[Shop-talk] which tie down best for car hauler

[Mullen]

I seem to have accidentally start a misunderstanding about shocks and tying
cars down.

I was simply saying that an old buddy would put blocks under his suspension
and tie the car down tight to that so there was no movement of the suspension.
The car was a Formula Ford (he was in the top 5 drivers at the national level)
- a car that was so light weight that it had to have weight added to meet the
minimum weight limits.  He did not want his car bouncing around on the shocks
for 500 - 1,000 miles on the way to/from the track shocks that would normally
see less than 50 miles of use on the track.  They had to be replaced (rebuilt)
often as it was during the racing season.

As to the best way, well - that depends.  As I indicated that the Elise is
shipped from England and across the country in containers using tie downs
attached to the wheels.  There is no place to tie to the chassis, and if you
did tie to the chassis, you would probably damage it.  On the other hand, my
Miata (and Honda) have tie down hooks built into the chassis for shipment when
they make the car.  It's simply a matter of preference, and having a ton of
car "bouncing around" on a trailer should have no more affect than the
bouncing around of a ton of car and trailer bouncing together - if anything
the car tied down by its suspension should help to dampen the bouncing (I
haven't seen too many trailers with shock absorbers on the trailer
suspension).

To each his own, but I would prefer to use tire baskets and E-tracks to secure
a car on my trailer.

Tim Mullen