travelnutz wrote:
Drivers are not all alike in how the drive, corner, fast start, climb on the binders a lot for fast stopping, not avoiding as many chuckholes/bumpy or washboard roads as possible, avoiding gravel etc roads, drive in hot and/or dusty climates, salted roads, city stop and go traffic vs mostly rural or interstate traffic, and so many other variables.
10 new vehicle owners can experience the same make, model, and year just plain worn out mechanically at 75K or less while 10 others can experience a vehicle's body still tight with no rattles, still tight steering and suspension, no driveline slop, among so many other nearly close to new condition yet components with over 200,000K and still needing any repairs yet.
Golden example is my 2004.5 GM 2500HD Duramax crew cab LB 4X4 has just over 209,000K on it and only has been used for RV'ing since ordered new in 2004 and still has the OEM rear brakes/pads on it and still have a lot of pad left. It's entire over 14 years so far have been carrying our big Lance truck campers (the 9'6" until 2009 and the 11'4" Lance Legend since 2009) or the 29' Carriage 5th wheel. It's a dedicated vehicle for RV'ing only. Front brake OEM pads were changed at 126,000K with higher quality pads and are still at well more than 50% life left as of last November. Nope, I sure don't ride the brakes and drain off speed naturally with deceleration rather than jumping on the binders
Seems really beyond stupid to me to fast or jackrabbit start and then to only need to pounce on the brakes and unnecessarily quickly to bring the 21,000 lbs to a stop again and for what reason??? I can think of a lot of good reasons not to! Paid extra for the extra fuel wasted, additional brake pad surface wasted. Extra tire wear. Extra wear on suspension components. For just a few! You can pay now or later but you WILL pay!
Agree with above. A "quality driver" will get much better service life out of a mechanical piece of equipment than one who is harsh with equipment. I was told long ago "that you can operate any piece of equipment as hard as you want, just don't abuse it." I believe there is a lot of wisdom in that statement. My 3 primary vehicles all have over 250,000 miles now and still drive great. I've seen many people destroy a car in 100,000 miles or less without ever getting in a accident.
