On Tue, 20 Nov 2007 09:32:32 -0800 (PST), Orin <
[email protected]>
wrote:
>On Nov 19, 1:52 pm, [email protected] wrote:
>> A Nashbar 27" tire from the previous century passed away, probably
>> none too quietly, while sitting in the garage.
>>
>> It had been pumped up a week earlier to its usual 90 psi and ridden
>> gently several times, literally by a little old lady, but it decided
>> after its last ride that life was just too hard:
>>
>> http://i12.tinypic.com/6wooh39.jpg
>
>Brake pad looks like it's not parallel to the rim and rubbing on the
>tire, though it could be the camera angle.
>
>> http://i10.tinypic.com/85cwkur.jpg
>
>Look at the sidewall nearest the rim to the right of the 'hole'. No
>rubber left on the cords.
>
>I'd check the brake pads as well.
>
>Orin
Dear Orin,
Oh, don't be silly. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that it must be
the camera angle.
1) I didn't notice anything wrong with the brakes when I fixed the
tire.
2) The brake pads have never been adjusted in thirty years or so, as
far as I can tell, much less replaced, so the brake pads couldn't be
misaligned--the tires would have burst long ago.
3) A quick look at the tire, which I kept, shows no circular scar
around the rest of the sidewall, which you'd expect if the pad were
attacking the sidewall.
4) Of course the damaged sidewall is missing material--it exploded.
So experience, logic, and investigation all show that you must be
mistaken and merely raising a straw man, a terrible habit on RBT. I
_know_ beyond a shadow of a doubt that the pad was not touching.
A glance at the brake pad proves that I'm--
Er, never mind what it proves.
If you don't tell anyone, no one will know how far I moved the right
front brake pad down a few minutes ago, before I took this picture:
http://i18.tinypic.com/6jojdvm.jpg
Well, they won't know unless they notice that mark above the nut on
the caliper arm, which shows how the pad was set too high for decades
and how far down I just moved it.
D'oh!
Despite scarcely any braking, the pad finally wore down enough against
the rim so that the unworn part began acting as a lathe on a faint
bulge on the sidewall, without leaving a circular scar on the rest of
the sidewall.
Here's undamaged side of the tire:
http://i12.tinypic.com/6ynsxds.jpg
The thin, regularly spaced white diagonals on the sidewall aren't
brake pad damage.
Here's the damaged side:
http://i9.tinypic.com/8amp2tz.jpg
The less regular, thicker white marks from about 10 to 2 o'clock show
where the brake pad was shaving the tire wherever the sidewall bulged
a tiny bit.
Thanks for the lesson in just how dumb I can be and why we shouldn't
trust so many posts that insist that such-and-so couldn't possibly
have happened.
By coincidence, I read "The Car Guys" last night:
Dear Tom and Ray: I have a 2002 Daewoo wagon. I have owned it since it
was new and have adequately maintained it, and it has just under
50,000 miles on it. Recently my husband checked the oil and added a
half-quart. Before long, I could see white smoke coming from the back
of the car. By the time I parked, the car was smoking profusely. I
opened the hood to find the oil cap missing and oil coating the inside
of the engine compartment and dripping on the driveway.
I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that my husband put the cap back on
properly. He tells me that the oil cap shot off. What happened? When I
brought it in to the service station (the same guys who have fixed and
serviced it for years), they told me that oil caps are not under any
pressure and will not "shoot off."
What do you think? - Leslie
Tom: Well, Leslie, we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that your
husband did not put the cap back on properly.
http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_7492031
Now I feel guilty for snickering at Leslie and her husband.
I checked the other three pads. They're okay, but Andrew Muzi may not
hire me as a summer intern at Yellow Jersey.
Cheers,
Carl Fogel
