matt69olds

There are probably hundreds of automotive myths. Some have a basis if fact, some are just nonsense.

The myth that trigger my desire to creat this thread is the one about not storing batteries on concrete, supposedly the concrete will slowly discharge the battery.

Another is the myth that you shouldn’t rotate radial tires.

Installing a battery or alternator with more capacity than factory will “burn up” the electrical system.

Fords are reliable, desirable cars…. Ok, that one is in my opinion is mostly nonsense. 😁

I thought it might make amusing reading for people to share some of the myths they have always been told, and if possible the story behind the myth.

Sugar Bear

Interesting thread.

Batteries on concrete and the story behind...
Back in the day the cases were rubber and putting them on concrete caused problems, The rubber cases could conduct electricity to discharge the battery. The wood served as an insulator.

If you doubt that rubber can conduct electricity take a test lamp connected between the positive of a battery and a metal hose clamp on a rubber radiator hose and watch what happens.

jaunty75

What I've heard from what I think are reliable sources is not that you shouldn't rotate radials. No harm is done in doing so, but they should kept on the same side of the car.

What I've heard is that there is no NEED to rotate radials on a car with good alignment. The purpose of rotating tires is to even out the wear. But properly aligned wheels will wear evenly, so there is no advantage in rotating them. You're just wasting your time and/or money in doing so.

BangScreech4-4-2

I don't know how wear could be the same front vs. rear on a RWD car with a solid rear axle. On such vehicles I would think that periodic front/rear swaps would be have to be beneficial regardless of front wheel alignment.

Of course the tires on my Oldsmobile will likely age out before they accumulate enough miles to require rotation.

droldsmorland

Olds CS vs S frame/engine offset for header fitup. This one simply won't die.

Prob some typo from 50 years ago. Or some old man told his grandson this now it has to be true...Or someone measured a car that took a very hard hit??? The myth the legend lives on.
Why would Lansing ever design two separate engine offsets for the common A-body platform.. shared with the Buick Pontiac Chevy lines..none of these cousin cars suffer the dreaded offset myth, just Olds.

jaunty75

Good point. The advice I heard was directed more toward modern cars. Vintage vehicles I think should definitely follow whatever the manufacturer recommended at the time.

69HO43

Myth: Hurst put the 455s in all the 68/69 production H/Os.
Myth: Always inflate your tires using the information on the sidewall of the tire itself.
Myth: Ford was the first to use the automotive assembly lines.
Myth: Once you repack your front wheel bearings, pack grease into the void area around the spindle to make up for any grease that heats up and runs out of the bearings themselves. (My uncle tried convincing me to that piece of BS.)
Myth: All classic cars are good investments.
Myth: High-octane fuel makes any car run better.
Myth: Lowering tire air pressures gives a better ride.

And one partial myth: If you overflow your gas tank, you'll damage your fuel system. You won't if you have, say, a 71 Olds Delta 88 for instance. I can attest that if you have an early 2003 GMC/Chevy pickup, you can flood out and ruin your charcoal vent canister causing a check engine light and may need to replace the canister by having to lift the bed to get to the components. Ask my brother-in-law if this is true. I've never "topped off" my tanks in our newer vehicles to even up the cents on the pump since. When the pump clicks off, I'm done.

Olds64

Pretty cool thread.

It must be a myth that Armor All tire shine turns tires brown. I've never used Armor All on the tires currently on my 71 98 and they're brown and nasty. It's the rubber chemistry that causes them to turn brown.

I can try to use Simple Green or Bleche White and the nastiness doesn't come off. Of course, the tires need to be replaced anyways. I'm sure I'm over 10 years.

Oldsguy

Not sure if it is a myth or not. Do not use cinder blocks in lieu of jackstands as they may catastrophically crumble under the pressure, instead use wood blocks they will slowly compress under excessive weight. Again, not sure of the validity of this one but I always used wood blocks until there was a Tractor Supply, O'reilly's, Auto Zone, Pep Boys, etc. on every corner when there was no longer any excuse not to buy jackstands.

Sugar Bear

Cinder blocks to support a car is a never, never, never for me. Glad you brought it up.

Greg Rogers

When radials first came out you were not supposed to rotate them at all, later it was said ok to rotate but never side to side. But for 20 years or so it is recommended to rotate. In fact some mileage warrantees were voided if you didn't. (or at least they would try to.) At least Discount Tire Co. offered and recommended rotation every 6,000 miles. It was included in the purchase of a set of 4 tires. For many years I always rotated tires rear to front, fronts crossed then to rear. I had a hard time remembering that so I drew it on a 4x4 by the bench of my old shop. Now I have moved, but I've been doing it so long I no longer need the drawing! Even cars in "perfect" alignment will wear the front tire sooner- usually on the inner edge. Especially front wheel drive cars.

69HO43

I totally agree that you shouldn't use cinder blocks to support the car's weight. Car bodies have been stored on cinder blocks with 4 x 4 posts laying across them without issue. Of course, that's not the entire car. It makes a difference on how the blocks are positioned and the weight you put on them. If you lay the blocks where the edges of the holes are on top, like building a wall, you get the most strength. If you lay them on the largest surface area on their sides, they stand more of a chance to crumble.

ourkid2000

The fellow down the road from me swears that propane tanks make the best jack stands.

Fun71

Yes, from what I read the early radial construction would allow the inner belts/cords to shift if spun in the opposite direction. Modern radials are vastly different and can be rotated side-to-side (except for those with directional tread construction).

oldoldss

Another myth: Once you start using one brand of motor oil in a vehicle, never switch to another.

