Care In Driving Will Extend the Life Of a Car

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19821, 24 December 1938, Page 11

Care In Driving Will Extend the Life Of a Car

MANY of the new owners, who will be on the road:: during the present touring season, may .not know too much about the mechanical construction of their cars, nor how the various parts of the undercarriage can be harmed by inconsiderate and thoughtless driving methods.

The modern car is staunch, and well able to withstand abuse for a long period, but the constant imposition of unfair stresses must inevitably accelerate the rate of wear, and sometimes will cause damage which is not immediately apparent.

If the owner is interested in keeping his car for several years, he has no wish to be faced with too many heavy repair bills in that period. It follows that his guiding principle in driving should be gentleness and care, both in his manner of handling j the various controls and in the way hecorners. Fast Cornering: Dangerous Cornering is one of the very j important things. There is little tq be gained on a long journey in putting a car into the bends too fast. Unless the driver is skilled, it is accompanied by a good deal of danger. Fast cornering places a heavy side strain on every part of the running gear. The tyres must take the strain first, and are exposed to an action which will quickly wear down the treads. Then, this strain is transferred to the shackle connections of the springs, or, if the car has independent suspension, to the bearings" Of the various links incorporated in this design. This will involve heavy wear on both the bearing surfaces and the side faces of the shackles, so that a general looseness develops: accompanied by rattles. Replacement of the various spring pins and their bushings is the only cure. It is an expensive business. The steering connections will also suffer, notably the steering pivot pins, and they too, will develop looseness far sooner than they should. Slow on Rough Sections Wear on all these parts is also caused by driving a car too hard over potholes and corrugations. But the greatest danger of this practice is that a deep hole may be hit so hard that the car axles crash against the chassis frame. This may put the wheels out of alignment without the owner's knowledge. The first inkling of the trouble will probably be given by excessive wear on the front tyres. Hard driving is not worth while. Tile modern car will maintain a good fast touring pace on the excellent roads we now possess, and the little time lost in slowing down for the few rough sections will amount to surprisingly little at the end of a long, run. '

The other manifestation of rough driving is violent use of the brakes,

gear lever and accelerator. '- Rapid acceleration is wasteful of petrol, and it places a strain on the various units of the transmission. If the gear, lever is moved too fast from one position to another, the teeth of the' gears will be damaged eventually,, because the modern synchro-mesh system, which obviates the need of: double declutching, requires some time to work. Bad, Use of Brakes The lever should just be moved quietly from one position to another, and the gears will slide into mesh'. It is worth learning the old double declutch method, because few cars have synchro-mesh on first and second, while even when changing down from top to second, the engine should be speeded up a little to avoid that bump through the transmission, which otherwise will occur, and which does not do the car very much good. One of the greatest faults of the new driver is his poor judgment of distances, which results in violent use of the brakes.

This is bad for many reasons. It will make his passengers apprehensive, will wear the brake linings down rapidly (their replacement is not cheap), and it will place unfair strains' on the tyres. Every time the wheels are locked, a surprising amount of rubber is taken from the tyres.