Have you noticed how car makers have a new way to get more money from customers? They use parts that corrode more and need replacement. Years ago, lug nuts, that hold your wheels on your car, lasted longer than your car. Now they are sold with chrome caps over them that are loose enough so moisture is trapped causing rust and amazingly the nut “swells.” The car owner is so charged over a hundred dollars to replace these lug nuts that seemed designed to get more consumer dollars, with a design purposely bad. Next time you get a tire change and are told your lug nuts are swollen, get non-chrome caps and get solid steel ones that don’t swell. Or find those that are chrome-plated so they have protection from corrosion and swelling, for a short time.

And brake disc rotors seem made with rustable steel, so they need to be replaced every one or two years. Remember when brake discs and drums were “turned down,” where they were made extra thick so corroded surfaces could have the thin bad layer removed and the rotor was usable for a few more years? Of course, the makers can make more money selling new rotors than by allowing small-town repair shops to make some money while saving customers lots of replacement money. Next time you need rotors, don’t get OEM, get a higher quality, less rustable from the internet “after-market sale.”

What other parts of cars have been redesigned to make more money for the auto corporations and not for safety, but to get customers to buy replacement stuff they shouldn’t need?

Peter Grant 

Bristol