Engine bay decoration is an under-appreciated art because, well, it sits in the dark under the hood most of the time. But painting your valve cover and other engine parts are a great way to add automotive easter eggs to your car and this video is the best guide I’ve ever seen on how to do it easily.

It’s been a while since I last dug into my car, which might explain why I got antsy and decided to tear into another fiddly old machine instead: an old camera with a seized lens. This will be a fun little project, I thought, picking up some lithium grease at the hardware store. Needless to say, not only has everything…

For years I have been wearing the same, plain white racing helmet. Why? It’s not because I wanted a plain white racing helmet; it’s because I assumed that painting one was an arduous process only doable by professionals. And I’ve been wrong this whole time?

You can buy a USB adapter for your car’s 12 volt cig lighter plug for a couple bucks. But if you spend just a tiny bit more time and money, you can have a charging port that looks clean enough to have come from the factory.

Understeer is the enemy of any driver, with the front of the car simply refusing to turn no matter how much you angrily saw at the wheel. Many people think it’s just a problem for front-wheel drive cars, but it’s just as bad for anyone with rear-wheel drive or all-wheel drive. Luckily, the technique for beating it is…

Sometimes you will get a warning, something like “Daaaad, I don’t feel good.” Or you may just get the faint sound of a liquidy burble before the event. A bomb is about to go off in your back seat, usually some putrid combination of chicken nuggets, PB&J and juicy drink. It’s not a matter of if, but when.

“Understeer” and “oversteer” and terms we hear and use a lot in the automotive community, and sometimes actually encounter behind the wheel. If you’re not completely sure what these words really mean and you’re too embarrassed to ask or admit you don’t understand physics, don’t worry. Just watch this.

Don’t just throw some cell phone pics on Craigslist and call it good. What you need is action, drama and possibly a, well, I don’t want to spoil it.

Driving in a circle to improve traffic flow may seem a weird, European concept for the uninitiated, so Michigan police are encouraging motorists to get on board and understand how to tackle them.

Confession time: I never did a burnout until my late twenties. I finally had a manual car, and I embarrassingly had to ask one of my friends how to smoke its tires. Fortunately, Engineering Explained put together a highly detailed step-by-step guide to smokin’ the meats so you never have to ask that question yourself.

Car enthusiasts are at odds with the realities of car ownership. Vehicles cost a lot to own, so it’s hard to own a lot of them. But if you only have one, your driving experiences will always be compromised. Don’t worry, I think I can make you the ultimate five-car fleet for less than the price of a new Ford F-150.

All I want for Christmas is to go to the California Highway Patrol’s car handling camp. Who knew learning how not to drive would be so much fun? I mean, now that I think about it, we all should have figured.

If a Dodge Viper will do the trick, what wouldn’t?

I’m going to go out on a limb and say that a safe 102% of the readers of this site are fans of both cars and a vast and disgusting variety of sexual acts. And that’s great. My stand on cars is well established (quite pro) and when it comes to sex, I can’t think of a more enjoyable way to get the maximum genetic…

The first thing that you discover when you do a rally is that it’s just about the most fun you can have in a car. The second thing you discover is it is a humongous amount of work to even begin to run an event.

I’d been a motorcyclist for one full week when a trip around the corner to get gas resulted in a downed Honda Shadow and $16,000 new right foot. I had taken the MSF course, and done countless laps around a parking lot. Surely I was ready to make a trip around the corner.

In the stale air of a AAA office, I looked up from a poorly-cut paper pamphlet to the dead eyes of the old man handing it to me. “This can’t be legit,” I said as I flipped through my newly-minted International Driving Permit. Yet, incredibly, it was. Here’s your definitive guide to the absurd (but real) IDP.