Dictionary of Automotive Terms Abbreviations

DICTIONARY OF AUTOMOTIVE TERMS - "We"

Weak: See
lean

Wear: The progressive loss of substance from the operating surface of a body occurring as a result of relative motion at the surface; rubbing away.

Also See
heel and toe wear
tire wear

Wear adjuster: See
automatic wear adjuster

Wear and tear: The condition of a vehicle where some parts are damaged from normal use

Wear bars: See
tread wear indicators

Wear-in: As the piston slides up and down the cylinder of a new engine, the rings rub against the rough cylinder walls. The roughness smooths out in time so that a near perfect fit is achieved. Also called "broken-in."

Wear indicator: A projection on the inner brake pad that contacts the disc and creates a squealing noise when pad replacement is necessary. Gradually being replaced by an electrical sensor that illuminates a warning lamp.

Also See
brake pad wear indicator
tread wear indicator

Wear pattern: A pattern of wear visible at the point where two parts touch

Wear resistance: The ability to withstand conditions which cause a progressive loss of substance

Wear ring: A ring on a pump used to prevent costly wear of the casing and impeller at the running joint. It is secured to both the casing and the impeller

Weather caulking: Any of several kinds of crack-filling material around any windows or doors to the outside used to reduce the passage of air and moisture around moveable parts of a door or window. Weather stripping is available in strips or rolls of metal, vinyl, or foam rubber and can be applied on the inside or outside of a building.

Weather cracking: A visual sidewall condition which appears as cracking of the rubber. Also see ozone checking.

Weather deck: Uppermost continuous deck and having no overhead protection having watertight openings

Weathering: The change in appearance of paint caused by exposure to the elements. The physical disintegration and chemical decomposition of materials on exposure to atmospheric agents. Also see natural weathering

Weather resistant: The ability to withstand natural climatic conditions which cause surface deterioration

Weatherstrip: A rubber seal fitted to the body, e.g., along a door aperture or trunklid, to prevent water, air, and moisture from getting into the interior of the body. Also see window weatherstrip

Weather stripping: Any of several kinds of crack-filling material around any windows or doors to the outside used to reduce the passage of air and moisture around moveable parts of a door or window. Weather stripping is available in strips or rolls of metal, vinyl, or foam rubber and can be applied on the inside or outside of a building.

Web

An internal reinforcement between panels.
A crank web.
A supporting structure across a cavity.

Also See
drum web
crank web
suspension turret web

Webbing: A woven nylon strap used for seat belts. Also see belt webbing

Webbing grabber: A device in an inertia reel seat belt that grips the belt webbing tightly in the event of sudden braking or impact

Weber carburetor: A well-known Italian brand, used on many high-performance Italian, German, and other vehicles during its heyday. Weber carburetors were famous for their adjustability

Wedge

Engine using wedge-shaped combustion chamber. The combustion chambers are flatter on one end than the other.
A simple machine consisting of a triangular shaped block, that can be forced into a gap, giving a greatly increased force.

Also See
hydraulic wedge

Wedge block: Combustion chamber design in which the top of the piston and the surface of the block form an angle

Wedge combustion chamber: Click image to supersize
Wedge combustion chamber

A combustion chamber using a wedge shape. It is quite efficient and lends itself to mass production and as a result is widely used. The valve is in the longer sloping surface and the spark plug in the shorter; the tapered part of the wedge forms a squish zone. The squish produces swirling turbulence as the piston forces the mixture away from the narrow area of the wedge. Turbulence keeps the fuel and air mixed thoroughly for even burning. Squish also cools the mixture in the corners to reduce hot spots. It has a short flame path which reduces the tendency of the burning fuel to knock or pre-ignite.

Also See
hemispherical combustion chamber
bathtub combustion chamber
squish combustion chamber
piston-crown combustion chamber

Wedge end: The flat peen of a peen and finish hammer, shaped like a wedge

Wedge expander: A part of a mechanical drum brake system which forces the shoes apart into contact with the drum

Weekly earnings: See
average weekly earnings

Weep: Fluid leakage which stains the outside of the container, but does not actually drip. Generally oil weeping is not a serious problem.

Weighbridge: A device for measuring the weight of vehicles (especially trucks), consisting of a metal plate set into the road surface

Weigh scale: A roadside scale which determines the weight of transport trucks and their load.

Weight

The force of gravity acting upon a body. It is measured in Newtons.
The mass of an object under the influence of gravity. Unlike mass, the weight changes with the location of the object. As the force of gravity is relatively constant on earth, we use the terms weight and mass interchangeably.

