WDB
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Posts: 7,425 
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Post by WDB on Sept 19, 2023 14:55:12 GMT
Promoted partly by new 20 limits in Wales and something I heard on the generally knowledgeable YouTube channel Electrifying, I thought we could do with a place to moan about tropes and fallacies that, of course, we’re too road-godly to share.
My first is the one that I’ve heard in every discussion of the changes in Wales (and before that in many parts of London and several towns and villages around me) that a lower limit forces drivers to look at their speedometer instead of the road. Yes, people really do say that; you’ve probably heard them too.
And then we have why EVs use more energy on the motorway. I keep hearing that it’s ‘because they regenerate less’ at high speed. That’s factually correct, of course, but it relies on the journalist’s myth that regeneration is a magical source of free energy, rather than simply a mechanism for avoiding some of the wastage due to friction braking.
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bpg
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Post by bpg on Sept 19, 2023 15:22:17 GMT
I think the first will be directly linked to how rigourously the speed limit is being enforced.
It's a new limit, people don't have an inbuilt feel for 20mph yet. Unless they have or use the limiter available in most cars then they will feel they are watching their speed more. That will wear off.
EVs using more energy on a motorway, all cars do. My own experience is an EV uses more energy because it has the aerodynamics of a house brick being SUV style.
My own pet peeve is the media reporting diesel cars spew out tons of pollutants while showing a picture or video of what is clearly a petrol engine running under enriched startup on a winter's morning.
Yes, a diesel which is not maintained correctly can produce excess soot, stating all diesels do is similar to the claim every EV will suffer battery failure after 8 years, there you go, there's another old wives tale.
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Post by EspadaIII on Sept 19, 2023 17:30:03 GMT
and EVs produce more tyre residue that large SUVs - obviously.
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Post by dixinormus on Sept 19, 2023 20:33:06 GMT
…and more brake dust because they are heavier?
And EVs will cause more crashes because they accelerate much quicker than ICE vehicles..?!
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bpg
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Post by bpg on Sept 19, 2023 20:35:23 GMT
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bpg
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Posts: 2,809
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Post by bpg on Sept 19, 2023 20:42:02 GMT
…and more brake dust because they are heavier? And EVs will cause more crashes because they accelerate much quicker than ICE vehicles..?! Which is a load of b*****ks because: 1. I can't remember the last time I used the big fat pedal in the foot well of our EV - left paddle does all the braking with the motor generator. Seriously though, the wheels on an EV do not get covered in brake dust. Unless you really do not know what you are doing you will never have to clean the wheels again. You will need discs and pads due to corrosion before they wear out. 2. 204PS is hardly much quicker than ICE vehicles when a Ford Fiesta ST packs the same number in a smaller, lighter car. |
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Post by Humph on Sept 19, 2023 20:50:23 GMT
I always try not to have to brake unless I actually need to stop or briefly hold the car from creeping. Only two sets of replacement brakes in 200k miles, second set at 180k.
OCD of course, I know it and embrace it!
😉
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bpg
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Post by bpg on Sept 19, 2023 21:00:19 GMT
I always try not to have to brake unless I actually need to stop or briefly hold the car from creeping. Only two sets of replacement brakes in 200k miles, second set at 180k. OCD of course, I know it and embrace it! 😉 A bit excessive on a 2016 car, Larry Leadfoot, my 2011 is still on the original front discs. Of course the manufacturer has set the car up to do the bulk of the braking with the rear set so I've gone through a set of rear discs in that time unnecessarily. The front discs are starting to look a bit tatty round the edges, should really replace them for cosmetic reasons. Shame I couldn't go all Tam (Still Game) and reuse the front pads as they're hardly worn at all. |
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Post by Humph on Sept 19, 2023 21:16:19 GMT
Rear biased brakes?
Blimey, who’d a thunk?
🤔
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Post by Humph on Sept 19, 2023 21:20:13 GMT
…although on reflection, I had an MG Midget that only had one front brake for a while. Handbrake was quite strong though, so that was fine…
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bpg
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Post by bpg on Sept 19, 2023 21:27:45 GMT
Rear biased brakes? Blimey, who’d a thunk? 🤔 It's a Volvo, passenger experience. If you hit the brakes the fronts will do the work but for normal driving the 9 or 10" rear discs can do the job without everyone inside the car lurching forwards. If you are the last on the brakes into the bend hero then your brake wear will be different  |
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Post by Humph on Sept 19, 2023 21:39:16 GMT
Never knew that about Volvos. Isn’t that an interesting thing! I only had my first new back brakes with the second set of fronts. But then, proper car y’see…
😉
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bpg
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Post by bpg on Sept 19, 2023 21:52:05 GMT
They brought it in on these "naughty" Volvos with the brake torque vectoring. Like anyone has said what I need is a Volvo I can drive around the corner on the door handles.
This car I've had for coming up ten years, one set of rear discs and what will soon be a third sets of rear brake pads, second set for this set of rear discs, to a new set of front discs due to corrosion and a new set of pads because you need a new set of pads with a new set of discs. The front pads still have more than half the life left in them - Tam has just passed 'oot.
Not bad for something that does not spend all its time pounding up and down motorways cruising at a constant speed. In January I will have what will be my first teenager car.
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Post by dixinormus on Sept 19, 2023 22:19:10 GMT
SWMBO’s Outlander also wears out the rear brakes before the front. I was surprised too, but clearly not a new or novel set-up.
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Post by Humph on Sept 20, 2023 9:35:15 GMT
Blimey, and I thought I knew everything.
I suppose I do now though. Thanks.
👍
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