A friend who's basically tutoring me in cars and their different parts told me that as my first assignment I was to find out what exhaust bearings were and what they did. Can anyone help me out?
They are called muffler bearings and the don't exist, this is a term used to find out if you know anything about cars.
exhaust bearings dont exist, neither does blinker fluid,exhaust samples,or chemlights that use batteries. also be on the look out for a box of ground guides, boxes of grid squares,bags of compressed air, and prop wash ( technically prop wash does exist, but its the air from the prop of a plane,not a cleaning product)
to define bearings is to say a component used to reduce friction. they are broadly classified due to the motions they allow. the donut gasket that seats your exhaust pipe to your exhaust manifold performs a sealing action but also acts in a micro manner as a bearing as it allows for the allaying of friction where these two metal pieces mate. by the same definitions your muffler and tail pipe hangers perform the same purpose as they, in sustaining the weight , allay , once again, the friction and the twist of the metal they support. i hope this addresses what you were looking for.
As the myth goes, back in the good-ol' days shady mechanics would sell unnecessary work to customers as an additional profit center, including the service/repair/replacement of made-up parts such as muffler bearings, blinker fluid and the ever-popular spark plug oil. None of these things of course, exist. So yes, your friend is having you on. I suggest you take it and run with it. Do a whole report on the history, design, safety features and of course servicing of the oh-so-important exhaust bearing, including how to diagnose and repair problems. Then impress your friend with the amount of work you put into your first homework assignment. Be very serious about it - make him think HE'S STUPID for not knowing what an exhaust bearing is. Then spring the punchline.
the only sort of bearings I can think of that would be part of the exhaust would be in a car with a turbocharger.
