Hints for the Motorist

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXIX, Issue 13244, 21 January 1941, Page 7

Hints for the Motorist

6y ' ALBERT L CLOUGH

SAFETY AM) SAVINGS

While car makers are planning to launch safety drives there is much that the trade can do to bring home to the car owner the folly of being intoxicated with the speedability of his car. Motorists will talk savings, if they 'won’t talk sense. And savings have much to do with safety. As the speed of the car increases, each mile travelled costs the owner more than the time saving justifies. Ilis service man will point out, for Instance, that there is a tremendous increase in oil consumption over 5 0 miles an hour. Tyre wear at top speed is so much greater that there is not only rapid disappearance of tread but a likelihood of the tyres blowing themselves to shreds. Fuel consumption may increase 5 0 per cent, at speeds which to-day are easy for the average car. Brakes must

be used to the limit when stops must be made from high speed. There is a proportional increase in wear on many other parts of the

qar. Every rotating part is moving at higher speed, throwing its lubricant off with greater force and trying its best to run off centre. This creates unbalanced, forces, vibration, destruction. On cars where the drive is taken through the springs there is extra strain on the springleaves as speed increases. Water pump, oil pump, generator, distributor and universals have an increasingly hard time of it. Speed costs money, any way you look at it. If we drove at the speeds customary in the old days our motoring would be

surprising, 'v inexpensive, but we must strike a happy medium and take advantage of the benefits of faster transportation which is safe enough up to reasonable limits. Some

(lay higher speeds may be reasonably safe and we will then be willing to pay for it. But that day js not yet here. Ask your service man. New Effect with Tyres Any ear can be made to acquire a, heavier feeling by installing heavier tyres. These need not be oversize tyres but simply a heavier type tyre, especially if it is eight ply and with a thicker tread. It is not true, as many motorists suspect, that heavier tyres make a car ride harder, but such tyres do give a sensation of a heavier feeling. This often is desirable. Move Air, l/oss Sway While it is true that anti-sway devices, low centre of gravity and wide tread contribute to the lessoning of sway on curves, much reduction in sway can be obtained through having the rear tyres properly inflated. Some tyres naturally have less flexible side walls than others. If the car leans over too far on the curves try carrying the rear tyres at a little higher pressure. Speed Test in Low It isn't necessary to risk breaking: spt-ed laws or courting an accident to have some idea of what the car's top speed is. Simply give it a spurt, in low' gear, or in second if the roadway presents an opportunity. If the car will not run up to 35 in low with ease it is not likely to he able to do anything outstanding in high. One advantage in knowing the (op speed range is that it effords a check-up on the spark-timing. Stops Cause Overheat mg There are plenty of reasons why it does not pay to indulge in abrupt stopping, but just one that you may have overlooked is the fact (bat. this sort of thing helps to cause overheating. When the car is brought to a quick stop there is a forward surge of water into the top of the radiator where it is forced to overflow. After this happens a few times on a hot day the cooling system is likely to have less than its normal share of water. ■