Snake oil products, or crap that we used to be offered...

[DodgyGeezer]

we've all seen all manner of things sold to us as: increasing mpgs; increasing performance; etc etc turned out, obviously, to be total bks. What do you remember?


starter for 10...

[shtu]

On a simlar vein, the tin-pellets-in-a-bag that supposedly made leaded petrol unneccesary.

[MDMA .]

[POIDH]

[Inbox]

Holts Tyreweld.

Stuff never worked but somehow they managed to persuade car manufacturers to bin real spare wheels so we all have a can of false hope in the boot.

[Kuwahara]

No idea if they made any difference, never had a car with them but seemed popular 70’ early 80’s.

[MesoForm]

I remember Splitfire spark plugs being advertised in the back of Max Power, Fast Car and the like for ages, think they gave 2 sparks instead of one to burn off any unburnt fuel or some such nonsense.
Someone must’ve bought them!

[Quhet]

Inbox said:

Holts Tyreweld.

Stuff never worked but somehow they managed to persuade car manufacturers to bin real spare wheels so we all have a can of false hope in the boot.

I've not had joy with any tyre foam/puncture repair stuff whenever I've needed it in the past. Waste of time

[Lester H]

Quhet said:

Inbox said:

Holts Tyreweld.

Stuff never worked but somehow they managed to persuade car manufacturers to bin real spare wheels so we all have a can of false hope in the boot.

I've not had joy with any tyre foam/puncture repair stuff whenever I've needed it in the past. Waste of time

Quite so. Just buy a spare on line, or even a space saver. There are numerous unused spares ( presumably from write- offs ) available in popular sizes.

[Geertsen]

POIDH said:

OMG!...that’s frigging hilarious

[daqinggregg]

Kuwahara said:

No idea if they made any difference, never had a car with them but seemed popular 70 early 80 s.

There were cars, which I guess the rake of the windscreen/scuttle caused wiper blade lift, however, the addition of pictured aero probably hastened the early demise of the ‘wiper motor.’

[rodericb]

Where I am: bits of black rope with a knot on the end, hung from bumpers of some cars but usually from the bull bars of Jeep Wranglers etc with giant wheels (and the rear mounted spare with no tyre), like this:



I believe they're to ward off evil spirits and Evil Eye and prevent colliding with an evil spirit when running red traffic lights.

[IanH755]

Ecotek valve which was a valve to fully burn fuel and increase both power and MPG yet in reality just introduced unmetered air after the AFM/MAS to lean out the mixture.

[Mr-B]

POIDH said:

First thing I thought of when I saw the thread title.

[Alex_225]

Might be a bit divisive but dealership applied coatings to bodywork! Products are likely fine but the chances of a dealership valeter having the time, tools and skill to prep a car for a 3+ year coating is slim.

No doubt exceptions but certainly the last time I was offered such a thing, it would have been £300+ wasted.

[biggbn]

Inbox said:

Holts Tyreweld.

Stuff never worked but somehow they managed to persuade car manufacturers to bin real spare wheels so we all have a can of false hope in the boot.

Always carry a can, never had any issues with it working. Only doesnt work on a dangerously gouged or gashed tyre, but then you'd not want to drive on one of those anyway, would you?

[OverSteery]

and still for sale, albeit a different content in the bottle now (No PTFE) since various legal decisions went against them...

Edited by OverSteery on Tuesday 7th October 11:49

[ARH]

Geertsen said:

POIDH said:

OMG!...that s frigging hilarious

At least 50% of cars on the road in the 70's had one of these. The others had a jackup kit which made the straps too short

[AlexGSi2000]

[mmm-five]

Can we class this as a snake oil product...unfortunately the former is still being sold to gullible punters to this day.