The DriveSense Journal
Browse 58 articles on car reviews, model comparisons, buying advice and ownership. Explore topics or search for a model to find a relevant read.
58 stories · Page 2 of 5
A Chicago-based automotive journalist explains why tires transform steering feel, braking confidence, wet grip, noise levels, and ride quality before springs or coilovers do.
Practical owner-safe tips to find common parasitic drains like stuck interior lights, aftermarket accessories, keyless wake-ups, infotainment issues, and trailer wiring before blaming your battery.
A practical detective-style guide to tracking down rainy-day cabin leaks that soak your footwell. Learn how to localize leaks safely using simple tests focused on door seals/water shields, clogged cowl drains, and sunroof drain channels plu
A casual but engineering-minded guide to how wheel width and offset change scrub radius, steering effort, stability feel, and bump reactions plus practical clearance and safety checks.
Learn how brake wear sensors work (mechanical vs electronic), why pad warnings appear before brakes feel bad, what metal-on-metal sounds like, what not to ignore, and safe next steps.
Smelling gasoline after refueling? Learn common causes like loose caps, overfilling, EVAP leaks, purge valve issues, and when fuel odor means stop driving.
A symptom-led guide to brake squeal after replacing pads: cold squeal vs constant squeal, what’s normal during bedding-in, safe checks you can do, red flags that suggest drag or bad hardware fitment, and what to ask your shop.
Learn how to read tire sidewalls load index vs speed rating and why two ‘same-size’ tires can drive totally differently in safety, ride comfort, noise, and handling.
A street-legal OEM+ brake tuning guide explaining what pads, rotors, fluid, lines, and big-brake swaps really change—pedal feel vs fade vs dust with honest trade-offs like noise and cold bite.
A practical suspension-noise guide from Brian O’Connor: how to describe clunks like a mechanic, run safe driveway checks, and narrow down common causes without crawling under your car.
A practical decision-tree guide to fix Apple CarPlay dropouts: isolate cables and ports, reduce wireless interference, reset pairings, check power settings, and update software safely.
Getting flashed at night? Learn how headlight aim, heavy loads, hazy lenses, lifts, and LED bulb swaps create glare and how to diagnose safely and fix it without illegal mods.
DriveSense
