ROADS AND THEIR USERS.
ECONOMICAL RUNNING.—III.
BY LORD MONTAGU OF BEAULIEU.
THE second great branch of economy that can be practised in driving is carefulness about tyres. It may seem impressive to the ignorant onlooker to see a driver slam his clutch in, open out his engine at once to full power and dash away, scattering mud or dust behind him. But such driving is very expensive. The first principle in making tyres run more than their usual mileage is to start and stop slowly. Secondly, it should be remembered that the greatest strain on a tyre is not when it is propelling or retarding in a straight line forwards or backwards, but when the car is turning corners at high speeds. This throws considerable strain on the side walls and beaded edges or fastening of the outer cover. Again, over bad roads full of corrugations and potholes, high speeds strain the tyres and are apt also, in course of time, to cause deterioration in springs, spring shackles, and body work. The careful driver should also be always on the look-out for isolated sharp stones, pieces of broken brick, chips of wood, bits of glass, and small rubbish heaps, often containing broken china and nails and such-like, on the road. In fact, he must cultivate an eagle eye and what may be called road sense. He must drive both with the eye and with the head. Where a regular trackway on a road has been established by other motor vehicles, all following like sheep, the one behind the other, it is advisable to drive outside these tracks, in which all kinds of sharp stones collect and other undesirable things, such as nails and various dangerous objects.
When your car is in the garage, care should be taken to keep the tyres free from any oil or grease, for rubber is easily disintegrated by either of these, or, for the matter of that, by petrol, and whenever your car is at home the wheels should stand as a rule on wood if possible, and not on concrete or cement. In the absence of anything else, clean sawdust is as good as anything, and I have often used it with advantage. It is cheap, clean, and when it is dirty can easily be swept out and burned or buried. Otherwise, brown paper is better than nothing. If the car is out of use for a considerable time, the wheels should be jacked up and the air-pressure in the tyres released to about one-third of the usual pressure. To show what careful driving will do in prolonging the length of life of tyres, I will give this instance that I have known of two tyres of the same make : one covered exactly twice the mileage completed by the other solely because of the care the owner took of his tyres and his careful driving on the road. This is not the place to advertise particular makes ; but I have been trying, recently, a certain make with a good deal more pure rubber in the tread than usual, which so far has shown wonderfully good results, for after about 7,000 miles of running the tyres seem prac- tically as good as when they were first put on. There is another make I have used for several years, and from it, on one occasion, I got 17,000 miles out of one tyre after one re-covering, while I have obtained an average of ten to twelve thousand miles on most tyres of this make used over long periods. It is important to . all motor-car owners to realize that the real cost of the tyre to the purchaser is not to be measured by the original cost, but by the number of miles it will run. Supposing a single tyre costs /5 and runs 4,800 miles, the cost of this set of tyres at 120 works out at a farthing a mile per tyre or id. a mile for the four. • If, however, a set of tyres is bought which cost, say, £7 per tyre, an extra cost of £8 for the four tyres, and they run 9,600 miles, it is obvious that the extra cost has secured substantial economy. Therefore, it is not the cheapest tyre which is really the most economical.
In conclusion, I may point out again that the will to economize is what is needed if you wish to motor cheaply. This brings with it the desire to study economy and the resulting knowledge of how to do so. It is the personal equation which tells most in the long run.
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