Car services

[The Y-man]

I dont know anything about cars...... but would it be better to fix it up earlier? Is it possible that if you continue to leave it that it would become a major problem and affect other things as well?

Shocks (or true terminology is "damper") rarely have catastrophic failures - they tend to leak around the seals and eventually lose the oil in them. The only sudden loss I suffered from one was when the upper bolt holding them in place came loose and fell off while I was driving from Tibooburra to Bourke many moons ago on a Jackaroo. I unbolted the bottom mount, threw what was left of it in the back and drove without incident form Bourke to Melbourne

With a complete failure, that corner of your car can become very bouncy, which can be uncomfortable, as well as harder to control, especially over bumpy ground. (Unless of course your car has leaf springs like my Jacka did - and seriously I noticed no difference! )

The Y-man

 

[BayView]

Funny thing is my husband doesnt have a clue about cars - he had to ask me how to open the bonnet recently.

The amount of men these days we see who are mechanically challenged is astounding....especially younger blokes.

I guess this is why run-flat tyres were invented and became popular - even though they cost a fortune; no-one has either the knowledge or the where-with-all or they are bone lazy or too precious to do their own tyre changes.

FFS; my wife can - and does - change a flat out on the road if she ever gets one, and she is not all that mechanically minded. She's a do-er though.

You can also see why the RACV are taking hours to respond to many calls too; loads of people who call them up to come and change their flat tyre.

That's fine, but don't whine and cry when they take so long, and/or put up their fees to cover the excessive extra call-outs.

 

[Macca]

Hi BV,

You have touched on something I would like to know

If I have run flat tyres and get a flat tyre how do I know ? With normal tyres I glance at my tyres every time I get in my car and can see straight away if one is low or flat but if they are run flat I couldn't tell could I.

I assume they would feel different if flat but how different ?

 

[BayView]

Hi BV,

You have touched on something I would like to know

If I have run flat tyres and get a flat tyre how do I know ? With normal tyres I glance at my tyres every time I get in my car and can see straight away if one is low or flat but if they are run flat I couldn't tell could I.

I assume they would feel different if flat but how different ?

As far as I know, run flats are only available on certain cars which have pressure sensing systems with a warning of some kind on the dash - later model Beemers and Mercs for example.

Without this system, you won't sense the tyre is flat most likely, and that is the beauty of them; you can drive for 100km's on them without any air in them.

They have extremely thick sidewalls, and are very difficult to remove from a rim.

The drawback with run-flats (apart from the cost) is they are not supposed to be repaired; you are supposed to replace the tyre - very expensive puncture.

I guess you could use them on a normal car, but you are spending a huge amount of money for the luxury of not having to get out of the car and change a flat tyre....

 

[BayView]

I (female) took my car to a local mechanic once and he asked for my husbands ph number just in case he needed to discuss any additional repairs ... I've never been back.

Funny thing is my husband doesnt have a clue about cars - he had to ask me how to open the bonnet recently.

No offense, but the reality is that most females who come in are clueless about everything to do with their car. All they know what to do is drive it.

They don't know how to pump up a tyre, they often don't know how to open the hood; forget even knowing about how to check oil and coolant/water and top them up. Many have never seen their spare wheel and don't even know where it is in the car.

We had a lady come in not long ago who couldn't open her electric windows....she had accidentally pushed in the window lock button which is right next to the button that operates them. She had owned the car since new and didn't know this button existed.

One lady just recently drove in in her new (second hand) Merc. A very large mid-80's model; god knows why you would buy one, but anyway...

She asked us to back it out for her as she is no good at backing a car - this lady has been driving for over 30 years I might add.

Another lady drove in one time and the racket was ear-splitting. I looked out the door and saw the rim of the rear passenger wheel was resting on the concrete - the tyre was disintegrated and had totally disappeared. Now; to get to that stage would mean several miles of driving the car with a flat tyre, on a bitumen road...how could you not notice??

She said "I think I've got a noise coming from one of my wheels".

I've got a million of 'em.

 

[kiwipaul]

Without this system, you won't sense the tyre is flat most likely, and that is the beauty of them; you can drive for 100km's on them without any air in them.

If you don't have a sensor so how do you know you have a problem. I take it you cannot run indefinitely with a run flat that has a puncture.

I would assume you must feel their is a problem as the tire quietly disintegrates as you continue to drive.

