strapping the car down

[Greg Amy]

Sweet! The thread is EXACTLY two years old today! Great timing.

[slowautoxr]

Does that make a difference? Instead of starting a new thread I thought I'd post in an existing thread that was applicable.

[shwah]

It doesn't matter. Just a fun coincidence.

I cross mine. I like having the straps on enough angle to resist side to side and front to back.

The VWs have some nice slots/hooks in the unibody that are used for train/truck transport, and I just use those to tie down. Sort of tough to reach, but dead rock solid. I would imagine most cars have something like this designed into them.

[slowautoxr]

The front of the RX-7 has tie down points I use. The rears would be nice to use but they're literally at the back edge of the trailer. So I use the lower control arms at the axle and cross the straps. I've never really cared to hook up that way on the back but I really can't figure out a better one.

[lateapex911]

Crossing straps is a risky idea. if one of the cross straps loosens or fails, now the car will move to the remaining strap. Simple geometry will predict what happens next, and it's not good.

If the straps are pulled straight back, they have to lengthen to allow any other position of the car, so a failure isn't as big a deal.

The anal guys do both, of course.

[GKR_17]

Crossing also multiplies the load in the strap, could easily be two or three times the load depending on how steep the angle is.