From the Rolls-Royce experimental archive: a quarter of a million communications from Rolls-Royce, 1906 to 1960's. Documents from the Sir Henry Royce Memorial Foundation (SHRMF).
Precautions against low-speed wobbles and the effects of braking on steering.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 178\1\ img122 | |
| Date | 13th July 1926 guessed | |
| - 23 - (3) Ascertain that the tyre inflation pressures are the maximum for the required riding comfort. These precautions should be sufficient to cure any R-R car of low speed wobbles. In exceptional circumstances it might be necessary to reduce the tyre section or increase the friction in the pivots. VI. THE EFFECT OF BRAKING ON STEERING. (a) Locking the front wheels. The rolling resistance of a wheel is less than its sliding resistance. A wheel can only roll in a plane normal to its bearing spindle or hub. Therefore when a rolling wheel is turned through an angle, the front of the car follows the line of least resistance and the car is steered. It is just as easy to slide a wheel in a direction parallel to its axis as at right angles thereto, however. When the front wheels of a car are locked, therefore, the movement of the front of the car is resisted equally in all directions no matter where the steering wheel is turned and all directional control is lost. It is for this reason that four wheel brakes of maximum efficiency are rarely fitted to a car, for under these conditions the front wheels would be just as liable to lock as the rear. The tendency of a car, when all four wheels are locked, is to continue in a straight line in the direction in which it was moving at the moment when the wheels were locked until it comes to rest. If it deviates from a straight line it is generally because contd. | ||