Driving fast damage your car?

Adam18290

Adam18290

Adam18290

Associate
Joined
26 Jan 2007
Posts
728
Location
Surrey
As in the title^

Update: I dont mean driving on the motorway, cause that cant be bad. But I mean accelerating quite harsh.
 
Last edited:
No, it can put more stress on certain componants if you're not mechanically sympathetic, but driving fast on it's own will not damage your car.
 
Would the make, year, engine size etc determine whether accelerating harshly is bad for your car, for example accelerating hard cant be bad in a supercar but in a small hatchback it could be?
 
Larger wear and tare, need to change tyres more often. But no it doesn't damage it.

Adam18290 said:
Would the make, year, engine size etc determine whether accelerating harshly is bad for your car, for example accelerating hard cant be bad in a supercar but in a small hatchback it could be?
Click to expand...

no, yes the parts are cheaper, but the forces are also lower.

I gave my chinq absolute abuse for 2 or was it 3 years flew through all mot's and apart from a bust rad and a bust gear linkage It was unbreakable.
 
Depends on many factors.

How fast
For how long
In what car
At what stage of the warm cycle
In what state of repair and service the car is in
And how it is driven (gearbox, brakes, revs etc)

If the car is well maintained, is up to temp, is not thrashed every single day and is treated with a level of mechanical sympathy it should be fine.
 
Adam18290 said:
Please could you expand on "mechanically sympathetic".

Thanks :)
Click to expand...

somebody who is not mechanically sympathetic will thump the car through the gears
not depress the clutch fully and crash through the gears
drive it hard when stone cold
thrash it to the redline all the time

in short, let it warm up, and be smooth and precise with it and it wont matter who fast you're going, you wont damage your car.
 
Adam18290 said:
How long would it take to warm up the car before its safe to go a bit faster?
Click to expand...

Allow around 15 mins for everything to be warm. Water heats up fairly quickly, but if you look at an oil temp and pressure gauge it takes a bit longer. If the car in question is turbocharged, allowing it to tick over a couple of mins before switching it off will aid turbo life.
 
Driving fast will always cause more wear and tear on the car.

More tyre wear
At higher rpms and temperatures the oil will be less effective
More wear on engine mounts
Greater risk of oil starvation
More wear on suspension bushes and joints from high lateral loads
The brake pads, discs and fluid will be worked harder
The clutch will suffer more on full bore gearchanges
More stone chips

Nothing massive but on an average hoon wear and tear will be greater as a lot of components are stressed more.
 
Well, hard accelerating can damage gearbox/diff/driveshafts etc. Hard braking will wear through disks/pads much more quickly, and tyres.

My diff is due to be refurbished asap, and is a common problem with rover turbos unfortunately :(. Steel cage bearings are the only solution.

Many cars have fun quirks :P.
 
Isn't the temperature dial an indication of when its warm? I.e. when my temp dial gets up to halfway (where it is when the car is warm) doesn't that in turn mean the oil is hot? Cos everytime i've let it get up to where the water temp says warm, the oil is steaming hot too.
 
Gaygle said:
Isn't the temperature dial an indication of when its warm? I.e. when my temp dial gets up to halfway (where it is when the car is warm) doesn't that in turn mean the oil is hot? Cos everytime i've let it get up to where the water temp says warm, the oil is steaming hot too.
Click to expand...

The coolant warms up a lot quicker than the oil, in my car the coolant shows bang in the middle at 90c after about 5 mins the oil takes a good 15mins to get up to temp.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom