I put on new tires on my RDX yesterday and went with the GY Weather/ready which the dealer says are very good for traction. I wasn’t real happy with the Michelins any way. I read today though that they appear to be based on a soy oil formula. So I’m a little concerned if I’m gonna hafta worry about squirrels etc, going after my tires?
Normally I’ve never been that concerned but when I pulled my trailer out Tuesday night for a quick trip to Menards, I had no lights. I had just over hauled everything a couple years ago but it seemed one end of the ground wire was just hanging there. Then went to splice in the brown wire for the tail light, and there was no wire inside-just like powder. So I started wondering if someone had a lunch on my wires?
While the soy is used as the starting point the end result is rubber and plastics almost identical to petroleum based. The benefit is the source is renewable. Sugar from corn can also be used
Yeah. Ford. We’ve spent thousands fixing our fleet at work. If the bosses had sprung for a garage instead of leaving the cars outside to be eaten by squirrels we’d probably have just about broken even.
I have had problems with ground squirrels gnawing on wires. The air conditioning compressor on the air conditioning at our house wouldn’t come on. I checked to make sure I was getting 240 volts at the ac shutoff switch and I was. The problem turned out to be the low voltage wiring from the thermostat to the ac compressor. The ground squirrels had chewed this wire which ran through the crawl space and the relay which starts the compressor wouldn’t operate.
I also had ground squirrels chew the fuel line from the metal line from the tank to the fuel pump on my 1978 Olds.
Both of the SAABs I owned suffered problems with the bio-degradeable wire harnesses. One of them turned out to be pretty severe. With the loom cover cut open every wire in it had turned to white powder. Volvo also had some issues like this.
On another note, a local go-fast guy who runs a Mustang at the Bonneville Salt Flats has a Mustang which has seat covers, hood, and front fenders all made from soybeans.
In WWII during the Stalingrad campaign, the Romanian army had 2 divisions north of Stalingrad. It was bitter cold, like -40, they packed bales of straw around their tanks for insulation. The rodents in the straw found their way into the tanks as it was warmer and they chewed through a lot of the wires. (pre bio insulation) When the Soviets launched their offensive to retake the city, they jumped on the Romanian position first. Very few of the Romanian tanks would start due to the damaged wiring allowing the Soviets to rush through with almost no resistance. -40 did not help either
You can always eat them if things get tough. Ripley’s had an article, years ago, about a stunt-eater who ate a car. I think it was an Australian Hobart.
THis reminded me of an incident at a horse barn once.
She had complained that the chickens were always around her car and even pecking at the Bumper and rocker panels. I presume that the chickens were used to finding a few bugs on the bumpers and the specks of tar and road debris on the rocker panels looked like more bugs to the chickens.
I convinced her that the car manufactures were adding crushed egg shells to the paint to make it harder.
I know deer like soybeans, so when deer season starts…just set up a blind near the car!!!
