Towing vehicle with a rope

[Dave Plowman (News)]

It could be the parking brake friction material is optimised for holding rather than sliding friction.

[Jethro]

Oooooh, never seen that ... most common reason was corrosion/scoring on the inside due to crud, invariably due to old brake fluid ...

[Dave]

To prevent that is simple. The driver of the towed car should put it in gear and hold the clutch down until he needs to slow the car.

Dave

[Andy Dingley]

Unless it's a Citroen (LHM mineral fluid) or a recent silicone fluid, the effect of DOT 3 fluids on friction surfaces is less trouble than the loss of hydraulic pressure.

[Andy Dingley]

There certainly are such things. Some of them are on motorways. However they're not on motorways by default, and _unless_ signed.

[The Natural Philosopher]

There are a number of failures that are not common enough for one person in ten to see them in a lifetime.

For instance, I had a clamp diode go in a 16 year old XJS that removed the power steering and power brakes. For absolutely no reason whatsoever.

I personally have never ever had a steering rack go - stripped - yet I know of one woman who had three...do that. I hesitate to comment on her driving style.

I've seen something on our potholed roads that is totally rare in suburbia..damaged wheels and tyres.

Red hot brakes and a cold puddle and a flawed casting..its possible.

You probably wont ever see a siezed Mcpherson top bearing in this country. (where you wind up the springs every time you turn a corner) yet I drove my GFs Datsun like that for over a year in Africa..think dust.

[The Natural Philosopher]

..as long as the reason its being towed isn't a rod through the block :-)

[Jethro]

Had a car come in once, the alternator light wasn't coming on with the ignition. After 3 exchange alternators we discovered the wire for the alternator and oil pressure had been swapped ...

[Roger Chapman]

Bench seats were common in the UK at one time. Usually coupled with steering column gear change and an umbrella handle type handbrake. (IIRC some cars would have had a conventional handbrake but on the outside of the driver rather than the inside).

Lotus Elans (the rear wheel drive ones) had a separate set of small disk pads for the handbrake as well as the umbrella style handbrake lever which was not at all easy to grab when the foot-brake failed.

You want to try grabbing for a handbrake when the handle is under the dash and you are just entering a 120 degree bend on a steep hill?

[Roger Chapman]

There is actually a road sign for minimum speed limits so could be introduced on motorways in the future but I have never ever seen one either on a motorway or on an ordinary road.

OTOH certain classes of vehicle are generally banned from motorways including slow moving vehicles which include things like JCBs and agricultural tractors.

And no I am not lending any support to Dennis who is plainly wrong.

[ARWadsworth]

As are 50cc bikes that have a maximum speed of 30mph, which is why some people believe there is a 30mph minimum speed limit on the motorway.

I would hope that the driver of any car doing 30mph on a clear motorway would be charged with dangerous driving. It would not be an inconvenience but a hazard.

[ARWadsworth]

The poster was dennis. Of course he was confused.

[The Natural Philosopher]

if you are overloaded and underpowered, you have no choice.

The alternative - blocking up a country road for miles - is even less attractive.

Indeed :-)

[The Natural Philosopher]

That's very 'kind' of you.

[ARWadsworth]

dennis will soon be along to point out that you should not overload a car.

Tractors do. But then I suppose that is the sort of thing you would expect to see on a country road.

And always will be. He is gifted in that respect.

[ARWadsworth]

I'm feeling charitable.

[ARWadsworth]

And no, that is not the gf's name.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Not for 100 miles, no they don't.

[ARWadsworth]

Caravans do:-)

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

Why? Are we to assume that every other user of the m'way is blind and stupid?