Evening star., 1924-11-23
;Motorist Slo,o in Changing
Method in Handling: His Car
Many Follo,0 Faulty Course of Treat.
nent, Regardless of Fact That More
: Effective System Is AUailable.

washed. No consideration is given
of the fact that there are times to
wash cars and times to dry clean
them. Many q newly painted machine
that hasn't got 4 speck OF dirt on 1t
could profit by a cold bath to help
a car that has been washed to death
by a driving rainstorm would be ten
times better of allowed to dry and
then treated to q polishing.
A lot of amusement was had by
people who imagined themselves to be
motor wise when motorist stopped
his car. placed a jack under q front
wheel hub, raised the car and COM
menced unscrewing the rim lugs.
He'll have a fine time remosing the
RIM" they said. Guess he'll have to
So they all stood around to see the.
fun.
New Idea Densnstrated.
But what they saw was simply
another instance of q car owner en-
barking upon some new opinions Of
his own. This chap had been an
noyed by a rim squeak and he knew
that the best way to remedy itswouid
be to unscrew all the lugs and then
screw them up again 50 as to force
the rim to the felloe band equally
at all points. So he placed the jack
though nine drivers out Of ten would
have struggled to place the jack un-
der axle. assuming that they would
have stopped at all.
One can pick up many good ideas
by seeing how the other fellow does
1t. particularly il he does 1t in some
ridiculous way. His way may show
how useless the conventional method
can be if blindly followed.
The motorist has to be on his guard
for undesirable ideas, of course. In a
the idea Of cleaning the top of the
open car with a whisk broom, the
idea being that this was the only way
to really clean out the many depres-
sions in the leather. Several other
people who watched him decided to
follow his example, and before the
year was out there were many leaky
tops.
Some one more observing and SEN
sible would have seen that an accu-
mutation Of dirt particles in the pores
of the fabric would be an advanta &c,
and would have proceeded to clean
the top with a slightly damp rag. But
most motorists are content to fol-
low the leader in matters of this sort.
Most motorists are now familiar
with the fact that motordom was all
wrong when for years it advised
flushing out the crankcase with keroI'
sene, for they are now using fresh
oil for the flushing and saving en-
gine trouble. But there are similar
revisions needed in all lines of car
care, many of which are apparent to
the motorist who will ask himself,
"Why do I do this?"
Fact To BE Remembered.
1t is we'll to remember, too, that
cars are being improved at a rate
that necessitates q constant change
and improvement In the methods of
caring for them. This is interest
insly demonstrated in the case OF en-
gine lubricAtion.
For the past five years car owners
have been told to use a lighter grade
Of oil in colder weather. There were
many good reasons for this, but the
facts showed that many an owner
would have had better luck using the
heaviest oil he could buy. He was
driving with his engine greatly over
heated because Of having the radiator
excessively covered, while excessive
choking was sending quantities OF
raw gas down into the crankcase to
thin out the oil that was already thin
enough.
But this fact was no sooner dis
covered by sensible motorists than
out came the manufacturers with
more perfect fitting pistons. radia-
tors that could be better controlled
dramatically and devices that were
doing away with the evils OF choking
when starting a cold motor. The old
advice about using lighter oil came
into vogue again, but this was only
because there had been q change In
the car itself.
IT is quite an interesting problem
for the car owner, and 1t suggests to
him that the crank" who seems to
have foolish ideas is well worth
watching.
Copyright. 1924