Re: Bizarre Habits??? (archive)

You can leave the parking brake on usually, that's what it was designed for (hence the name). But *not* after driving aggresively when the brake discs are very hot (like track driving). When that happens, the cool brake pad contact on the hot rear rotor will make it cool unevenly, creating the possibility of warping.

As for leaving the car in gear, I think it's fine too. Someone here posted that the whole car's weight would be resting on the transmission that way, but to that I say: 1. only part of the car's weight is pulling on the tranny (elementary physics), 2. what's stopping the car from rolling downhill is in fact the friction/compression of the engine and 3. when you are accelerating uphill the same thing happens only more so, you are adding the accelerative force to the car's weight. The tranny can take all that.

My opinion, I could be wrong.

adc

After driving either my '97 Dinan M3/4 or my '00 Dinan 540i Sport, I do what some friends have criticized as ineffective or even foolish. I raise the hood on the car I have driven to disipate heat from the engine. Also, I put wooden blocks behind both rear tires and take the car out of gear and release the parking brake to allow the cars weight to roll up against the blocks. Do these practices make sense? Do they achieve the desired results?

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