I had Sophia MOTd a few weeks ago and had a couple of failures. Ball joint, front brakes (Just pads) and a couple of rear tyres. Ball joint I got done by the garage, brakes I did myself and the tyres are where this tale of woe starts.
Being a bit short of the jingly stuff the garage offered to fit a part worn on the worst wheel and swap my spare for the better of the two failures (on the understanding that I changed it out as soon as I could). The spare I had never used since purchasing the car but it appeared perfectly servicable and importantly it was legal
Picked the car up once all was done and noticed a bit of vibration on the short drive home but was not overly concerned as it was obviously coming from the back and I just put it down to an imbalanced spare as I had already noticed the lack of any balance weights.
Following morning and off to work and the car seemed to be a bit 'juddery' between twenty and thirty. Somat wrong with engine methinks, could be the damp. Get onto the bypass, downhill and wind up me chuff, get to forty plus and whoa neddy. Cars all over the place. Nearly side swipe a Pork (should have seen the look on his face!). Got it under control, slowly to work (embarrasing even for a slow git like me) and had a good look round. Nothing obvious, all wheels tight, nothing binding or loose that I could find.
Had to go home at the end of the day but took it slow. Rang the garage and although friendly not all that helpful in the short term. Decided to eliminate the spare so that I could take the car back to the garage if it proved to be the part worn.
KwikFit were a bit puzzled at first that a rear tyre imbalance could have such an effect. Tried to get me to replace the part worn etc but I resisted their sales patter and just got the spare balanced. :bang: (lolololol sorry I know what is coming). Guy takes my spare and puts it on his balancing machine and spins it up. Machine emergency stops after some serious vibes. Even more puzzled looks, bit of head scratching, a few adjustments and another go. Same result. Guy consults his boss who I am talking to at the time and asks if they have any 300gm balance weights. Long pregnant pause as the boss waits for the punch line. Guy is not joking as the machine says it twice.
After another look at the tyre two bulges are obvious of the inside of the tyre. The spare was inspected by both the garage and myself before fitting so these bulges have appeared in less than two days. After some soul (and wallet) searching it is obviouse the spare is buggered and a new tyre is ordered (just had enough dosh by 50p).
Guy takes the old tyre off and bingo! Out drops the problem...
An eight inch steel bar weighing just over half a pound in weight.
It was between the tyre and an inner tube so did not give its presence away with a rattle. With no sign of any entry hole in the tyre itself it must have somehow ended up inside the tyre when the tube was fitted. May even have been used as a tyre iron and flipped in when the tyre popped on.
The wheel can not have ever been fitted to the car since fitting the inner tube - the lack of balance weights could well have been because of the national lack of '300g' tyre balance weights. It turns out the 'juddering was caused by the half pound weight throwing backwards and forwards with each wheel rotation. The bulges were caused by the bar trying to go in a straight line at high rotational velocities. The inside of the tyre was wrecked and it would not have been very much longer before the side wall would have split open.
Just nearly losing control was scary enough and got the blood pump working overtime but I could just as easily have had a catastrophic tyre blow out and been killed.
Moral of this story - don't assume, check!
Happy motoring...
P.S. Spare now new and balanced as well!
P.P.S. How many of you know the provenance of your spares?????
Being a bit short of the jingly stuff the garage offered to fit a part worn on the worst wheel and swap my spare for the better of the two failures (on the understanding that I changed it out as soon as I could). The spare I had never used since purchasing the car but it appeared perfectly servicable and importantly it was legal
Picked the car up once all was done and noticed a bit of vibration on the short drive home but was not overly concerned as it was obviously coming from the back and I just put it down to an imbalanced spare as I had already noticed the lack of any balance weights.
Following morning and off to work and the car seemed to be a bit 'juddery' between twenty and thirty. Somat wrong with engine methinks, could be the damp. Get onto the bypass, downhill and wind up me chuff, get to forty plus and whoa neddy. Cars all over the place. Nearly side swipe a Pork (should have seen the look on his face!). Got it under control, slowly to work (embarrasing even for a slow git like me) and had a good look round. Nothing obvious, all wheels tight, nothing binding or loose that I could find.
Had to go home at the end of the day but took it slow. Rang the garage and although friendly not all that helpful in the short term. Decided to eliminate the spare so that I could take the car back to the garage if it proved to be the part worn.
KwikFit were a bit puzzled at first that a rear tyre imbalance could have such an effect. Tried to get me to replace the part worn etc but I resisted their sales patter and just got the spare balanced. :bang: (lolololol sorry I know what is coming). Guy takes my spare and puts it on his balancing machine and spins it up. Machine emergency stops after some serious vibes. Even more puzzled looks, bit of head scratching, a few adjustments and another go. Same result. Guy consults his boss who I am talking to at the time and asks if they have any 300gm balance weights. Long pregnant pause as the boss waits for the punch line. Guy is not joking as the machine says it twice.
After another look at the tyre two bulges are obvious of the inside of the tyre. The spare was inspected by both the garage and myself before fitting so these bulges have appeared in less than two days. After some soul (and wallet) searching it is obviouse the spare is buggered and a new tyre is ordered (just had enough dosh by 50p)
. Guy takes the old tyre off and bingo! Out drops the problem...
An eight inch steel bar weighing just over half a pound in weight.
It was between the tyre and an inner tube so did not give its presence away with a rattle. With no sign of any entry hole in the tyre itself it must have somehow ended up inside the tyre when the tube was fitted. May even have been used as a tyre iron and flipped in when the tyre popped on.
The wheel can not have ever been fitted to the car since fitting the inner tube - the lack of balance weights could well have been because of the national lack of '300g' tyre balance weights. It turns out the 'juddering was caused by the half pound weight throwing backwards and forwards with each wheel rotation. The bulges were caused by the bar trying to go in a straight line at high rotational velocities. The inside of the tyre was wrecked and it would not have been very much longer before the side wall would have split open.
Just nearly losing control was scary enough and got the blood pump working overtime but I could just as easily have had a catastrophic tyre blow out and been killed
.Moral of this story - don't assume, check!
Happy motoring...
P.S. Spare now new and balanced as well!
P.P.S. How many of you know the provenance of your spares?????
