you’re trying to do something trivial, chances are you’ll need a ratchet and socket. Like all tools, there are plenty of options for socket sets and you should pick one based on your needs. The main factor to consider is whether you need standard or metric sockets, although most of our recommendations cover both bases. We also include tool sets that come with ratchets and other wrenches to make your life easier when it comes to loosening those nuts and bolts.

These days, nearly every car leaves the assembly line with cup holders. Some car owners however, may need more cup holders inside their car or wish the cup holders accommodated larger bottles. Thankfully, there are numerous car cup holders available that expands on your current storage, whether by adding more cup holders to your interior, or adapting your current cup holder so that it can hold a larger bottle. If you’re one of those car owners that needs better options for cup holders inside your car, you’ve come to the right place.

“Where are my keys?!” It happens more often than we’d like to admit, but most of us have been guilty of misplacing our car keys. It seems to always happen at the worst time, causing frustration and stress as you’re trying to rush out the door. Thankfully, now there is an entire category of products designed to make finding your misplaced keys within seconds. Key finders are pretty basic and easy to use. You simply add one to your keyring or keychain and when you can’t find your keys, you either use an app or push a button on a transmitter to locate them.

If you’re getting ready to welcome a newborn baby to the world, you’re likely staring at an overwhelming list of items you need to buy. An infant car seat should be towards the top of the list, especially since most hospitals won’t even discharge you and your baby without a proper infant car seat. It’s completely understandable if you’re overwhelmed by all the options out there on the market, it is a product designed to protect your baby after all. So needless to say, you’ll want to purchase the best one possible to keep your infant safe.

Many of us endure long hours sitting at a desk before getting into our cars and dealing with traffic on the way home. All that sitting can take a heavy toll on your back, which is why it’s a great idea to invest into a seat cushion for your car. Car seat cushions aren’t complex products, and many of them will boast similar construction and features. There is a small variety of styles out there, depending on what’s most comfortable for you.

Do you find your factory car stereo a bit lacking when it comes to audio quality? If your vehicle is equipped with 4×6″ speakers, you’ve come to the right place. The aftermarket offers plenty of speaker options, many of which can replace your factory speakers with no additional power for a better listening experience. But shopping for the right speakers can be cumbersome, with a myriad of options and features. Here, we’ll explore great 4×6″ speaker options that are ideal factory replacements.

Many automotive enthusiasts treat their garage as a home for their car. While most garages have some empty space for storage, not very many of them come equipped with versatile shelving options. Expand and organize your garage with a quality garage shelving unit, whether you’re looking for a better way to store all your car detailing supplies and tools, or the junk you have lying around the house.

The engine is the most important component in your car. If it fails, not only does your car not function, but it’ll be costly to repair. While routine maintenance and oil changes will keep your engine running in good shape, you’ll also want to consider using an engine flush from time to time. This way, your engine stays as clean as can be, helping to run for hundreds of thousands of miles.

The wheels on a car can be extremely frustrating to clean, since they come in a variety of finishes and many have intricate designs filled with tiny crevices and hard to reach areas. Multi-spoke or mesh design wheels are notoriously difficult, especially if you’re just using a standard hand mitt for cleaning. Do yourself a favor and get a quality wheel cleaning brush, this way every inch of your wheels are spotless after a wash, without requiring a significant amount of effort.

More than any other vehicle manufacturer, Tesla has redefined brand image in the 21st century, becoming not just another car company, but something closer to a lifestyle for its countless devoted fans. And really, it’s not surprising to see the company inspire such loyalty.

We here at AutoGuide.com believe every garage should have a cordless drill lying around. Not only do they come in handy when you’re working on your car, they’re great for use around the house. But shopping for a cordless drill is no easy task, especially when there are dozens of options to choose from and a list of features that might read like a foreign language to you. So how do you choose the right cordless drill?

Driving during the daytime without proper sunglasses could be dangerous, especially if your commute keeps the sun in front of you. Enhance your safety and the safety of others with a quality set of sunglasses for driving, which will also protect your eyes from harmful UV rays.

We understand that most car owners will never touch a welder in their life, but there are some situations when welding is necessary while working on a vehicle. A proper pair of welding gloves can make a huge difference when it comes to welding, contributing to how quickly you can weld, agility, and most importantly, safety. When shopping for welding gloves, you’ll want a pair of gloves that offer flexibility, protection, and comfort.

On the surface, wiper blades appear to be a fairly basic component of your car. Every vehicle leaves the assembly line with them, and they’ll all work just fine straight off the dealership lot. But after a few months of use, you may start noticing that your wiper blades aren’t performing as well as you remembered. That’s because all wiper blades will degrade over time, which means you’ll eventually be shopping for replacements.

