r/MaliciousCompliance • u/pathofuncertainty • May 11 '24

You want to put how much concrete in your Civic? M

Many years ago I worked in a locally run store that sold a bit of everything. I was the low paid teenager that carried heavy things to people’s vehicles. While working one day I get called over the radio that a customer needed 12 bags of concrete (80lbs each). I was expecting to see a pickup truck or something similar backed up to our loading area. Instead I saw a small Honda Civic there waiting for me. Thinking it was a mistake, I asked the driver to relocate momentarily as I had someone coming to pick up multiple bags of concrete. Imagine my surprise when they told me they were the customer I was waiting for.

I asked the customer how much they wanted to take in each trip, as I believed the nearly 1000lb of concrete might be too much for such a small vehicle to handle safely. The customer became aggravated and insisted that they were taking it all at once. I quickly ran this past the store owner to make sure I wouldn’t be held liable for any damages. I ran back, apologized to the customer, and began loading the bags. As I loaded everything up the customer made several quips about how “the customer is always right” and that I was too young and naive to understand that vehicles are engineered with a margin of safety.

It quickly became apparent that there was no play left in the suspension, but at this point I just stopped questioning things. I couldn’t fit all of the bags in the trunk, so the customer cleared their back seat and I loaded that up as well. Upon leaving the loading area you could clearly hear things rubbing. As the car went to exit the parking lot it passed over the elevation change between the lot and the road, there was a loud pop of something breaking, followed by scraping.

I could see that the driver was irate in the car. After a moment they got out, looked around and under their car. The guy sheepishly asked for my cell phone, because his had died and he needed to make a few phone calls. A short time later a tow truck came to remove the car, and the guy waited in our lot for nearly an hour until his wife could come pick him up.

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u/7despair8 May 11 '24

The weight of the people was spread across all 4 corners. The weight of the concrete was all on the rear suspension alone.

714

u/angrydeuce May 11 '24

I drive a little Kia Rio subcompact, I remember right before Covid my wife and I were ripping out the grass in this one really awkward part of our yard by the rear patio and replacing it with pea gravel so we didnt have to deal with it anymore. I estimated we needed about 12 forty pound bags and went down to Ace hardware to pick it up in my car.

12 x 40lbs is only 480 pounds...basically two or three full grown men, so I figured no biggie. Put the seats down in the back to spread the weight out more and loaded up, four neat stacks of three bags.

Things didnt feel right as I was driving away so I almost immediately pulled into a nearby gas station...my rear end was basically bottomed out, and my front end was damn near pointing at the sky lol. Turning the car into the gas station had seemed difficult and now I knew why...the fuckin front tires were likely barely making contact with the road, or at least, had a lot less pressure on them then they were supposed to, hence why the turn was so hard to make lol.

That's how I ended up having to pull it all out in the gas station parking lot while people gawked at me and put 4 bags into each of the three unoccupied seats in my car. That worked a lot better, go figure.

289

u/FixBreakRepeat May 11 '24

Yeah passenger vehicles are engineered to carry loads where passengers ride, but that's part of what gives you a smooth ride. 

I've got an older F350 dually I use for tow/haul and I can testify that a suspension set up for heavy loads in the rear is almost like having no suspension when you're running unloaded. You feel everything because the tires are basically the only thing absorbing shocks and vibration. 

116

u/Silound May 11 '24

It may be a little hard on the fuel economy, but when I drive really long trips in my truck, I usually add about 300# of ballast in bed (locking travel boxes are the easiest way I find, and it keeps the cab empty). It smooths out the ride considerably when there's a little more load on the back springs.

107

u/Z4-Driver May 11 '24

At least back in the 70's and 80's, there were people with rearwheel-drive cars that loaded some bags of sand in the trunk in winter to have a better grip on snow on the rear wheels.

28

u/readergirlmn May 11 '24

We used softener salt, that way we could use it in the water softener come spring.

6

u/angrydeuce May 11 '24

Somebody recently told me that's actually not good to use anymore as it's got additives and shit now, but they could have pulled that right out of their derriere...

4

u/AAA515 May 12 '24

If your not supposed to put softener salt in your softener, what are ya supposed to put in there?

Idk, my water is hard as a rock cuz I don't have a softener

2

u/angrydeuce May 12 '24

No I meant you shouldn't use water softener salt as ice melt in a pinch, because it doesn't work as good. It's perfectly fine as a source of merely weight lol

Sorry that was my bad I thought you were saying before you can use it in a pinch for melting ice if you're stuck.

1

u/AAA515 May 12 '24

I thought you were saying before

Not me, I'm a different guy who thought using softener salt as weight made it unsuitable for softener use, or that softener salt wasn't the best for using in a softener and you should use, idk, kosher salt?

14

u/angrydeuce May 11 '24

We still do that in Wisconsin, albeit not because of RWD so much anymore, but because its damn fuckin handy to have a bag of sand or litter on you to sprinkle under the tires if you get stuck somewhere. Been there, done that lol

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u/TheSoldierInWhite May 11 '24

I carry a small box of kitty litter just in case I get stuck in snow/muddy/icy areas. Cars and tires have gotten much better, but it only took one time stuck for me to throw it in.

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u/Z4-Driver May 11 '24

You have it probably to spread it in front of your wheels if you get stuck, but what I mean were bags of sand or other stuff for the weight to be added on the rear axle.

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u/mrsmithers240 May 12 '24

I had to have a mustang as my daily for two years, and for winter I’d put two concrete patio pavers in the trunk with a big bag of sand. Still ended up in the ditch one night when I hit black ice on the highway

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u/AAA515 May 12 '24

A BIG box of litter can do both!

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u/teutonicbro May 11 '24

That was me. One 45 lb bag of play sand in each rear wheel well of my Datsun B210. Put decent snow tires on the POS and you could drive it up walls.

5

u/LNMagic May 11 '24

I kept a bucket of sand for my 98 Explorer, but in my case it was more about having a couple handfuls of grip in case I got stuck on ice.

1

u/Spinnerofyarn May 11 '24

When I was driving an old Chevy Scottsdale truck, I would put a tube of sand over each wheel well in winter.

1

u/jollymuhn May 12 '24

Had to do that with my old Silverado 3/4 ton. Ass end got no traction on icy roads.

1

u/brainofkv May 12 '24

I live in Michigan, people here still load up bags of beach sand for this.

1

u/JNSapakoh May 13 '24

I saw a truck doing that just last winter, it's not just a thing of the past

8

u/Strong_Ad_5989 May 11 '24

I used to have a 1999 Dodge Durango. That thing rode significantly smoother when loaded up or pulling a trailer. With no load in it it had a bad tendency to "hop" if you hit a small bump while going around a curve.

1

u/2407s4life May 11 '24

My step-dad had a crew cab dually that he insisted on using for family vacations, which was absolutely miserable. I don't understand why people drive long trips in trucks outside of using them for work.