Subj : Re: snow.. To : Barry Martin From : Ky Moffet Date : Mon Dec 29 2025 13:59:00 BARRY MARTIN wrote: > Hi Ky! > > But might get soften some of the potholes edges! > KM> Or make 'em a whole lot bigger! > > Probably your answer is the more usual of the two. ,,,And I'm quite > sure I'm not the only one to have thought of this, but why don't the > road repair crews have a truck that heats up the asphalt (BTW, this > isn't done in winter!) at the crack to re-unite/re-combine the break; > use an asphalt filler as necessary. No holes for the water to get in > to, no freeze and splaying. It's sometimes done, but it's tough to get it to "take" in winter. You really can't get a good enough seal in summer, never mind in winter. > > I'm thinking maybe the baldness of your tires gave more contact with the > KM> Actually no, made it slicker. Advantage was mostly the dual rear > KM> wheels (THERE is a big contact patch) and that the rear end is > KM> heavy enough to balance the front. > > OK: I was half-considering the racing tires which are (some are?) > essentially treadless. ...I'll admit to not watching all that much > racing. The tires that came with it were nearly racing slicks... > KM> And that it's got a really good 2nd gear for going slow. > > Slow is good! At least if something happens and traction is lost by > going slow one would just tap the guard rail, tree, moose instead of > body-slamming. LOL, one hopes to tap nothing. > Years ago I was driving to visit a friend in Michigan. > Somewhere there was a patch of highway which was slightly rough -- not > to the degree of the corrugations warning of the side of the road but a > low vibration. Something happen to my car?? (Slight panic but nothing > getting worse.) ...Car slowly passed me (I had on my cruise control, by > the consistency of the passing he must have also); we glanced at each > other, I don;t recall the details but I motioned questioning a bumpy > road and he motioned back yes. Whew! the road, not my car! "Did I lose any parts??" > > KM> I put half a ton of feed in the back, or 4000 pounds of trailer > KM> on the hitch, and it doesn't even NOTICE. > > Whereas I put 40 pounds of groceries in my back seat.... (It's a > hatchback; I could put them in the 'trunk' but pretty much filled with > the emergency toolbox and a cardboard box of winter stuff.) ..... and it's full!! > KM> Yeah, especially at $1200 ($1800 in today's money) for the set of > KM> six. They'd BETTER last!! > > $200 a tire isn't a horrible price, especially for truck tires, but when > comes to replacing multiple that's straining the credit card a bit. Yeah, made the blood squeeze out! > KM> I have seen American-made tires (sujpercheap trailer tires at > KM> that) still good at 50+ years old. Chinese tires are why now the > KM> recommendation is replace 'em every five years. > > LIS in an earlier message I don't have too much of a choice in which > tires I can buy (AFAIK two brands) but go for the better-to-best for > items like batteries and windshield wipers. I don't want to listen to > 'uhgh! uhgh!' while trying to start my car in cold weather. The little truck has a battery conditioner permanently installed, since the antitheft slowly drains it. Shell SBC400, great little unit. Brought the battery back from worse than dead. > KM> Small wheels wear out tires faster.... it's done to reduce > KM> weight, same as the low profile tires. Not for the advantage of > KM> the car or driver. > > A smaller diameter tires means it completes a rotation more often, so my > 13" tires contact the road 1,000 times per mile whereas your bigger 20" > tires make only 800 contacts. (Pulling numbers out of the air.) More > contacts wear out the tire faster. 16", but since there are six of 'em... > > I'm thinking there's another variable: I don't drive all that much, so I > might go 50 miles a week whereas you do 500. My tires should > effectively last longer but they don't because of even more other > factors. That does matter, tho a couple years ago, I only drove 200 miles for the entire year! But tire cracking and wear have nothing to do with each other. Cracking happens because the rubber isn't properly treated (vulcanized, and whatever else they do). > KM> Same as all the "innovations" of the past > KM> thirty years, really, because that's how they make CAFE standards > KM> for fuel economy. > > When I traded in my first car back in ~1978 I immediately noticed how > small the brake pedal was! Original car: seemed like 12" wide (wasn't, > but by comparison); new car -- seemed like barely wider than the > accelerator pedal! Same with the hood: old: sturdy and heavy. New: > lightweight and flimsy. ...Know some of that is to make the car lighter > for the fuel standards and some for the crumple zone stuff. Yeah, they shaved off everything they could, including pedal widths and the like. The little truck has such a small gas pedal that I need to get something to put over it so I can FIND it. One of those silly feet things, maybe. Run into one of those old boats, it doesn't notice. Barely bump a new car and it's totaled. > KM> Rear wheels losing traction is usually more recoverable than > KM> front wheels losing traction. > > Rear end follows the front end. (?) True, usually. Not true with front wheel drive and too much load in the back. Then the rear end goes off the road and the front follows! > KM> With the little truck, I visited the junkyard and came away with > KM> four spare wheels for $100 (including two tires that will go on > KM> the junk trailer) so I don't have to seasonally change tires, > KM> just wheels. > > Which seems to make sense: balance the tire + rim once, swap as the > whole unit, Yep. > KM> With front wheel drive you are always towing, so if the rear > KM> loses traction it wants to fishtail you into the ditch. Also why > KM> with front wheel drive you never put a heavy load in the trunk > KM> then expect to drive a straight line on a wet road. (Can you tell > KM> how much I hate it??) > > So the groceries in my rear seats makes sense! Actually, yes: a > heavy load at the rear will make the front end pull up, so less traction > for steering. It's not that, it's momentum. Tenant's van was a good example. Put dog food in the back and ... when it was raining, I'd kick her out of the driver's seat, because rear wanted to whip the whole van off the road, and at least I'm accustomed to towing (she wasn't). You can find videos of front wheel drive towing some light load and it gets to fishtailing and off the road it goes. > .. Sometimes it takes me all day to get nothing done. And then I'm tired! þ RNET 2.10U: ILink: Techware BBS þ Hollywood, Ca þ www.techware2k.com --- QScan/PCB v1.20a / 01-0462 * Origin: ILink: CFBBS | cfbbs.no-ip.com (454:1/1) .