What car/driving related urban myths have you heard of?
Discussion
Ved said:
MarsellusWallace said:
If you leave a 2 pence piece on your dashboard you can park on double yellow lines and not get a parking ticket.
Huh? That's the first time I've heard that one. twazzock said:
I think the headlight flashing myth comes from the US where some traffic lights do actually have a sensor to detect ambulance strobes (I THINK). Pretty sure it's a load of b
ks over here though...
3M Opticom it's a seperate IR strobe iirc rather than detecting the warning lightsks over here though...Thin White Duke said:
JonnyFive said:
Yeah, it's legal to drive around in street lamp lit areas at 30mph limit IIRC.
Yep, a quick google search threw this up:http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TravelAndTransport/Hig...
Now that I know, the next time I'm driving in such an area at night, I'm not going to use the
headlights (unless conditions dictate otherwise) just to see how others react.
No doubt I'll get shouts from pedestrians, and other drivers will flash their lights at me - unless they think I'm
a gangster looking for my next victim!
Your side lights are actually just as bright as your tail lights - but you never hear anyone claiming cars are hard to spot from the rear.
cymtriks said:
Anti lock brakes work by stopping wheels from skidding.
No they don't.
They work by keeping the wheels as close as possible to their maximum level of grip. Tyres grip more and more as skidding builds up and then start to lose grip. As the optimum grip speed, which involves some rolling and some skidding, is very difficult to maintain in practice the solution is to let the skidd happen and back off then let the skid happen and back off. This keeps moving the wheel over that critical point of maximum grip.
So actually ABS is trying to hold as close as possible to a controlled skid and roll combination.
No, sorry that's wrong. ABS keeps optimum slip, which is a misnomer. Not skid. Slip is how a measure of how distorted the contact the contact patch is due to longitudinal or latitudinal forces put through the tyre.No they don't.
They work by keeping the wheels as close as possible to their maximum level of grip. Tyres grip more and more as skidding builds up and then start to lose grip. As the optimum grip speed, which involves some rolling and some skidding, is very difficult to maintain in practice the solution is to let the skidd happen and back off then let the skid happen and back off. This keeps moving the wheel over that critical point of maximum grip.
So actually ABS is trying to hold as close as possible to a controlled skid and roll combination.
The true urban myth surrounding ABS is that "ABS doesn't make you stop any quicker, it just stops you losing control".
Which is where your comments come in. Tyres grip better the more heavily distorted the contact patch it, to a point, before they rapidly lose grip (lock up). ABS keeps the tyres in this 'maximumly distorted' point.
Opulent said:
Photos of the back of a broken set outside my lil' cabin.
Note the paper instruction sheet. It specifies detection as "Radar". There is NO reference to light detection.
(Left hand side, second instruction from bottom)
does a radar device not work by sending out pulses of light and counting them back in maybe, just maybe it does recognise lights flashing?Note the paper instruction sheet. It specifies detection as "Radar". There is NO reference to light detection.
(Left hand side, second instruction from bottom)
snowdude2910 said:
does a radar device not work by sending out pulses of light and counting them back in maybe, just maybe it does recognise lights flashing?
No. If it picked up visible light it would be far more likely to pick up radio waves as A) they are closer to radar's frequency band and b) they are a lot more common than people flashing headlightsmattnunn said:
Myth - honda have never had a warranty claim on an engine
Truth - they have, my 2006 civic, several new engine parts aswell as several other things.
I think the myth is that they've never had a vtec engine fail but the truth is that the vtec system has never failed the engines obviously do eventuallyTruth - they have, my 2006 civic, several new engine parts aswell as several other things.
snowdude2910 said:
mattnunn said:
Myth - honda have never had a warranty claim on an engine
Truth - they have, my 2006 civic, several new engine parts aswell as several other things.
I think the myth is that they've never had a vtec engine fail but the truth is that the vtec system has never failed the engines obviously do eventuallyTruth - they have, my 2006 civic, several new engine parts aswell as several other things.
The source was that a component within the VTEC system hadnt ever failed under warranty. This was phrased in such a way by Honda, as to give a grander impression.
This boast has since been embraced by the sort of petrolhead / PistonHead wally who thinks that flashing his headlamps at a radar controlled traffic signal 'makes it change' - and its slowly morphed into 'a VTEC (engine) hasnt ever failed', and is now repeated knowledgeably on forums...
This boast has since been embraced by the sort of petrolhead / PistonHead wally who thinks that flashing his headlamps at a radar controlled traffic signal 'makes it change' - and its slowly morphed into 'a VTEC (engine) hasnt ever failed', and is now repeated knowledgeably on forums...
Thankyou4calling said:
If you drive in reverse your mileage reduces. Might be true, dint know.
Go over 155mph and it's too fast for a speed camera.
It is possible to go so fast a speed camera won't see you but its more than 155 to the point where even cars which can achieve it would struggle to do so on the road.Go over 155mph and it's too fast for a speed camera.
I have heard if you drive in reverse when you first start the engine you'll use 20 times more fuel for that 10 yards than going forwards but I don't know if anyones ever done tests to verify this.
Anybody fancy commuting backwards and reporting their mpg next week?
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