DRIVING IN THE COUNTRY
AVOIDING DAMAGE TO CAR
SOME ELEMENTARY HINTS FOR NEW MOTORISTS
The warmer weather approaching is certain to be accompanied by an in-, crease in country touring. Many of the motorists who set out for distant parts are certain to be new owners, experiencing the joys of the open road for the first time, and often with new.cars, which are their most prized possessions. These drivers usually do not realise that country driving and city motoring, in their effects upon a car, are as wide apart as the poles. Generally, the differences have to be learnt from experience, because, it is extraordinarily difficult for the man who has been through the mill to explain his experiences, so that they will be remembered, to the driver to whom this kind of motoring is new. However, there are a few simple hints which can be written down, and which are worth digesting.
The gravel road, though often very pleasant to drive upon, may have devastating effects on the paintwork and polished metal surfaces of a car. The gravel is thrown back by the front wheels in a fine stream, and will strike the large, highly, polisked hub caps of the back wheels, scarring them with thousands of minute pit-marks and thoroughly destroying their smooth and shiny surfaces. In this respect, some cars are worse equipped than others, the well rounded hubs projecting beyond the tyres, suffering more than the flatter types rather screened by the tyres. The hubs are very important to the general appearance of a car, and it is particularly, desirable- to protect them. Nothing could be simpler. It is only necessary to leave them at home. They are not vital to the safety of the car, and a little dirt within the wheel hub cavities is soon cleaned out on one's return to the city. The front hub caps, it will be found, will remain unaffected. Gravel, however, may also be thrown by the back wheels against the rear bumperbar, and from there will bounce on to the back panel. If the space between the bar and the body Is not already filled in by a sheet metal tray, as is the case with many of this year's models, it is wise to have such a distance piece fitted. The worst damage from gravel, however, is generally caused to the broad surfaces of the front mudguards, the gravel in this case coming from the -back wheels of cars in front. For this reasqn, the driver should pass those cars as soon as possible, or stay well behind them. Incidentally, on gravel roads, corners should be viewed with suspicion; and the car slowed well down before they.are negotiated. They may be badly corrugated, and, in any case, the surfaces are sure to be fairly loose. y . ':.• ■ ' ■' i; , . Another trouble with.; country driving is the impact of thousands of insects against the front guards/, the radiator core, the windscreen, and the body above.the screen. If the .ear as fainted colour, theses injects; will stain the paintwork, and-wilf a little difficult to remove. It has/been?; found that methylated spirits caijd water is an excellent medium foir/removing the fragments, and will take away most of the stains as well. A good <body polish will do the rjest. ?= Fasr 1 driving on stony roadsi should be avoided. Not only will this cut tyres about, but large stones will be thrown: against the Jundersides of the guards, causing' ugly derits. r DIRECTION INDICATORS An interesting experiment is being condUC'ted in the United States with roadside reflectors builton a new principle, for the purpose of helping drivr ers to pick out the path of a road at night time. The first tests are being m&&Sn a length of of. 85 miles,; between the cities of Lansing and Detroit. ■ ■ •■"• '■- The reflector* are made from a material known a* lucite. methyl methacrvlite, recently developed by one of the largest chemical laboratories in the United States. .This > is a plastic whicn is water;, clear,-flexible, and non-shat-tering. It can be. moulded to any shape very accurately and is claimed to pos : sess permanent transparency. - . The reflectors are mounted on pedestals on each side of the road at intervals of 100 feet. As a car approaches the light from the headlights is reflect ted back very clearly from those pedestals so that the sides of the road are well indicated. Drivers have found the reflectors particularly valuable on corners. ■■•. .. ■ It is also said, however, that other unexpected benefits have resulted from the use of the reflectors. They relieved eye strain, penetrated fog, and, strangely enough, seemed to reduce the glare from the lights, of oncoming cars. ' , .".'"''" American • traffic authorities are watching the experiments with the new device with the greatest interest, because, in that country, 60 per.cent, of all accidents occur at night, although only one-third'of all driving is done at night. It is said that the reflective properties of Lucite are 10 times greater than those of glass. STEERING EASE Those owners who make a practice of looking after the routine maintenance tasks themselves, such as chassis greasing, may be puzzled at a tendency of the steering gear to become stiff in its action and lose its positive feel.
In one such case, the owner checked the wheel alignment, pumped oil into the steering pivots until it exuded from the bearings, and checked, the tyre pressures, all with little or no improvement. But the easy steering was later returned by a very simple method. As this is something which certainly will affect other owners, it is worth describing. The truth was that oil was not getling into the bearings of the steering pivots, even though it appeared to come out from them on application of the oil gun, and it was this which destroyed • the old freedom of movement; ' The solution was to jack both front wheels off the ground while the chassis was being oiled and work -the wheels from side to side, so that the oil from the gun was helped on to every part of the king pin bearings. When a car is lubricated at a service station it is customary to lift it on a hoist so that, automatically, the weight is taken from the front wheels, which it itself assists the oil into every part of the bearings. At the same time, any attendant worth his salt also moves the wheels from side to side in the manner described, .. '
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19380930.2.101.3
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22520, 30 September 1938, Page 19
Word count
Tapeke kupu
1,077DRIVING IN THE COUNTRY Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22520, 30 September 1938, Page 19
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Press. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
Acknowledgements
Ngā mihi
This newspaper was digitised in partnership with Christchurch City Libraries.
Log in