HIGH ROAD & BY-ROAD.

Waikato Times, Volume 107, Issue 17994, 12 April 1930, Page 23 (Supplement)

HIGH ROAD & BY-ROAD.

RUSTLESS STEEL. GAR MAKERS ADOPT IT. USED FOR EXPOSED METAL PARTS Rustless steel, a material familiar to the housewife, is being adopted by leading car manufacturers for exposed metal parts. The world’s largest car manufacturer has decreed that rustless steel shall be standard equpiment, thus supplanting the use of nickel and chromium plating on these motor-cars. Such a sudden and gigantic use of rustless steel has set the steel companies of the world into overtime production of this alloy, and mills have had difficulty in providing supplies for such a rapidly widened usage. Rustless steel, product of the research laboratories, has been subjected to tests far more severe than any alloy is likely to meet in actual service. Brought into contact with water, ice, snow and steam, it has withstood the tests and proved that its inherent brightness cannot be destroyed. Even when sprayed with water, placed in contact with rusty metal, scratched and sprayed again, it was easily and quickly polished to its original brilliance.

The ability of rustless steel to wear under the most trying conditions is due to the fact that the qualities of the metal which make a high polish exist all the way through. Parts made of rustless steel possess the same superiority over plated metals commonly used in automobile finishing as one’s sterling silver tableware does over plated silver. As long as there is any of the metal left it can be polished as if it were new. BRAKES AND STARTING. Here are two tips relating to driving; firstly, although you may not notice it, the applying of the brakes throws heavy stresses on the transmission. For this reason alone make a practice of putting on the brakes as gradually as circumstances warrant. Secondly, do not get into the way of starting off in second gear. -One of the purposes for which the low gear' is provided is to enable the car to begin its movement without wrenching the working parts, and unless one is starting off downhill, low gear should always he used. HOME UPKEEP AND ACCIDENTS. Whilst it is possible to guard against accidents which are the outcome of personal carelessness or lack of judgment on the part of the driver of the car or the pilot of some other passing vehicle, there is no excuse for even the owner, who has only a limited amount of leisure lime, failing to observe a few rational precautions. There are parts of the car whose failure when travelling at speed will inevitably spell “smash,” if not disaster, and the car owner owes it to his fellow passengers as well as to himself, to see that some simple precautions of maintenance are exercised. Too often little or no heed is paid to the steering gear-box, and although this is generally a robust piece of mechanism which will stand much abuse and neglect, failure to keep it lubricated may cause the steering to jam at a critical juncture. Similarly, neglect to lubricate the other parts of the steering mechanism, as well as iho. king-pins of the front axle, in addition to causing rapid wear and .tear of the parts, is liable also to lead to dangerous stiffness at a time when it is necessary to make quick and instantaneous use of the steering. BROKEN SPRING LEAVES. If a spring leaf other than the main leaf should break, it Is not at all necessary to remove the spring from its shackles to replace it. Instead, this procedure can be followed. Remove the “U” bolts which hold the spring to the axle and jack up the frame of the car so that the spring is lifted from the axle and jack up ‘the frame of the car so that the spring is lifted from the axle palm. Now fasten a “C" clamp securely to the spring near its centre, so that when the centre holt is taken out, the leaves will not fly in all directions. With the centre holt out, the "C" clamp may be loosened and the broken leaf replaced. Now apply the “C" clamp to the spring again, but do not tighten it right up, hut only enough to hold the leaves together loosely. It will now he necessary to line up the centre bolt holes, and for this purpose a long thin punch Is necessary, which can be “wangled" through each leaf in turn till the holes are correctly aligned and the punch passes through each one. With the punch left in position, the “’C” clamp may he tightened, the punch removed and the centre bolt put in position. When this has been done, the clamp may be removed and the spring lowered to the axle and fastened in place with the “U” bolts.