HIGHROAD AND BY-ROAD

Waikato Times, Volume 103, Issue 17384, 21 April 1928, Page 23 (Supplement)

HIGHROAD AND BY-ROAD

DONT ALWAYS BLAJHE THE TYRE. t Some reasons why better tyres often to-day give less mileage. " Balloon tyres do not seem to give as long mileage now as they did when they were first introduced." This is a remark heard more or less frequently among motorists. Apparently many people think that present-day balloon tyres are not as good as those made two or three years ago, states a tyre expert in the Goodycar News. And here'we strike at the very heart of a condition in dire need of remedy—a condition based upon public misconception and in direct conflict with the actual facts of the case, for it is a fact that tyre manufacturers to-day are making the best tyres they have ever made, and the best tyres they know how to make. Steady improvement has been, and is being made in the art of tyre building, and in their several price classes tyres in general are of better quality to-day than ever before. It is also true, paradoxical as it may sound, that even though better balloon tyres are being made to-day than were made two or three years ago, the tyres of to-day do not appear to be giving as much mileage. When motorists find they are not getting as much mileage as they had expected, it is perhaps logical that they first blame the condition of the tyre. ' Few, if any, of them stop to think that changing conditions under which tyres are run, may be the reasons for the reduced mileage. Here are the conditions directly responsible in cases where balloon tyres appear not to be giving as much mileage to-day as did the balloon tjres of yesterday: (1) Smaller diameter tyres, (2) higher motoring speed, (3) quicker' acceleration of cars, (4) quicker' stopping, (5) underinflalion, (6) ovcrinflation.

OILING AND GREASING. Convenience of maintenance, or of attention necessary if the car is to give satisfactory service, mainly centres in the question of oiling and greasing the chassis parts. At the best it is a messy task, and when thirty or more points have to be attended to at varying intervals of time or of mileage done, it becomes a task that tries even the most enthusiastic owner. For this reason ■the small-car man is watching with interest the progress of the one-shot systdm of lubrication. This aid to maintenance is promising lo develop farther than was hoped, for in its latest form a small pump does all the work, delivering the oil at all the points at regular intervals at a pressure of some 701 b to 801 b. All that the owner is called upon to do is to sec that the oil supply in the engine sump, which feeds this pump, is kept replenished. There is no further trouble. It is along lines such as these that the owner-driver needs the aid and what may be Lermed the intelligent sympathy of the manufacturer. Not ■that the manufacturer lacks such sympathy; his record as seen in the development of the small car is some evidence that he studies the needs of the market, but unfortunately he has had to recreate his business since the war, and conditions called for building to a price that the market could afford. We are emerging from these conditions; quality and convenience are being studied first and price afterwards by buyers and with a slightly better margin of profit makers can afford to be more accommodating. Some upward move of prices, therefore, is not out of question. THE BUS IN AMERICA CHEAP TRANSPORTATION. A message from Washington, published in the “ IChris-tian Science Monitor,” states; — “Five motor coaches can be operated on regular schedules at the same cost per mile as one steam passenger ■train, it is claimed by the bus division of the American Automobile Association, which has just completed a survey. The cost of operating a steam pssenger train is about 1.50 dollars per mile, and the most of a motor bus about 25 cents. “Questionnaires were sent to over 1000 operators in all parts of the United States. The study of comparative costs showed that the local train of two' coaches has a seating capacity of about 125 while each motor coach carries 30 persons. “Steady progress, the bus division slates, has been made in adapting the motor bus to transportation needs. Bus registration has reached a total of about 80,000 units. “The motor coach is the natural result of the demand created by the private pssenger car for swift, comfortable, and economical transportation. With the highways improved and the public educated to travel, the way is laid for the bus to operate profitably in areas economically inaccessible to the railways and electric lines, or in territory where light traffic makes local trains or trolly service non-profitable. Many steam and electric lines have realised this and substitution of the motor coach for non-paying train and trolly service has during the last few years been the rule rather than the exception; “During the last twenty-five years there has been a total of 20 billion dollars invested in motor vehicles and hard-surfaced roads, compared to a total of 24 billion dollars invested by rail-carriers within the last 100 years ” SPARKS. Seventy-three new members were elected to the Canterbury Automobile Association last week. Found.among the effects of a sporting motorist: To My Executors — Don’t let anything pass us on the way to the cemetery. A new car can bp made lo look old in a short time by permitting mud and dust to remain on the surface of the finish. It’s true that the motor car keeps motorists from getting all the exer-i cisc they ought—but think how much it gives the pedestrians who cross the street. “What keeps the world moving?” inquired the teacher on the. first day of school. “The traffic cops,” was the almost unanimous reply. A London Police Court witness told the magistrates recently that “her husband was so clever a. salesman Iha I lie could sell a Ford car lo each ,ol the ‘Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.’ ”