Tow bars come in many different shapes and sizes, and which one you should buy will depend entirely on your towing needs.

When it comes to being adjustable, it is often not the tow bars themselves but the brackets which are adjustable.

The camshaft, located beneath the engine, is another critical part of any car and fitted in a variety of conformations, each one operating with slight differences. In addition to the standard design, there is the overhead camshaft and the dual overhead version.

The camshaft rotates in conjunction with the crankshaft of a car. It performs a service that involves the mixture of air and fuel entering cylinders and the gases emitted from them, in an action repeated many thousands of times.

Modern vehicles are commonly manufactured with an engine block and a cylinder head bolted on top, which makes a head gasket a critical seal. This important component is situated between the engine block and cylinder head. It is a machined casting for an internal combustion engine, designed with cylindrical bored holes for hosting the pistons. A head gasket performs the task of a seal between the engine block and cylinder head.

The function of a radiator may best be described as a heat transference system, whereby the heat from hot coolant flowing through, is dispersed by the fan. The majority of radiators in modern vehicles are manufactured from aluminium. An engine coolant flows from the inlet source to the outlet by way of thin tubes mounted in a parallel arrangement, from which heat is transferred into the air flowing through the radiator.

Every filter, regardless of what it is designed to trap, will have to be cleaned and emptied on a regular basis so that there is space to continue trapping more things. This process of cleaning and emptying a Diesel Particulate Filter is called DPF regeneration.

When Diesel is burned in a combustion engine, much more soot is generated than by petrol-fuelled vehicles.

In 2009, the ‘Euro 5’ standard was introduced, which led to the requirement for manufacturers to fit Diesel Particulate Filters in the exhaust systems of all diesel cars.

Snow chains work simply by increasing the amount of grip that tyres have on the roads when they are icy or covered in snow. Increasing the traction between the car and the road makes driving in adverse wintery conditions much safer as it reduces the chance of cars losing control and skidding on icy surfaces.

In most European countries, the speed limits will differ to the ones marked on the roads if you are towing a trailer or a caravan. For safety reasons, vehicles which have items in tow are not allowed to travel as fast as other vehicles on the roads.

This may seem to be a fairly obvious standard practice, but it is not always clear exactly what the rules are. To make it easier for drivers travelling with trailers and caravans in tow on the continent, we have compiled a list of the maximum speed which you can travel on a motorway if you are towing in Europe. The speed limits will differ on other types of roads.

Trailer connectors are used to link the electrical systems of the vehicle to those of the trailer or caravan. This is how the trailer or caravan can display the corresponding lights if you use the indicators, turn on the tail lights, use the brakes or fog lights. This is extremely important for the safety of your driving whilst towing.

If those behind you cannot see the signals you are giving them, this could, in extreme circumstances, lead to serious accidents. It is therefore important to make sure that you have the right fittings and connectors before you set off on a journey with a trailer or a caravan in tow.

Before deciding which new tyres to get, it is very useful to know which type are already fitted to your car. Your mechanic should be a good source of information about which tyres will be best for you, but which tyres you need will depend entirely on where and when you drive.

Without a catalytic converter, three harmful compounds would be released into the air through the exhaust and could damage the environment and our health.

Energizer is a premium battery manufacturer with a reputation which is well-established worldwide. They manufacture and sell batteries which are more expensive than many of the other brands on the market.

They offer batteries to suit almost all makes and models of car and Energizer batteries are maintenance-free, just like Bosch ones.

Exide is a brand which has a wide variety of different battery products available. There are models available to suit almost all types of vehicle and Exide always aim to be pioneering in inventing and developing new technologies.

Bosch’s slogan is ‘‘Invented for life’ and their car batteries certainly aim to live up to this.

Bosch make batteries which will fit almost any make and model of car and a full list of which size and model of batteries are appropriate for which car can be found on their website.

An oil filter pretty much does what it says on the tin: it is the part of your car’s engine which filters the oil. It is a device which is typically about the size of a tin of baked beans which is absolutely crucial to the smooth running of your engine.

The basic function of motor oil is to lubricate the moving components of the engine.

Wheel alignment is also known as tracking or braking and it is the process carried out to ensure that a vehicle’s wheels are fixed into their optimum position according to their manufacturer’s specifications.

This process is provided to ensure that the tread on each wheel wears down at the same rate as the other wheels. In addition to this beneficial quick-fix, wheel alignment also improves fuel consumption as a result of reduced rolling resistance caused by unevenly worn down tyres.

To counter the rates of traffic accident occurrences, the leading tyre manufacturers carried out a vital piece of research that founded the Tyre Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS). The results from their study purported that up to 90% of all vehicles on the roads of Britain did not have the correct tyre pressure levels in their tyres. This lack of pressure can cause the tyres to wear down faster, increase the amount of fuel consumed and lead to traffic accidents.

Backing plates are often referred to as ‘brake plates’ and can be found behind the brake shoes.