The Washington herald., 1917-09-16
THE HERALD
Auto Service Column

Can you tell me what will cause
unude tire wear in front? Can the
| heat of the engine soften the rubber?
] am having a lot of trouble and do
| not seem to be able to find out why
the front tires wear out so SOON
| j. S.
! ! am not in position to be able
to examine your front tires. but can
say with a fair degree of certainty
| that the trouble is caused by wheels
! that are out of alignment. This
causes the tires to be scraped across
the road surface and the tire treads
are worn down just as though they
! were filed. Take your car to a good
garage or service station and for
about 81 you can have the wheel
! alignment checked up.
! Is it possible to keep my battery
more fully charged? l do a great
deal of travelling at night. My work
makes it necessary for me to make
/ frequent starts and stops and use
the lights a great deal and this causes
such strain on the battery that
! / cannot keep 1t up to charge.-W.
w. c.
! / would advise you to have the gen
orator output control adjusted so that
! the charging rate is increased. In
most systems there is some means of
doing this but i would advise you to
! allow an experienced lighting me-
| chanic to do the work If, after the
! regulation is changed. you still have
trouble you will have to get larger
generator or have the battery
charged from an outside source at in
trevals.
I noticed in driving a car recently
that the brake pedal kept jumping up
and down all the time, though I was
not touching it. The car was brand
new and now I understand that near
ly all Of that make have the same
trouble.-Rex.
The car evidently used what is
called Hotchkiss drive and the rear
axle movement was transmitted
through the brake connections to
the pedal. Brake pedal movement may
| be characteristic of any car using this
method of propulsion.
I am very much interested in the
use of aluminium in automobiles and
/ find that there is car using alumni
mum both for pistons and cylinders.
How has this worked out?-R. T. L.
| Inefe are now two makes using
aluminium for cylinders. these being
the Marmon and Premier. In these
cars it seems to have worked out
very well and the early troubles and
| objections to have been overcome to
large extent. Aluminium pistons
are in use in any number of present
1 models and the troubles early en-
| countered, slapping and oil pumping,
have been largely overcome.
| If the detachable cylinder head Is
such good thing for the owner why
doesn't every motor maker put them
on? 1t seems much easier to get at
the inside of the engine and to me
it looks like a good thing.-John n.
The detachable head cylinder is a
good thing for the car owner, but it
| Is not always possible for the de-
signer to get good construction. He
must take care that the studs are
properly placed and sometimes there
is no place for stud where he would
like to put one. Also il the studs
are too close to the cylinder bore and
| the workman fitting them is not care
| full, he is liable to screw the stud In
! too tight and thus spring the metal,
throwing the cylinder slightly out of
shape at the top. Also with re-
movable head a gasket is needed and
this offers an opportunity for leak
age, although this point need hardly
! be considered todAv