This criterea is an important part of efficiency ; directly affects vehicles' mpg, should be disclosed as required by law. i] brake bind : e.g. my 1985 Nissan Sunny 130Y assembled in msia had springs fitted in a wrong way ( the springs force idle brake pads onto brake discs ), so the front wheels could barely spin before I removed these stupid springs. ii] size / height of tyres : the taller is a tyre, the lower will be the min tow force needed to overcome the same brake bind, so cheapo cars with short tyres will need a higher min tow force. iii] toe-in : e.g. my 1990 honda accord's prescribed rear wheels' toe-in kept rolling resistance very high, before I ignored these toe-in. iv] low rolling resistance tyres : e.g. Michelin's "green" tyres have lower rr than Goodyear / Dunlop 's. So if a vehicle has cheap tyres with high rr, then its specification should reveal a higher min tow force required. v] lubricant in wheel bearing : now modern lubricants ( e.g. synthetic oil / fullerene / semi-paraffin ) can be 2x as slippery as grease, so if a manufacturer still puts cheapo grease into bearings, this would cause a higher min tow force. vi] nitrogen in tyres : will significantly reduce rr esp for big / high profile tyres ( like lorries' ). So manufacturers should not be allowed to ignore this fact, @ the expense of mpg & consumers' CO2 discharge.
- posted
18 years ago