Regardless of whether you own a lot of tools, you likely want to invest into a tool bag to keep them organized. Not everyone will take full advantage of a tool box, and most general car owners will have the basic of tools in their garage. Tool bags are a cost-efficient way to keep your tools in one convenient place, and many will store power tools with ease.

One often overlooked accessory among car owners is a gas can. Most car owners won’t buy one until they absolutely need one, but that’s a situation you want to avoid. Whether it’s for emergency purposes or refilling other equipment around the house, owning a gas can has its benefits. You definitely don’t want to wait until you accidentally get stranded on the side of the road with no fuel, wishing you had a gas can handy.

If your car’s factory audio system isn’t satisfying, you’re probably considering speaker upgrades. One of the more popular sizes of car speakers out there is 6×9, large enough to deliver quality audio, but small enough to fit in nearly any vehicle. But shopping for speakers is never an easy task, especially since there are several variables to consider. Are you planning to upgrade your factory head unit? Do you want to install an amplifier for more power?

With everyone currently at home and countless car shows across North America canceled due to COVID-19, chances are pretty good that you’re looking for a project to keep you busy right about now. Luckily, there are plenty of automotive DIY projects for housebound gearheads to tackle from the comfort of their own garage. But if you want to keep your car looking sharp, and get it ready for cruising season, why not spend time upgrading the appearance of your brakes?

Interested in doing your own oil change and confused by all the different oil filters available? Given their cost, oil filters may not seem all that important to your engine’s performance but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Although they’re small and affordable, oil filters play an extremely important role in how your engine performs and its life. A poor quality oil filter could potentially cause damage to your engine and that’s definitely not something you want to experience.

Now that we live in a connected world, tracking your car’s location has never been easier. Using GPS technology, affordable trackers are available in today’s market, allowing you to know where your car is at all times. In addition, many of these GPS trackers have additional features that can monitor driving habits, which is great for keeping an eye on a teenage driver.

A charged battery is a happy battery. Keeping your car’s battery properly charged is essential to long life and reliability. When you drive, your car’s charging system keeps your battery topped up. However, if your vehicle sits for an extended period, the battery will slowly drain and discharge. A car battery left in a state of discharge can begin to deteriorate in as little as three days. This is also true for motorcycles, quads, or anything else with a rechargeable lead-acid battery. Once the voltage drops, the life of the battery drops with it.

If it rains a lot where you live, you may want to pick a set of tires that excel in the wet.

A trailer hitch cover may be something that you’ve never even considered buying for your vehicle.

This console generation, the Sony PlayStation 4 has really led the way with epic exclusives such as God of War, Spider-Man, and Horizon Zero Dawn. But that doesn’t mean racing enthusiasts have been left out. If you own a PlayStation 4 or PlayStation 4 Pro and looking for a racing game, you’ve come to the right place. From realistic racing simulators to story-driven, open-world driving experiences, the PlayStation 4 is jam packed with some of the best racing games the industry has to offer.

There was a time where picking the best monitor for your PC simply came down to the size of the monitor you wanted. Nowadays however, things are a bit different, especially when you’re shopping for a gaming monitor. Along with different panels to choose from, there are several factors to consider including resolution, refresh rate, response time, and any form of adaptive sync technology (G-SYNC and FreeSync). If you’re passionate about playing racing games on your PC, you’ll want to invest into a proper gaming monitor—one that has a high refresh rate, assuming you have the video card to support it.

With Esports becoming more and more popular with each passing day, it’s no surprise to see racing simulators becoming commonplace. Professional racers all the way up to Formula 1 use racing simulators to practice their driving and to help learn tracks, and there are even professional sim racing leagues like the F1 Esports Series. With talented sim racers even being drafted into real world racing, you may want to buy yourself a wheel and pedals to get in on this exciting and relatively new hobby.

If you own a PS4 and love racing games, you may want to consider purchasing a PlayStation VR (PSVR) headset. There are now over 500 games and experiences that take advantage of PSVR, but racing games arguably benefit more than other genres because of how immersive racing becomes in virtual reality. Unlike VR setups for the PC, the PSVR is relatively more affordable, assuming you already own a PS4 or PS4 Pro. We do have to caution that if you experience motion sickness, playing a VR racing game might not be a very pleasant experience. VR as a whole takes a bit of getting used to, and motion sickness is quite common, especially in racing games. In addition, Sony recommends not using PSVR on children younger than 12 years old.