Also See
advance weight
axle weight
balance weight
balancing weight
cargo weight
centrifugal weight
clip-on weight
counterweight
curb weight
distributor weight
dry weight
flyweight
governor weight
gross axle weight rating
gross combination weight
gross Combined Weight Rating
gross train weight
gross vehicle weight
gross Vehicle Weight Rating
horsepower weight factor
horsepower-weight factor
laden weight
lead weight
light weight
mass
maximum trailer weight
molecular weight
multiweight
power-to-weight ratio
power to weight ratio
sliding weight
sprung weight
straight weight
tape weight
tare weight
tongue weight
troy weight
unladen weight
unsprung weight
weightlessness
wheel weight

Weight bias: An element of vehicle design that results in either the front or rear suspension having to support more than half of the vehicle's weight. Most cars have a forward weight bias.

Weight engine oil: See
straight weight engine oil

Weight factor: See
horsepower weight factor

Weigh-In-Motion: (WIM) Technology for determining a vehicle's weight without requiring it to come to a complete stop.

Weightlessness: A condition when an object is in free fall. It does not mean that the object is completely out of the Earth's gravitational field.

Weight per unit area: An indication of the thickness of metallic paint coatings in grams per square meter of surface area

Weight rating: See
axle weight rating
combined weight rating
gross axle weight rating
gross Combined Weight Rating
gross Vehicle Weight Rating

Weight ratio: See
power to weight ratio

Weight tool: See
wheel weight tool

Weight transfer: The transfer of load from one end or side of the vehicle to the other when accelerating, braking, or cornering

Weight transfer effect: Because the center of gravity of a vehicle is located above the centers of wheel rotation, a sudden stoppage of the vehicle tends to cause the center of gravity to move forward, thus throwing more weight onto the front wheels and less on the rear wheels

Weissach axle: A special double wishbone rear suspension developed by Porsche for the 928S to minimize the problems of oversteering

Welch plug

A concave disk generally about 10 mm (3/8 inch) diameter used to plug a hole in a carburetor.
A core plug

Weld: To join two pieces of metal together by raising the area to be joined to a point hot enough for the two sections to melt and flow together. Additional metal is usually added by melting small drops from the end of a metal rod while the welding is in progress.

Also See
arc welding
axis of a weld
butt joint
continuous weld
convex weld
face of weld
fillet weld
groove weld
inside corner weld
intermittent weld
leg of fillet weld
outside corner weld
plug weld
reinforcement of weld
rosette weld
spot weld
tack weld
throat of a fillet weld
toe of weld

Welder: A device used to weld (usually) two pieces of metal

Weld face: The exposed surface of the weld. Also see concave weld face

Welding: Art of fastening metals (or plastic) together by means of interfusing them. They are heated to a suitable temperature. In some cases pressure is used to bond them together. In other cases a filler material (solder) is used to join them. Among the approximately 40 different welding methods, the resistance welding processes, and especially spot welding, are most relevant for automobile production, whereas arc welding methods are most relevant for servicing and repair.

Also See
arc welding
atomic arc welding
automatic welding
back-step welding
backhand welding
backward welding
braze welding
bronze welding
downhand welding
flat position welding
forward welding
friction welding
gas metal-arc welding
gas tungsten-arc welding
gas welding
hammer welding
heated tool welding
hot gas welding
inert arc welding
inert gas-arc welding
leftward welding
mig welding
oxyacetylene welding
oxygen-acetylene welding
percussion welding
plastics welding
plug welding
projection welding
puddle welding
pulse arc welding
resistance welding
sigma welding
spot welding
tack welding
tig welding
ultrasonic welding

Welding clamp: A locking clamp with U-shaped jaws (which allow more visibility and working space), used to hold panels, bars, tubes, etc. for welding

Welding hammer: A special type of tool with high tensile strength head and a spring handle (to reduce shock/vibration) used to chip excess slag and splatter during welding process. It has a blade at one end and a point at the other. Also called "straight head chipping hammer"

Welding jig: A special type of frame gauge used to establish the correct position of structural parts on the body prior to welding them in

Welding rod: Wire which is melted into the weld metal.

Welding sequence: Order in which the component parts of a structure are welded.

Welding wire: A welding electrode fed into the handset from a reel

Weldment: Assembly of component parts joined together by welding.

Weld metal: Fused portion of base metal or fused portion of the base metal and the filler metal.