Supposedly due to different properties, including detergents -- one oil may free up gunk left by another oil and cause damage to the engine.

BangScreech4-4-2

Are they BFG T/As?

Because I have a set of those with brown letters that have never been touched by Armor All, and they won't ever be white again Unless I replace them with Cooper Cobras, that is.

Oldsguy

If it frees up gunk in the engine wouldn't that be good? Clean out the engine and let the filter capture it for the next change?

oldolds88

if it frees up gunk in the engine, I would be looking at the previous oil as to why it left gunk.

no1oldsfan

When I first saw this thread and it's title first thing I thought was Hemmings. Those guys have put out misinformation for decades.

Rotating tires? Bangscreetch there is so much more weight on a front drive car. Here in snow country we know not to rotate tires. Especially front to rear. Front tires wear so much faster. Swap those to the rears? Rear traction is vital in the snow. Yes even on a front drive car.

matt69olds

Om betting Joe has t seen this thread yet, I would have bet money that this would be his contribution!

matt69olds

I was always told to move the front to back, and flip the rear tires side to side.

I bet as long as you follow the same procedure every time, it probably doesn’t matter.

I typically get 55-60k miles out of a set of tires on my Ram, I think that’s acceptable for the type of truck and use.

matt69olds

Or how about the one that says once you use synthetic oil, you can’t switch back to conventional oil.

Koda

-Olds blocks have higher nickel, so they don't need to be 4 bolt main.
-Bump your engine to have the oil pump push out the last of the dirty oil during an oil change.
-It's not a real 442 unless it's a stick.
-You haven't greased a fitting enough until you can see grease coming out around it.
-Greasing lug studs makes no difference in final torque, grease them hard for corrosion prevention.
-Keep your best old tire as the spare. (This is how my van ended up with a 1986 spare in 2023.)

BangScreech4-4-2

My convertibles don't get out much when it snows.

Olds64

No, they're General Grabber HTS, black wall out. I thought of the recent thread on BFG Radial T/As.

allyolds68

A 8x16x10 cinder block has 44 square inches of surface area. Using 2000 lb/in^2 for the compressive strength of a block (very conservative), each cinder block is capable of supporting 88,000 lbs.

What gives concrete block a bad rap is when people use them with no provisions to spread out the load. When you point load them on a metal frame, you're just asking for them to fail.. Using them sideways is just stupid (see Darwin awards). Stack them properly with a wood softener and they work just fine.

Sugar Bear

I'm sure you know this and the words were just interchanged based upon the info you provided, cinder blocks and concrete blocks are not the same. Aren't cinder blocks far more brittle? I wouldn't be comfortable using either to support the load of a car and consider it safe. Please keep in mind when I lift and support a car my plan is to get under it and work. Frequently the blocks have been laying around and subjected to various uses or possibly dropped/fractured and been weakened.

I'm probably overly concerned about this having had ramps collapse just after I got out from under a car decades ago. For me it is quality steel stands on a firm level surface and hoping for the best.


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allyolds68

Concrete Blocks are solid vs Cinder Blocks are windowed (hence 44 square inches vs 128 square inches.)

I'm not sure what you mean by brittle. Concrete is concrete. A Cinder Block used properly will easily support tens of thousands of pounds. No concrete, solid or windowed, likes to be point loaded so setting a frame of a car, control arm, rear end pumpkin, etc on it shouldn't be done without placing some type of timber softener on it. If I stack concrete blocks it's good practice to place a piece of plywood between each block.

I worked for a marine contractor for years so I have lots of 6x6, 8x8 and even 12x12 short timber blocking so I can use both. Most people don't have access to good large timber blocking

Jamesbo

Cinder block and concrete block are 2 entirely different animals cinder block ash content makes it very brittle.

Olds64

I didn't know cinder blocks were different from concrete blocks. Remember this thread?

https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...recall-145427/
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A coworker of mine changed the brake pads on his truck and only used the included scissors jack. Definitely not what right looks like.

allyolds68

I would beg to differ with your unscientific explanation....

This is what people typically refer to when they say "cinder block". They come in both voided and solid (I used the area of a voided block for my calculation posted above). The compressive strength of the concrete in these blocks is a typically 2500 psi (I conservatively used 2000 psi in my calculation above).

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Common-8-in...E&gclsrc=aw.ds

All you'd ever want to know about cinder blocks:

https://www.mmconcrete.com/ConcreteW...cinder%20block.

Years ago people found that adding cinders to a typical concrete mix design to take the place of some of the cement increased compressive strength (and saved money on cement). Cinders haven't actually been used since WWII. Now fly ash (essentially very fine cinders) is substituted for cement in a mix design which increases concrete strength significantly.

bccan

You guys are arguing concrete and block strength with a lifelong heavy construction guy.




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66_Jetstar

Lots of folks like to tell me my muncie is clutchless. I'm not sure where that one started.

fleming442

Probably because it has synchronization rings. That one must go back to the 50s (or early 60s). Remember: any transmission can be clutchless if you shift it hard enough 😉

Olds64

If you can't find em', grind em'!

bccan

Had a clutch pivot ball snap off in my 70 SS, drove it for a day and a half until I could replace it. Wasn’t easy but I did it. Cramped finances, inflexible schedule, youth and determination, some coordination and anticipation too!

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66_Jetstar

These guys aren't old enough for that train of thought.. I tell them it has an M22 and they think its some sort of factory Jericho type setup. "Hold it to the floor and pull the stick" blah, blah, blah...

fleming442

That's funny. You're not really lying, even though 22 gears aren't 100% straight cut.