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I was at a local Nissan Dealership & there was a vehicle on its side showing the benefits of under-coating.
I think they have this display vehicle at several of the dealerships in my area.
I decided to look at the front of the car & realized it was a Micra so I took a few pictures.
Since the car is so low I have never seen much of the under-side before.
It's fun to see! especially when you realize which part is your car's weak part, you will try to get something to protect it
I thought it was interesting to see where the driveshafts connect to the transmission & how skinny they are.
I've seen similar/thicker drive shafts on an ATV having a much smaller engine.
I've heard if you spin a tire(s) at crazy speeds on ice then hit dry pavement you can easily snap a "half shaft"
hahaha. yes it can happen. hence why those ATV have much thicker shaft.
The most common scenario is while you are in some thick deep mud, and you gun it. Usually you can snap both side of the shaft without any effort.
But they make the shaft so thin is really because of fuel economy (of course + saving material & labor cost)
Thanks for those pics!
I wonder if the Micra has an "Achille's Heel" when it comes to rust.
Some cars have problem areas that doom them to an early grave because of corrosion in structural areas. Two examples: the Toyota Echo, which had a fatal flaw in the area where the rear axle attaches to the unibody that trapped dirt/water and would make them unsafe. The Suzuik Swift/Firefly/Metro had a similar flaw in the front unibody at the lower control arm attachment point. Repairs to either car were too expensive/complicated, and lots of them went to the crusher while they still had lots of life left in them, mechanically.
On the other hand, I see a LOT of 20+ year-old Tercels in my part of the world -- those cars are the cockroaches of the economy car world from the 90's. They may be rusty around the edges, but clearly they don't suffer from a fatal flaw in terms of corrosion.
Unfortunately, we're not going to know about the Micra's problem areas until the cars are a bit older and we start to see some rusty ones.
PS: I like how they idenfity the Micra's fuel tank as an area of concern for rust-proofing.
The Micra's PLASTIC fuel tank. :D
i dropped and lubed up the spare....even after 1 year it gets pretty grundgy up there...and u dont want to be fighting with that on a dark nite
That's a good idea to take down the spare tire and figure how to do it in nice dry conditions.
I hope you checked the pressure, its probably supposed to be 60 psi (see the door panel tag)
I also own a Dodge Grand Caravan & the spare is mounted on a tray under the van floor by the the front seats. After turning a long rod to the floor fitting the dirty filthy tire/tray must be lowered to the ground & slid out from under the van. Next you have to turn the tire/tray over and squeeze the release assembly arms to free the tire from the tray cable.
I decided to put the spare in a clean tire bag & leave it inside the van for the winter, don't want to go through the lowering
procedure on the side of the Coquihalla.