Spring Car Care

With spring not too far away,
it’s a good time to think about
the wheels that have carried
your car through the roughest
months of the year.

Today’s automobile tire is a
complex structure, built to with-
stand an amazing amount of tor-
ture.

But tires still require care in
purchase and maintenance. Re-
gular inspection and rotation are
as important for economy as
they are for safety.

All tires lose air, even if they
are not punctured, because of
diffusion through the lining. It’s
a good idea to carry an accurate
pressure gauge in the glove
compartment and to make a re-
gular check monthly, as well as
before any long trip.

Inflation to the car maker’s
specifications can improve fuel
economy by as much as 3 per
cent, according to the council,
and a free 50 kilometres out of
each 1,600 is not be sneezed at.
In addition, the right pressure
improves handling and stability
in curves, helps the tire resist
damage from rocks and potho-
les, and prolongs tread life.

When you check the air
pressure, be sure the tires
are cold or have been driven
less than a kilometre or two.
Pressures typically rise three
to four pounds per square inch
when the tire is warm. If it is ne-
cessary to add air to a hot
tire, inflate it to three or four
pounds above the recommended
pressure. Then check and adjust
when you have finished the
trip and the tire has cooled off.

Any tire that regularly needs

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more air than the others should
be examined by a repair shop.
The leak may involve the tire,
the rim or the valve.

Incidentally, it is a good idea
to make sure that all valves
and extensions are equipped
with valve caps to keep out
dirt and moisture.

: Through all this, don’t forget
the spare. A flat on the road may
cause dismay, but another in the
trunk will make you say very
bad things.

Check for pebbles or other
objects wedged into the tread,
and look for uneven wear
patterns that might be caused by
misalignment, improper balance
or suspension problems.

Check too, for cracks, blisters
and signs of tread separation,
indications that new rubber is
needed.

There is no sure way to know
how long a given tire will last,
since so much depends upon
road conditions and the way you
drive. But regular rotation every
9,000 to 12,000 kilometres will
provide more even wear.

Because of new technology
and the accuracy used in manu-
facturing, it is less important
than it used to be to follow a cer-

Talking about pollution —

Close to 300 million litres of
motor oil vanishes into the Can-
adian environment each year,
much of it carelessly poured
down sewers by do-it-yourself
mechanics.

That’s almost eight times
more oil than spilled when the
Exxon Valdez ran aground off
Alaska in March, causing North
America’s worst oil spill.

More than 160 million batte-
ries used in Canadian toys,
tools, clocks, flashlights and ra-
dios each year are dumped into
the garbage and hauled off to
dumps where the jackets degra-
de and the toxic metals escape.
Environment Canada estimates
that batteries, the sale of
which continues to climb, are
responsible for 35 per cent of
mercury released into the
Canadian environment and
“present a definite environmen-
tal threat.”

Cars are one of the major
sources of carbon, believed to be
warming the atmosphere with
potentially catastrophic conse-
quences. Yet consumers conti-
nue to buy and drive cars at
record rates, with little regard
for the carbon dioxide heading
down the tailpipe.

Judging by public opinion
polls, the Canadians dumping
the oil and the batteries,
and driving the polluting cars
are concerned about the envi-
ronment, Their contradictory
behavior points to one of the
more perplexing aspects of the
environment crisis facing the
globe:

People say they care, but
their actions have yet to catch up
with their words.

Consumers say they want
clean water but balk at the idea
of paying $250 a year more in
taxes to upgrade the polluting
sewer system in major cities

They say they want to protect
wildlife but frequently oppose
restrictions on waterfront deve-
lopment or recreational facilities
like golf courses that destroy
animal habitat.

Observers believe the contra-:
dictions are rooted in a
combination of factors: People’s
unwillingness to trade present
pleasure for the possibility of
future gain, ignorance and

a sense of futility.

People say, “why should |
give up the flashy car when the
neighbor down the street just
bought one and the Chinese are
still burning coal in their ho-
mes.”

The feedback loops are broken
or obscured... You buy a big
car that is heavy on gas and
there is nothing to make
you see the impact of the
carbon dioxide on the atmosphe-
re.
There is a lot of talk
about pollution. But when you
look around the environment
looks to be in pretty good
shape.

Compounding that situation is
the public’s distrust of govern-.
ment officials, and the often
conflicting information on pollu-
tants.

The popularity of “‘green’’
products being introduced by
stores such as Loblaws and The
Body Shop, and the success of

curb-side garbage recycling
programs serving more than a
million Canadian households,

indicates consumers will act
when they are given a viable

alternative.

At this stage it is anything
but convenient to make environ-
mentally wise choices at most
grocery stores, furniture stores,
dry cleaners or hardware stores.

Even an environmentally awa-
re consumer cannot do anything
because they are not given
adequate information or choices.

SPRING
COUNTERATTACK

APRIL 13 — MAY 4

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Most tires do lose some pressure over time

tain pattern in rotating radial or
bias-ply tires. But many of the
makers recommend what is call-
ed the “‘Forward-X”’ pattern,
patticularly for front-wheel-
drive cars.

With front-wheel drive, the
front tires wear two and a half
times faster than the rear, which
just go along for the ride, with-
out any of the driving or steering
forces and with only a fraction
of the braking forces.

The Forward-X pattern takes
those rear wheels and moves
them straight forward. The front
tires are moved to the diagonally
opposite corners.

In any case, it is a good idea
to have a tire dealer determine
the rotation after your tires’
wear pattern has been establish-
ed.

Bald or badly worn tires are
not only hazardous but generally
against the law. Tires with less
than one-six-teenth of an inch of
tread should be replaced.

Manufacturers build “wear
bars’’ into the design of the
tread to warn the consumer that
it’s time for new tires. The bars
begin to show up as narrow
bands of smooth rubber across
the tread at intervals around the

tire. When they do, it is time to
head for the dealer, and to
puzzle over the alphabet soup
that spells out today’s sizes.

A typical designation might
be P195-60R15, with the ‘‘P”’
Standing for passenger car and
the “195” representing the
width of the tire in millimeters.
The “60” is the ratio of height to
width; ““R’” means the tire is a
radial, and ““15”’ is the diameter
of the rim in inches.

A tire’s sidewall also carries a

lot of other information, such as
maximum load and inflation
pressure, and the pertinent data
for your car can be found in the
owner’s manual or on a placard
on the driver’s door jamb, on the
edge of the door or in the glove
compartment.

If you are not replacing. all
four tires, remember that tires
of different sizes or construction
(radial, bias, bias ply) should not
be placed on the same axle.

And never use a tire smaller
than that specified by the
manufacturer. At best, a car has
only about 80 square inches of
rubber on the road — as much
contact as you have with the
driver’s seat. You don’t want
any less.

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