CLICK & CLACK’S CAR TALK

LITTLE ROCK — DEAR TOM AND RAY:

My son is driving a 2001 Chrysler Concorde, and it’s now on its last leg. He drives fast - he just got a speeding ticket for going 96 mph! He goes to college out of state, and it’s a long, boring drive home; that’s the excuse I got for the ticket. He also told me that’s not the fastest he has driven! He’s always in a hurry - jackrabbit starts and last second braking. Does the way he drives affect the longevity of the engine? I’m pretty sure it does. I want him to understand how to make a car last.

• Richard

RAY:

We actually don’t want him to understand what makes a car last, Richard. It’s guys like him who keep us in business at the garage and allow us to buy a bigger boat every spring.

TOM:

Of course the way he drives affects the longevity of the car. In fact, it can affect the longevity of everything - including him!

RAY:

We wrote a pamphlet called “Ten Ways You May be Ruining Your Car Without Even Knowing It” (Send $4.75 - check or money order - to Ruin, P.O. Box 536475, Orlando, Fla. 32853-6475). And guess what’s No. 1 on our list? Driving like your son does.

TOM:

In fact, next time you see him, ask him if we can put his picture on the cover of our next version of the pamphlet.

RAY:

The reason that jackrabbit starts and hard braking reduce a car’s life is because those forces (compared with starting and stopping gently) put extra stress on every single part of the car - because they’re all attached to one another.

TOM:

Right. You slam on the gas pedal and stress everything down the line: the pistons, the connecting rods, the crankshaft, the transmission, the differential, then the axles and the wheels. And once the car takes off, you not only stress the suspension parts, but you’re also loosening up the welds that hold the car together and hastening the day when your car becomes the proverbial bucket of bolts.

RAY:

In the pamphlet, we use this analogy: Imagine that you’re walking down the street and you need to turn around and walk in the other direction.

TOM:

Which approach will harm you less: stopping, turning around and then starting to walk the other way?

RAY:

Or getting slammed by an NFL linebacker and jolted suddenly into moving in the other direction?

TOM:

They both get the job done, but if it were your body, which would you prefer, 50 times a day?

RAY:

So you need to drill some sense into this kid, Richard - first, for his safety and the safety of others who have to share the road with him. And second, for the longevity of his car. In our experience, nothing helps drive home a point like having to pay the cost of one’s stupidity. When a young driver has to pay for his own repair bills, his insurance and his replacement car once he destroys the one he has, he may suddenly get religion.

TOM:

After his second brake job in six months and a transmission failure or two, he might eventually ask you if he can read that little pamphlet one more time. Good luck, Richard. And if nothing else, slow him down.

DEAR TOM AND RAY:

My wife, while driving her 2011 Cadillac CTS coupe, ran onto a tree limb that fell off a truck in front of her. She stopped, backed up and eventually pulled the tree limb back out from under the car. Hitting the tree limb severed the black plastic/rubber or whatever part under the front bumper. I tied up the black thing, which I think is a wind diverter, to keep it from dragging and took the car to the dealer. The dealer removed the severely damaged part. My question is: Should I have the piece replaced, or let it go as is? Aesthetically, I can’t tell the difference with or without the diverter, but if the thing has a purpose, I will have it replaced.

• Tom

TOM:

You can forget about it, Tom. That little rubberized flap is called a chin spoiler.

RAY:

It’s got about as much functional purpose as my brother’s “chin spoiler” - i.e., his beard. It catches a little soup once in a while, but it doesn’t do anything to make him perform better.

TOM:

The chin spoiler is a small air deflector that’s supposed to make the underside of the car a tiny bit more aerodynamic, especially at high speeds. Is it something you’d ever notice in the performance of the car? Nah.

RAY:

There are a couple of small side benefits of having the chin spoiler there. It may provide a little bit of scratch protection to the underside of that bumper when you run over a curb stone or a tree limb.

TOM:

And it may keep some small bits of debris from getting up into the belt assembly area.

RAY:

And like my brother’s beard, it helps hide whatever ugly thing is underneath it.

TOM:

But it probably would cost you about $200 to get a new one installed, and if it were my car, I’d forget all about it and keep driving.

Click & Clack (Tom and Ray Magliozzi) dispense advice about cars in Car Talk every Saturday. Email Click & Clack by visiting the Car Talk section of

cartalk.com