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Old October 17th 04, 12:41 PM
Ted Mittelstaedt
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"Mark" > wrote in message
et...
> They are new ! This is like the third or fourth set of bendix, raybestos,
> brembo ....
>


Hate to say it but perhaps it's your braking technique. I know, I know
everyone
gets insulted when someone makes a suggestion that they don't know how to
drive, everyone figures they should know how to drive straight out of the
womb.

But I see this every day coming home on the expressway.

1) Never use your left foot to brake. First of all this encourages people
to
rest their left foot on the brake, secondly in a panic stop someone could
stamp down on both the accellerator and the brake at the same time.

2) Never rest your foot on the brake. The brake petal is not a footrest.
Either rest your foot on the accellerator or if using cruise control, on the
floor.

3) Harder braking for a short time is much better than light braking for a
long
time. You should feel the weight of your body shift forward during
braking -
if you don't, your not braking hard enough.

4) You should use the brake as little as possible. If you are crusing down
the
street at 45Mph and 1000 feet in front of you you see a light change to red,
you should take your foot off the accellerator and coast to the stop,
braking
firmly at the last 300 feet. You do not gas it until you get to 200 feet
then
slam on the brakes. Nor do you apply the brakes lightly at 1000 feet and
coast with the brake on all the way to the light.

If you are on the expressway and it's congested, you should pick a crusing
speed
that allows you to not have to brake. If the average speed of the traffic
is
40Mph, then drive 40Mph. If periodically a gap opens up in front of you
then good, that is what's supposed to happen. Do not drive 55Mph for a
quarter mile on someone's arse then ride the brake for another quarter mile
on someone's arse, then gas it for another quarter mile on someone's arse,
etc. Remember, the only time that
a driver should ever use brakes on a freeway is if there's an accident in
front of him. Brakes should only be used when approaching an intersection
or when you see a cop with a radar gun, and there are no intersections on a
freeway.

5) Do not use the parking brake if you are one of those people who easily
forgets to take it off when you start driving.

If everyone did this driving would be a lot more pleasant for everyone and
everyone would also save a lot of gas. Also, there would be far less
"caterpillaring" of traffic on a freeway and traffic would actually go
faster
on the freeway.

Ted


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