What did you 'find out' about cars/driving long after you passed your test?

TrickyWicky

Chickabiddybex wrote: »

I don't get it... You can flick your rear view mirror? What do you mean?

At the bottom in the middle most of them have a little lever. You move this forwards and the mirror flips over to a darkened mirror which dulls the headlights of the car behind.

The lever looks like this:

DigForVictory

How to change rear light units & wing mirrors (and what a scrapper was & where to find the local one.) "My" car was a bit longer & wider than the car I learned in... (Honest!)
That a Haynes is worth every penny - if only for something dry to kneel on as you peer dubiously at a bit of vehicle.
That "Ladies Nights" at garages are great opportunities to learn how to change a tyre without breaking a nail, what the orange phoneboxes are for & where the cameras are on Manchester motorways.
Oh yes, and that the louder the music, the faster I go & the more expensive it is. So when seriously MoneySaving, I unplug the radio...

Joe_Horner

Step-daughter found out last week (about 3 years after passiing her test) that when we'd explained while she was learning that basic maintenance (checking the oil and water etc) was important, we weren't just doing the "parental drag" bit.

She's now convinced she can still get between 2 and 3 hundred (to start paying her grandad back for the replacement) for a Rover 416 with seized engine

WTFH

1. You can spin an old mini.
2. You can get the speedo needle pointing vertically down in an old mini.
3. Cars are not just "driving machines", ask any petrolhead (as defined by JC)
4. You'll never "save" money on a car, you'll just be spending it less fast for a short time.
5. It's mirror, then signal, then manoeuvre - in that order, and not leaving bits out.

poet123

Ok, confession time...

That the sign "All VEH" on a motorway wasn't in German!!

forgotmyname

A MK2 Escort is not quite as strong as a concrete wall. But it had a good go and destroying it.

The wall had to be repaired yet i still managed to drive home.

Liftoff oversteer can be achieved in RWD and FWD cars. Soon learned that once commited to the bend keep the throttle steady.

I also learned that the very 1st cop car with a inbuilt camera was a sneaky way of doing things.

Not my fault my car was faster than theirs as i accelerated away from them. They were just jealous i think.

TrickyWicky

forgotmyname wrote: »

Soon learned that once commited to the bend keep the throttle steady.

I thought that you could start to speed up once you were in the bend? Likewise I thought you could take your foot off the gas but just avoid using the brakes?

I know I did the latter once on a bend coming off a motorway.. slip road had no warnings of a tight bend, there's me doing 60 along the slip road and suddenly realised it was a real tight one. Took my foot off the gas and just hoped for the best. Needless to say I made it

Nilrem

That changing tyres can be fun...

That you should always carry a pair of builders gloves in the car (and either a spare rubber mat if you've got carpet ones, or some sort of plastic sheet or garden kneeling pad - at least if you don't want to have to change trousers after changing a tyre in the wet on the road side).

To check the car you're driving actually has a spare AND the tools to change the tyre before going anywhere (if it's not your personal one).

To buy and carry a longer wheel wrench than the tiddly one supplied.


And a final couple but they almost count as one.
Keep a laminated sheet in the car with instructions on how to get to and change bulbs if the way to do it isn't obvious (laminated because that way the instructions last and are usable when needed).
Also keep a note of the recommended tyre pressures and wiper blade sizes somewhere handy in the car - I keep a little card in the sun visor with them (this one I picked up from my dealer when I noticed they'd put a little sticker in the top corner of the windscreen with the pressures and next mot/service dates one year).
I keep meaning to add a laminated sheet with the fuse details for my car as well, it's got a little sticker/embossed thing on the fuse cover but it's small and hard to read by torch light.

The bulb one may sound over the top, but on some cars some of the bulbs are hard to get at.

paddedjohn

I passed my test many many years ago and only found out a couple of weeks ago (speed awareness course) that a duel carriageway is any road with a physical barrier between the lanes of trafic, it can even be single lane in each direction. Who knew eh?Also learned that speed limits aren't set by how far apart the lamp posts are or if there are houses(built up area) nearby.
I've drove proffessionaly all around the UK and Europe covering roughly 1 million miles and am still learning.

worried_jim

yangptangkipperbang wrote: »

We used to live next to a teenager who discovered two weeks after passing her test why people took a right angled bend just down from us at 25mph in third and not 50 in top. Only took a bit of bark off the very big tree..............the car went to the big racetrack in the sky.............

Back in 1992 my idiot teenage neighbour wondered what would happen if he put his MK1 Fiesta into second gear whilst doing 70mph on the M1. The result was him walking the hard shoulder picking up bits of his gearbox.
The same fuktard thought it would be a good idea to overtake a fire engine in his road just as the crew were jumping out. After they had dealt with the fire the walked up the road to were he had parked his car and knocked on his door- when he answered a firm slap was delivered to his gormless face. Nugget.