The Nintendo Switch may not be as powerful as the PlayStation 4 or Xbox One, but it still delivers tons of fun. Instead of focusing on 4K capabilities like other current-generation consoles, the Switch lives up to its name by allowing you to take it on the go as a handheld system, or dock it at home to play on your TV. It’s quickly become one of the top-selling consoles of all time, thanks to its focus on family-friendly fun. You may not find extremely realistic driving simulators on the Switch that rival the likes of Gran Turismo or Forza Motorsport, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have its fair share of racing games. In fact, the Switch is the only console you get to play Mario Kart, and for many people, that’s all that matters.

Driving around town or getting stuck in traffic with a newborn infant in your car can be stressful. If your infant starts crying for attention, that could lead to distracted driving and a potentially dangerous situation. Protect yourself and your infant by investing into a car seat toy, which can keep your baby’s attention so you can keep your eyes on the road.

Triangle Tire recently held an event in Toronto to launch its full lineup of passenger vehicle tires in Canada.

Racing games have come a long way since Gran Turismo on the original PlayStation, or even Super Mario Kart on the SNES. Nowadays, racing games feature extremely realistic and stunning graphics, where screenshots could be mistaken for real life imagery. If you own an Xbox One and looking for some good racing games, there are plenty of options to choose from. Although you won’t get access to PlayStation’s exclusive Gran Turismo series, Microsoft has its own winner with the Forza lineup of games.

There are several good reasons why you often see car mechanics wearing gloves while working on a car. For starters, cars are extremely dirty being on the road all day long. Mechanic’s gloves are designed to keep your hands clean, but also to protect them from cuts and bruises, especially since most cars are packed with sharp edges. In addition, gloves provide a better grip of your tools and can keep your hands warm if you’re working in the cold.

If you’ve ever worked on a car, you’ve likely run into a situation where a stubborn bolt or nut just won’t come loose. Sometimes, even an impact wrench won’t do the job. This is where a breaker bar is necessary. If you ever plan on maintaining your car in the comforts of your own garage, you’ll want to invest into a quality breaker bar to make quick work of rusted bolts and nuts.

So you want to get into sim racing.

There’s a real good chance the light incorporated with your garage door opener isn’t extremely bright. It’s there for safety reasons and to give adequate lighting for your garage, but if you’re doing any serious work on your vehicle, you’ll want better lighting. That’s why garage work lights exist, and there’s a variety of types and options available on the market. Today, those products benefit from LED lighting technology, which means more efficient lighting with lower power consumption and heat.

We understand that not everyone has the luxury of parking their car in a garage every night. If that’s the case for you, it’s worth your time to take a look into purchasing and installing a carport at your home. Carports are typically a covered structure designed to protect your car and are typically free standing. Although they offer less protection than a garage, they do allow for more ventilation. Most carports feature a steel structure with a fabric top, offering protection against rain, snow, ice, and UV exposure.

It’s often overlooked, but using a quality brake cleaner from time to time is a cost efficient way to ensure your brakes stay in good condition. Brake cleaners can help extend the life of your brakes by removing harmful debris, grease, oil, and other contaminants that can shorten the lifespan of your brake drums, rotors, or pads. In addition, these cleaners can often fix brake squeals by getting rid of that debris lodged in your brakes.

One important but often overlooked vehicle maintenance product is paint protection film.

For those unfortunate enough to have driven a vehicle without power steering, you’ll know how much of a struggle it is compared to a modern vehicle with a power steering system. Of course, there are those automotive enthusiasts that will argue power steering takes away from a “true” driving experience—but let’s be honest, very few would want to actually drive a vehicle daily without power steering. That’s why it’s extremely important to keep your power steering system in good condition, and that means using quality power steering fluid.

Want to start saving some money by changing your own oil? Most vehicles can have their oil changed from the comforts of your garage or driveway with a little bit time and labor. Some of the tools you’ll need to change your own oil include a floor jack, jack stands, oil drain pan, and an oil filter wrench. While it’s possible to take off most oil filters with your bare hands, spending a few bucks on an oil filter wrench will make your life a lot easier. Some oil filters feature a slick finish, and depending on where it’s located on your car, could be a pain to grip.

Giving your engine fresh spark plugs should be part of your car’s regularly scheduled maintenance. But you don’t necessarily have to go to the dealership or pay a mechanic to swap in a new set of plugs. Instead, get yourself an affordable spark plug socket and do it yourself in your garage or driveway.

These days, modern cars are packed with safety features and technologies intended to make our driving experience as safe as possible. Unfortunately, accidents do happen and you’ll never know when you may get in a situation where you’re stuck inside your car. It may take some time for emergency services to arrive, and anytime you’re involved in a collision, every second counts.