Weld-through primer: A special paint used along spot welds or seams; it does not burn off during welding and thus offers good protection on the back of welded panels that would normally be inaccessible once welding is completed

Well: See
door well
rim well
rim well base
seat well
spare wheel well
wheel well

Well base: See
rim well base

Well-base rim: A wheel rim with a central channel or recess into which one side of the tire bead can drop; the other side can then be forced over the rim for fitting or removal. Wheels with well-base rims are commonly used on passenger cars because they enable easy installation and removal of the tire; the seats of the rim on which the tire sits (rim flanges) have a 5° taper so that, as the tire is inflated, the beads are forced up the taper to give a wedge fit and a good seal for tubeless tires; safety bead seats must also be incorporated, however

Well-base wheel: See
one-piece wheel

Well depth: Vertical distance from bead seat to bottom of drop center rim.

Welting: Piping -- a rubber or plastic strip inserted between two removable panels, i.e., between a bolt-on fender and the body, to cover up the joint and to prevent water getting in; with the piping inserted, only the round bead along the upper edge of the piping is visible

W-engine: A rare engine design, basically similar to a V-engine, but using three instead of two cylinder rows. The W-engine is less perfectly balanced than a V-engine, but this is compensated by balancer shafts; the main advantage of the W-engine is its short crankshaft which results in a very short block; the compact construction permits a 12-cylinder W-engine to be installed transversely in a mid-engine sports car

Wet: See
grip in the wet

Wet boiling point: The boiling point of brake fluid when it has absorbed some water.

Also See
boiling point
DOT 3

Wet bulb: Device used in measurement of relative humidity. Evaporation of moisture lowers temperature of wet bulb compared to dry bulb temperature of same air sample.

Wet bulb hygrometer: Instrument for measuring the relative humidity of atmospheric air. Also called psychrometer.

Wet bulb temperature: Measure of the degree of moisture. It is the temperature of evaporation for an air sample.

Wet cell battery: Cell or connected group of cells that converts chemical energy into electrical energy by reversible chemical reactions.

Wet clutch: A friction clutch that uses an oil bath to dissipate heat

Wet friction: Wet friction exists when the rubbing parts have some other substance between them such as oil or grease. Opposite to dry friction.

Wet galvanizing: A galvanizing method in which the flux is deposited in molten form on the zinc bath, and the metal to be galvanized is introduced into the bath by passing it through this layer of flux

Wet grip: A roadholding ability of a tire on a wet surface

Wet heat: Heating system using hot water (hydronic) heat or steam heat.

Wet liner: A cylinder sleeve application in which the water in the cooling system contacts a major portion of the sleeve itself. Also see liner.

Wet manifold: An intake manifold that caries coolant through integral passages

Wet motor: A pump whose motor compartment is filled with liquid; submersible pumps are generally classified as wet motor types

Wet natural gas: A mixture of hydrocarbon compounds and small quantities of various nonhydrocarbons existing in the gaseous phase or in solution with crude oil in porous rock formations at reservoir conditions. The principal hydrocarbons normally contained in the mixture are methane, ethane, propane, butane, and pentane. Typical nonhydrocarbon gases that may be present in reservoir natural gas are water vapor, carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, nitrogen and trace amounts of helium. Under reservoir conditions, natural gas and its associated liquefiable portions occur either in a single gaseous phase in the reservoir or in solution with crude oil and are not distinguishable at the time as separate substances. Note: The Securities and Exchange Commission and the Financial Accounting Standards Board refer to this product as natural gas.

Wet-on-wet application: A paint application by which a second coat of paint is applied over a first coat before it is dried or stoved; in the case of metallic paint systems, the clear coat is applied over the wet base coat

Wet sanding: Sanding with wet-and-dry sandpaper that has been wetted with water to prevent the paper from clogging; commonly used for final sanding

Wet setting: The addition of the float with the carburetor mounted on engine and the float bowl full of fuel

Wet sleeve: A cylinder sleeve application in which the water in the cooling system contacts a major portion of the sleeve itself. The sleeve is supported by the block only at the top and bottom of the sleeve. The sleeve must be thicker than a dry sleeve. See wet liner.

Wet sump lubrication: The usual engine lubrication system in which the oil is carried in a pan below the crankshaft. Such a system relies on gravity draining the circulated oil and needs no return pump

Wetting: The ability of an adhesive, coating or sealer compound to wet or adhere to a surface immediately on contact even when the film is extremely thin.