List of car myths and false claims

That’s a great question come to think of it. If it is below the thermostat set point temp, the compressor presumably would never turn on. hmm … One idea, the vending machine has a defrost cycle which heats up the evaporator with an electric heater, independent of the thermostat, and that heat is enough to keep the soda inside the machine from freezing. My prior fridge had a 6 hour mechanical timer for the defrost cycle, my new fridge is computer controlled, not sure what algorithm they use to decide to turn on the defrost heater, might be time based or temperature based, or a combo. It makes very weird noises during the defrost period, so I definitely know when that’s happening.

No midway support and it is very awkward. I’ve watched them replace a link in a freezing rain with a strong north wind standing in a ditch with water ankle deep. I am amazed every time I watch them do it.

The pole is extendable so usually they put the butt on the ground, extend it to the height they need and maneuver the hot stick from there.

1 Like

~ 1960 a neighbor kid managed to get a surplus jeep for $400. I seem to recall it arrived with a hard to remove coating on it (Cosmoline?), but the vehicle served him for years. About that time another friend’s older brother was into hydroplane racing - they’d buy an Allison V12 for $500, boost it some ridiculous amount, run it for a day or two of racing, dump it in the lake and buy another.

A drum brake advantage: they were self-actuating, in that they use reaction force on one pad to apply additional pressure to the other, reducing required pedal force - an advantage when one didn’t have power brakes. There were a number of ways to accomplish this. This had a down side, to hold a car when facing up a steep hill one sometimes had to push the pedal awfully hard, once on a very steep hill with a load of high school kids and camping equipment, I couldn’t quite hold my '50 Pontiac as it slowly crept back down the hill.

Some drum brakes performed better than others: those on my -60 Rambler American would be fading by the end of a hard stop from 70mph, and one had to be careful down long hills. Otherwise it was a pretty good car.

Yup!
The brakes on my '71 Charger were just like that, and it was frightening on a few occasions. I bought it (new) from the dealer’s inventory, and it was only later that I learned that Chrysler offered both HD drum brakes and front disc brakes as options. That bad-braking Charger was the last car that I didn’t “special order”.

I wonder if drum brakes fade sooner b/c drums aren’t cooled as well as rotors. Rotors have both sides open to the air, and most of the rotor surface is uncovered; on drum brakes, the inside of the drum (where the shoes are located) is in an semi-enclosed space, and much of the inside drum surface is covered by the shoes. That said I’ve never experienced brake fade on my truck, drums all around. Likewise never any brake fad on either my prior VW Rabbit or my Corolla, drum rear, disc front. The reason I prefer at disc brakes on the front is b/c when stopping quickly they stop in a straight line, don’t pull left/right nearly as much.

1 Like

The drum brakes on my antique Harleys are what I would consider excellent. They’re entirely mechanical in operation with a series of rods, clevis links, bell cranks, and so on. The rears almost feel like power brakes and the slightest touch can lock them up. It’s actually kind of fun to skid the bikes as the brake drum is on the left side so it has a tendency to bring the right side around.
The only trouble I’ve had in 45 years of old bike ownership is when a worn 1/4" clevis pin snapped on me (spool hub/no front brake) and I went sailing down a dead end onto a golf course as I simply could not make the turn in time.
That is operator error; should have replaced those pins…

Even the later models with disc brakes can be a bit antsy depending upon the road and weight of the bike.

1 Like

Self energizing drum brakes for the win! Part of the reason drum brakes are still used in most class 8 trucks. When you need to stop a heavily loaded rig you csn depend on your drum brakes!

It’s a good thing you veered onto a golf course then, lots of pins there :wink:

For car myths related to fuel octane, here’s an exhaustive study on spark knock, direct injection, and ethanol blended fuel:

Page 43 has information on engine octane needs vs intake air temperature.

Yes, correct. The other problem is when the drum gets hot, it expands so the internal radius no longer allows full contact by the shoe. The fully bedded shoes when cold aren’t when hot.

I experienced loads of brake fade with my first car. 4 wheel manual brakes that would fade to almost nothing doing a hard stop from 70 mph. By 35 mph, they were almost useless.

2 Likes

Another negative of drum brakes—drive through water, water in the drums—very little braking available until brakes dried out. Had to drive with your left foot on the brake to speed up the drying.

I think we forget how bad old braking systems were.

5 Likes

Pssssst………don’t tell Rick !

5 Likes

There, I fixed it!

3 Likes

Remember a few years ago, Rick said he conducted an experiment on one of his vehicles that had drum brakes all around?

I recall he said the brakes faded during a hard stop and he wound up IN the intersection, instead of behind the stop light/sign :smiley:

Yet here he is again, praising the “misunderstood” drum brakes and proclaiming them to be superior

2 Likes

It was actually my buddys old Power Wagon, I ran it hard I really did. I did 2 hard stops, on the 3rd stop I about lost the brakes. But it was a Power Wagon, not a vehicle meant for repeated stops from 50mph, and the first two stops it did ok.

I didn’t get it into an intersection too much anyway, it was out in the country, and I about went over the end in a T intersection.

Now I will say that overall I still believe that in many ways, not all, that drum brakes are superior. Why do class 8 trucks still use “inferior” drum brakes?

Increasingly, they don’t. Your own reply to me said the truck you drive has disk brakes.

1 Like

Not real good with mythology but as far as the false claims. About 98% of what a certain person here types. You’re all think that, aren’t you? :wink: :thinking:

2 Likes

I am surprised no one has yet mentioned the Fish carburetor that supposedly got 200 (or 100 or 50, the story varies) mpg that the oil companies supposedly conspired to crush… or buy up the patents, or “disappear” the inventor.

2 Likes

Yup!
Back in the '60s (and perhaps into the '70s), many car magazines had small ads for the “miraculous” Fish Canadian Carburetor.

1 Like