Driving Lessons

So it's NOT on the actual tires here?

Good to know about wiper fluid. Thanks.

So it's NOT on the actual tires here?

Good to know about wiper fluid. Thanks.

Tire pressure has always been on the inside of the door frame for the last few cars I have owned. The pressure is not on the tire itself because it depends on where the tire is located and the weight it is bearing.  You may well find that the tire pressures recommended are different between front and rear depending on the car.

Huh. Well that's different than in the States. Thanks!

Huh. Well that's different than in the States. Thanks!

Nope, most of the cars I have ever owned were while I lived in the States.  If you look in your car's owner's manual it may even recommend higher pressures if you are towing a caravan. The door information is for under normal conditions for that particular model of car. Tire manufacturers don't know which vehicles their tires are going to be installed on and if they will be on the front or rear.

Yeah, it was on the door of my US car as well. My last lesson before the test was today. He said I'm ready in my automatic. Hopefully all goes well Thursday but I'm going to go practice parallel parking and backing in some more tomorrow. He helped me find the right reference spots for both of them today because I'd been struggling.

I just really have to remember "mirror - signal - maneuver". And to be visibly moving my head when checking mirrors because my glasses block their view of my eyes.

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I just really have to remember "mirror - signal - maneuver". And to be visibly moving my head when checking mirrors because my glasses block their view of my eyes.

That was my main problem when I did my first test.  I also wear glasses, and was advised that it wasn't clear that I was actually doing the M-S-M motions.  There was little doubt I had been doing them, but it wasn't clear enough for the examiner.  Also, being an experienced driver from back in the US, I had gotten used to glancing and looking around quickly without exaggerated head motions.  It feels utterly silly sometimes, but definitely move your head.

Best of luck!! 

Go Margo!

Interesting about tire pressures. Of course, I've not owned a car newer than a 2003 sedan. We were always trained to put the tire pressure to what it said on the tires themselves. Because the kind of car it was didn't matter, but the pressure capabilities of the tire did. (?) And yes, if you were pulling a trailer or had excess cargo, you might adjust the pressure for a long trip.  My tire shop used to fill the tires as a courtesy for us, and used nitrogen. You'd pull up, they'd check the pressure, and then adjust it as necessary based on what the machine told them to do. So I've probably been doing it wrong for decades!


Anyway, two things - First, I did MUCH better today, just minor faults.    Only did "hand-over-hand" steering once!  Too fast on an approach to a mini-roundabout, then realized it and didn't signal left to go straight through.  And I didn't do so well with backing into a space on the left. Was turning the wheel too fast. Did ok backing in on the right, though. I LOVE the Tom Tom thingy! If I ever am driving on my own (rental, or if we ever do get a car) I'm getting one of those things.

The second thing - have you guys ever tried "Green and Black" brand chocolate? I got in from my lesson and the Daughter handed me a dark chocolate with hazelnuts. OMFG, that's the best chocolate I've ever eaten!

The second thing - have you guys ever tried "Green and Black" brand chocolate? I got in from my lesson and the Daughter handed me a dark chocolate with hazelnuts. OMFG, that's the best chocolate I've ever eaten!

I LOVE G&B chocolate. I even bought one of their Advent calendars. (husband gets the pieces with nuts) Glad you discovered it!

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That was my main problem when I did my first test.  I also wear glasses, and was advised that it wasn't clear that I was actually doing the M-S-M motions.  There was little doubt I had been doing them, but it wasn't clear enough for the examiner.  Also, being an experienced driver from back in the US, I had gotten used to glancing and looking around quickly without exaggerated head motions.  It feels utterly silly sometimes, but definitely move your head.

Best of luck!! 

Yeah, me, too. Fortunately I still have the "bad habit" of checking my blind spots by turning my head slightly. That'll help during the test time, I think. But I still signal and then check the mirror too often, which isn't going to go over well. Even though I have no intention of moving until the way is clear and am advertising my intentions. It has to be Mirror/Signal/Move. So I've taken to saying that whenever I need to signal. It helps a little bit. 

Yeah, it was on the door of my US car as well. My last lesson before the test was today. He said I'm ready in my automatic. Hopefully all goes well Thursday but I'm going to go practice parallel parking and backing in some more tomorrow. He helped me find the right reference spots for both of them today because I'd been struggling.

I just really have to remember "mirror - signal - maneuver". And to be visibly moving my head when checking mirrors because my glasses block their view of my eyes.

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Back when I sat my test, "mirror - signal - maneuver" was also a real big thing to remember. My instructor had me offset the rear view mirror so that I had to move my head to do this, explaining that the examiner would be very clear that I was doing this each time I made maneuver.

Best of luck on Thursday.

My tyre pressure (see what I did there, trying to fit in) is written on the inside of the fuel filler door.

It's also written in bars.  Science ladies, can you explain if there's any real difference between the two measurements? Psi versus bars?

I think one bar is the atmospheric pressure at sea level? PSI is self-explanatory.

I think one bar is the atmospheric pressure at sea level? PSI is self-explanatory.

Almost... atmospheric pressure at sea level is 1013.25 millibars (mb) (also known as hectopascals (hPa)... we switched from using mb to using hPa in meteorology a few years ago).

1 bar is 1000 millibars, so just a bit lower than sea level pressure.

1 bar is approximately 14.5 PSI (pounds per square inch)


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I am so glad I'm not in high school science classes anymore! 

My tyre pressure (see what I did there, trying to fit in) is written on the inside of the fuel filler door.

It's also written in bars.  Science ladies, can you explain if there's any real difference between the two measurements? Psi versus bars?

As far as I'm aware (though admittedly, it's been a long time since physics), they are different units that can be used to express a pressure measurement and can all be converted from one to another with a specific formula - like RPM versus RCF/xg.  Grams versus pounds.  Gallons versus litres.   

IIRC, pressure has a lot of units though.  There's Pascal (part of the SI system), Bar, Standard Atmosphere, PSI, and Torr.  And I think there might even be a few more.  I do remember that even though Pascal is part of the SI system, it's Torr that's mainly used in medicine (e.g. blood pressure, expressed as mmHg). 

A part of me is vaguely remembering that what unit you use might be dependent on the range you're measuring since 1 unit of X might be equivalent to 0.0001 unit of Y, so it's more practical to write 1 X rather than 0.0001 Y.