Smartphones have GPS to get you where you need to go, and most vehicles offer a built-in navigation system as standard or optional equipment. But plenty of older or entry-level cars on the road lack that convenience.

If you’re looking to get your car looking like it’s brand new again, you’re going to want a high quality buffing pad. Whether you’re using an orbital polisher/buffer or doing things by hand, a well-made buffing pad gets the job done quicker, easier, and with better results. There are plenty of different types of buffing pads on the market today, made from various types of materials such as microfiber, wool, and terry cloth. Sponge pads are also popular and you’ll see quite a few products on our list that are sponge pads.

Believe it or not, 2020 is just around the corner, which means it’s time for New Year’s resolutions. The problem is, most resolutions are forgotten by February, so why not commit to taking better care of your car? After all, they’re not exactly a cheap investment and a little elbow grease can go a long way in making your car last. To welcome the New Year, we’ve compiled a list of the top 10 products we think every car owner should purchase heading into 2020.

If you’ve managed to break or lose a hubcap (or four) off your car, you’re likely tired of its unsightly appearance. Most vehicles that come with hubcaps from the factory likely have very unattractive steel wheels behind them—what are often called “steelies.” They make your car look cheap and even damaged, since something is clearly missing.

Driving gloves might seem like a luxurious accessory, but you may be surprised to hear there are plenty of affordable, high quality options. You may be asking, what are the benefits of driving gloves? Are they really necessary when you’re sitting in traffic while commuting to work? Well, along with offering protection and comfort for your hands while driving, proper gloves enhance grip and control. There’s a reason why all professional drivers have a good set of driving gloves when they’re out on the track.

Each year, the annual SEMA Show in Las Vegas attracts all manner of custom-built vehicles meant to showcase the latest and greatest the automotive aftermarket has to offer. At this year’s show, one vehicle in particular stood out: Atturo Tires’ Jeep Gladiator build, looking imposing as all get-out in black with vibrant green decals, big matte bronze wheels, a blacked-out grille, and — of course — the company’s new Trail Blade MTS tires.

If you love camping and your pickup truck serves as a companion to your outdoor adventures, you’ll likely want to invest into a quality truck tent. Designed to offer an easy way to setup shelter while in the wilderness, truck bed tents make for a quick and easy campsite no matter where you’re heading. Choosing the right truck tent isn’t an easy task however, with an assortment of options available on the market. There are a few things you should pay attention to when you start narrowing down your options.

You’re feeling pumped as you drive to work, you’ve just finished a killer workout, and you beat your personal record for the bench press. Simultaneously you conceived the perfect close for the big presentation you’re making that morning. Life looks good.

It’s no secret that today’s trucks are more comfortable than their predecessors by leaps and bounds. Pickup trucks have become quite popular among the well-heeled in the United States, stretching further up-market with pricey, well-appointed models like the Ford F-150 Limited and Ram 1500 Limited. Their interiors are clad in rich leathers and princely veneers, and they’ve got all the high-tech creature comforts and convenience features.

While most modern vehicles come equipped with competent car stereos straight from the factory, there is always room for improvement. Thankfully there are hundreds of options in the aftermarket if you’re looking to upgrade your car stereo. Also known as a radio, receiver, or head unit, the car stereo is essentially the centerpiece of any car audio experience. It’s what you see and interact with, with modern units offering features such as Bluetooth hands-free calling, touchscreen displays, and streaming audio.

Whether you’re shopping for a car enthusiast in your life or for yourself, a book always makes for a great stocking stuffer. Although ebooks have grown in popularity over recent years, nothing beats a nice hardcover or paperback book you can hold in your hands. Best of all, many of these car books serve as great coffee table books to show off just how much of an automotive enthusiast you really are.

The RC car is a toy that stands the test of time.

If you’ve done modifications to your Jeep Wrangler — like fitting larger tires, installing off-road armor, or adding weight in the form of other accessories, you’ve likely noticed your braking performance has taken a hit. Larger tires effectively reduce the mechanical advantage of your braking system, allowing the wheels to transmit more torque to the axle. While adding weight is, well, adding weight; the heavier the vehicle, the greater its momentum, and the longer it’ll take the braking system to convert that forward momentum into friction heat.

You’re likely aware that in order to keep your vehicle running in great shape, you’ll need to replace the spark plugs from time to time, but what about the spark plug wires? These wires are responsible for transferring high voltage pulses between the distributor and the spark plugs in order to ignite the air/fuel mixture in the corresponding combustion chamber. Some modern vehicles have distributorless ignition systems, which have the spark plug wires connecting each coil pack directly to one or more spark plugs, whereas others are of a coil-on-plug design that removes the need for wires entirely (but that’s another story).