A Scary Prospect -- What to do?

("Morgans" wrote)
I never had the money for such a course, but when I was a fresh faced
driver, I took the family wagon out one night during a slippery
snowstorm and practiced skids and skid recovery.

My father did the same with me, and I did the same with my two children.
Some thing are difficult to learn, without those slippery parking lots.


And two generations of teenage learners have omitted mentioning, to the
owner of the family car, the part about sliding sideways onto "the dry
patch." BTDT...


Montblack

And two generations of teenage learners have omitted mentioning, to the
owner of the family car, the part about sliding sideways onto "the dry
patch." BTDT...

Heh. I tore BOTH rear tires off the rims of my Mom's 1968 Pontiac LeMans by
sliding sideways onto a dry patch.

I put the spare tire on one side, threw the flat tire in the trunk, and
called my Dad to explain that "I've got a flat tire, and the spare is flat!"

It worked.

:-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Montblack wrote:

And two generations of teenage learners have omitted mentioning, to the
owner of the family car, the part about sliding sideways onto "the dry
patch." BTDT...

I never did that, but I did slide the VW into a curb. Several months later, it
started making "a noise" and my father took it in to the dealer. They discovered
a bent front axle. An *expensive* bent axle.

"No, Papa, I have no idea how that happened."

Those cars were amazingly easy to hotwire.

George Patterson
I prefer Heaven for climate but Hell for company.

"Montblack" wrote .


And two generations of teenage learners have omitted mentioning, to the
owner of the family car, the part about sliding sideways onto "the dry
patch." BTDT...


Montblack

I started driving a Corvair a couple years after I started driving. In my
beloved Pontiac, you could charge up to a turn, wail on the binders and
about slide around the corner, wet pavement, or no.

It didn't work that way with a Corvair. I charged up to a crossover
triangle on wet pavement, slammed on the brakes, turned the wheel and kept
going straight. Oops!. Blew a tire and bent the rim on the curb.

I managed to convince my dad that the tire went flat, and that's why I hit
the curb.

Moral of the story? On the rear engine cars, the front will break loose
before the rear end. Lesson learned!
--
Jim in NC

On Sat, 5 Mar 2005 00:26:18 -0500, "Morgans"
wrote:

It didn't work that way with a Corvair. I charged up to a crossover
triangle on wet pavement, slammed on the brakes, turned the wheel and kept
going straight. Oops!. Blew a tire and bent the rim on the curb.

I managed to convince my dad that the tire went flat, and that's why I hit
the curb.

Moral of the story? On the rear engine cars, the front will break loose
before the rear end. Lesson learned!

Don't think the placement of the engine had anything to do with it,
it's more the type of brakes (drum or disc) and the amount of bias
they are given by the brake system. Typically, drums tend to lock up
more easily than discs and also are subject to fade, something most
disc brakes are relatively immune to. Since most of the braking
occurs at the front end due to weight transfer, the front brakes are
normally bigger and more capable of handling braking loads.

Normally the designers of the braking systems want the fronts to
lockup before the rears, because that is a more stable situation than
having the rears lockup first.

Corky Scott

"Corky Scott"


Don't think the placement of the engine had anything to do with it,
it's more the type of brakes (drum or disc) and the amount of bias
they are given by the brake system.

True, bias counts, but the 'vair was very light in the front.


Normally the designers of the braking systems want the fronts to
lockup before the rears, because that is a more stable situation than
having the rears lockup first.

Man, I would rather have the front still steering. Just me.
--
Jim in NC