Evening star., 1926-03-28
No. I43--Rules of the Head.

1t always had been difficult for
Smith to be himself. Doubtless much
of this was due to his Willingness to
believe that he knew little about auto
mobiles and that the way of the more
experienced motorist was something
to conjure with. But, as time went
on, he began to develop some ideas of
his own and apply them, regardless Of
what others did or did not do. There
are some of his neighbors today who
think that he is bit queer" as
car owner and driver.
l am not one of them. Smith is
being himself, ] think, in a way that
is bound to give him the edge on the
others.
Most experienced car owners in
stall new tires on the rear wheel,
transferring the weaker one to the
front. This has been the custom for
years. and during his early experience
Smith followed the style. Then one
day he pondered upon the situation
and realized how foolhardy the whole.
procedure was: putting the weakest
tires on the wheels with which the car
is steered. What If one Of these weak
tires blew out at high speed?
A Matter of Caution.
Another thing caused Smith to use
his own judgment. He is now driving
a car with balloon tires and four-wheei
brakes. They are good brakes, too,
which means that the wheels never
lock and the tires never slide. Be-
cause the car is exceptionally well
balanced the rear tires do not wear out
any quicker than those in front. AS
matter of fact, the greatest tread
wear is on the right front tire, due
to the action of the steering in keeping
the car up on the crown of the road.
But even this type of wear is vanish
ing with the coming of the level,
smooth road. Smith can take weak
front tires off and put them on the
rear, knowing that they will run just
as long there. The only reason he
makes a change is to be sure he has
his newest and strongest tires on the
front. He doesn't want a front-wheel
blowout, or even a front-wheel pune
ture, at high speed.
So, Smith is queer" in the eyes of
his neighbors. But they, too. will be
queer some day. They, too, will stop
having crankcase flushed out with
kerosene. They may think Smith is
bit odd when he uses so cents worth of
good engine oil for the flushing job, but
they will learn that a gallon of kero-
sene at half the price can bring no
end of engine repairs. Kerosene gets
into the oil leads, into the hollow
crankkshaft, into the timing gear COM
partment and into the oil pump. A
lot of it stays there to dilute the
fresh oil.
1t Isn't Queer at All.
Smith is so queer" that he has been
known to raise the hood when stop.
ping by the roadside on a cold day just
as one might ventilate the engine on
a scorching day in Midsummer. Asked
why he did this, he explained that
one had to be more careful of having
the engine get too hot in Winter than
in Summer, so far as the hood goes.
In his experience, nothing Is worse
for the finish on the hood than being
overheated inside and frozen on the
outside. He tries TO even up the tenn
peratures on the two sides.
No one ever catches Smith filling
radiator to the brim because he knows
that is the surest way of having the
water become agitated and syphon out
the overflow pipe. Nor does Smith
switch ON the ignition until he has
given the engine a few turns with
the starter. He knows that certain
amount Of gas spray should be sent