Perfectly adjust the driver's seat and mirrors. Tire air pressure. Drive for the first time in heavy rain. Get to know the car better. Further attempts to effectively air out the T-shirt

November 19, 2024.

When I woke up this morning, the clock showed 11:30. I really slept in! I was probably awake until around 2 AM last night. It’s not good that I lost sight of my goal to be in bed by 10 PM. I will stick to it again tonight.

The T-shirt that I hung up to air out yesterday still smells under the arms. Next, I’ll try hanging it in a warm environment. I set the heating to 1 and hung the T-shirt on the heater. It's not energy-efficient, but this is just an experiment. I just want to find out how we can effectively air out clothes to eliminate odors.

Last night, I watched safety videos on how to perfectly adjust the driver’s seat, including the seatbelt and the interior and exterior mirrors, and what many drivers unfortunately do not follow. I sat in the car and adjusted the following chronologically:

1. Adjust seat height. Your line of sight should be centered on the windshield.
2. Adjust the sliding rail for forward and backward. When pressing the pedals, I should be able to push them all the way down. The knee should be slightly bent (so not too close to the steering wheel, allowing for effective emergency braking).
3. The backrest should form a 90-degree angle with the seat.
4. The headrest must support the back of the head. It should be adjusted as high as possible.
5. Adjust the steering wheel. When the arms are outstretched, the hands should be behind the wheel. Although I don’t have a steering wheel adjustment, the hands should still be behind the wheel. When turning the steering wheel, the shoulders should not lift off the seat.
6. Adjust the seatbelt. It should lie flat on the hips and the lap belt should not touch the neck.
7. Adjust the side mirrors. For the left exterior mirror, the door handle on the driver’s side should be in the lower right corner. For the right mirror, the passenger door handle should be in the lower left corner. The horizon should be centered in the mirror.
8. Adjust the interior mirror. The entire rear windshield must be visible. For this, I removed the headrests from the back seats so they don't obstruct the rear window. I won’t need the back seat anyway since the sleeping area will go there later.

It's raining heavily outside. A good opportunity to test how the windshield wipers work. The front windshield washer, all stages of the front windshield wipers, and the rear window wiper are functioning. The horn on the lever and the onboard computer display settings - also on the lever - are working too.

I wasn't aware that the car has a fifth gear. When I drove from Hildesheim, I was in fourth gear because I didn't know that. Now I know and can drive more fuel-efficiently in fifth gear.

I have finally understood how to open the fuel cap. It must be manually unlocked with the car key; otherwise, it cannot be unscrewed. It would have been embarrassing to be at the gas station and not know how to open the fuel cap.

50% of cars drive with incorrect tire pressure. This affects driving dynamics and safety. Tires lose air pressure over time and need to be checked every 1 to 2 months. The car manual lists the tire pressures for different tire sizes and conditions (normal operation, loaded vehicle, or highway driving). My tire size is "185/65R15 88H." The "185" stands for "185mm" and indicates the tire width. The "65" stands for "65%" and indicates the tire height, which in this case is 120mm. The "R" stands for radial tire - that’s a specific type of tire. And "15" stands for the tire diameter. The "88" is the load index indicating how much weight a tire can handle, with 88 representing a maximum load of 560 kg. The "H" is the speed index indicating the maximum speed a tire can handle, which in this case: 210km/h.

I use the car mainly in normal operation (not loaded). The tire pressure should be 2.4 bar in the front and 2.6 bar in the back. I can check and adjust the tire pressure at the gas station. I have ordered a portable tire pressure gauge and a replacement bulb P21W. The third brake light at the back isn't working. On November 14, 2024, I have integrated DIY and will learn to do everything myself on the car as much as possible. This skill will be useful if I ever find myself stranded somewhere in the countryside.

Now that I figured out how to turn on the low beams and the wipers, I was brave enough to drive to the supermarket next door in heavy rain while also practicing parking there. The rain made it challenging for me. The windows were very foggy, and the wipers, which quickly wiped away the heavy rain, confused me.

Upon arriving at the supermarket, I first attempted to park head-in. It didn't work. I was parked very crookedly and took up two parking spots. I was glad the parking lot was relatively empty. I couldn’t see anything while reversing. I drove back very slowly and then tried to park a bit further back - away from the two guys who were watching me (and were probably wondering what I was doing). This time, it went a little better. However, I could have moved a bit more forward. My goodness, I didn't practice such weather in driving school...

The return trip was very stressful as well. I could hardly see anything. When I got back, I parked in reverse in the same parking spot. I had to adjust several times to be somewhat straight. Once again, visibility was practically nonexistent. I got out twice to see where I was driving.

In the store, I bought chips and a microfiber cleaning cloth so that I could clean the inside of the car a bit tomorrow. I was glad to be back. In such weather conditions as a beginner driver, I would prefer not to drive again. It's good that I overcame the fear and managed to do it. Step by step, I'm getting used to driving and to the manual transmission.

In hindsight, I watched a video on parallel parking and now understand why I couldn't park correctly at the supermarket the first time. I hadn't maintained at least 3.5 meters of distance from the parking spot while turning.

And when correcting, I hardly paid attention to keeping the steering wheel straight, which is why it didn’t work when I tried to park backwards straight on the first attempt.

It was so stressful that I had to smoke a cigarette again. It started to snow heavily. Okay, I can't avoid switching to winter tires, I thought. The snow and cold are a good opportunity to try out the third method of airing things out. Getting rid of the odors from the T-shirt by hanging it on the heater didn’t work. So, I hung the T-shirt outside to see if the cold could do something about the smell.

Unfortunately, the outside temperature of 3 degrees Celsius didn’t help either. Another idea that came to me was to use hand sanitizer. That worked immediately. The odor in the underarm area of the T-shirt is gone. Very good! I've found an effective method. It doesn't require water and the T-shirt is immediately ready to use without having to wait for it to dry. However, this method does consume resources, namely hand sanitizer, which is packaged in plastic. Next, I would test sprinkling baking soda on the smelly areas. That would be a cheaper and more eco-friendly method if it works.

I learned why the oil control light and the battery light are on when the ignition is switched on (engine off). At first, I thought the car had a problem, but the two lights are just on because the battery is powered but not charging when the engine is off. This means the battery can run down if the engine is off but the ignition is on. Also, the oil control light being on is not a problem. Both lights should turn off when starting the engine. And they do.

I tried to remove the old emissions sticker. It didn’t quite work. I cleaned the dirty floor mats in the washing machine. I went out again at night to try to remove the old emissions sticker. I found a glass cleaner and a scraper from the old fridge. With the scraper, I managed to get the sticker off.

By the way: It looks quite cozy in the car at night when snow sticks to the windows. With that said: See you tomorrow!

Today I am thankful for:

• That I dared to drive to the store in heavy rain (even though the store isn't that far away). That was a practice drive.
• That I learned new things about the car.
• That I succeeded in removing the emissions sticker.

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