 

[BayView]

If you don't have a sensor so how do you know you have a problem. I take it you cannot run indefinitely with a run flat that has a puncture.

There's the catch I suspect.

I haven't seen one without the other so far.

Given that most people cry about the cost of yer standard Conformadore tyre at $100 as it is, I can't imagine yer average Joe ponying up for a $500 run-flat on a normal vehicle. Even the Beemer drivers baulk when they hear the cost of them.

It would be interesting to see just how far you could drive on one after it is punctured.

Most people would get to a repair place asap after getting the warning, so the 100km cut-off would seldom be reached I'd say.

It's probably just an arbitrary figure the manufacturer has come up with to give them protection from litigation from some idiot who thinks they can drive around Aus with a flat... sorta like how the food we all eat now has "use-by" dates on it to protect the manufacturer from idiots who eat something after it's been sitting in the pantry or fridge for 6 months and then sue them for getting sick.

 

[VYBerlinaV8]

No offense, but the reality is that most females who come in are clueless about everything to do with their car. All they know what to do is drive it.

They don't know how to pump up a tyre, they often don't know how to open the hood; forget even knowing about how to check oil and coolant/water and top them up. Many have never seen their spare wheel and don't even know where it is in the car.

We had a lady come in not long ago who couldn't open her electric windows....she had accidentally pushed in the window lock button which is right next to the button that operates them. She had owned the car since new and didn't know this button existed.

One lady just recently drove in in her new (second hand) Merc. A very large mid-80's model; god knows why you would buy one, but anyway...

She asked us to back it out for her as she is no good at backing a car - this lady has been driving for over 30 years I might add.

Another lady drove in one time and the racket was ear-splitting. I looked out the door and saw the rim of the rear passenger wheel was resting on the concrete - the tyre was disintegrated and had totally disappeared. Now; to get to that stage would mean several miles of driving the car with a flat tyre, on a bitumen road...how could you not notice??

She said "I think I've got a noise coming from one of my wheels".

I've got a million of 'em.

When I worked at the servo we would get the occasional female who knew about cars, but they were in the minority. I had one old lady who didn't know how to put petrol in, and many women of all ages who could not do basic checks or use features of their car.

Of course there are blokes who are just as useless, but nowhere near as many.

 

[VYBerlinaV8]

I wouldn't want run flats anyway. I much prefer my cars to use standard-type parts and consumables too make maintenance cheaper and easier. I'm a big believer in maintaining according to the proper schedule, and having a range of sensibly priced parts available makes this so much easier.

I tend to choose vehicles that use widely available tyres sizes, too, because having multiple options available makes for better competition and thus prices.

I dropped the ball a bit of the wife's Holden Barina Spark - the damn thing has 165/60 R15s, which seem qute unusual.

 

[Ideo]

I hate run flats. Really poor feel from them.

Just don't like them at all.

I've only had one issue with a flat. Had new tyres fitted and they screwed up the security lock. Not happy.

I also wasn't happy because it was a blow out at 120k.

 

[weg]

When I worked at the servo we would get the occasional female who knew about cars, but they were in the minority. I had one old lady who didn't know how to put petrol in, and many women of all ages who could not do basic checks or use features of their car.

Of course there are blokes who are just as useless, but nowhere near as many.

This minority of women who do know about cars are married to the minority of klutz men who don't know anything about them.

I would know .

Well actually husband is good with basic checks, just has no idea about diagnosing and doing minor repairs.

 

[amiaow]

Mine too- he had actually never owned a car until I brought the Landcruiser into his life!

 

[BayView]

I dropped the ball a bit of the wife's Holden Barina Spark - the damn thing has 165/60 R15s, which seem qute unusual.

I've never ever sold a tyre of that size. Are you sure it's not a 165/60/14?

If it's the 15", it's rolling diameter is 579mm.

You can go 15mm over what the tyre placard (inside the driver's door well usually) says, which allows you to go up to 594mm, and 1.5% under that size, which is 570mm (no-one usually goes under, though).

So check that out and get back to me and I can look at an alternative size.

You could do a 185/55/15 which is more common - rolling diameter of 585mm. A lot of the newer small cars like the Mazda 3 etc do this size. Starting price for this size is approx $110 and go up. The other factor will be load and speed rating which will also on the placard. (I know you know all this but just sayin'...)

You could even do a 205/50/15 if you wanna make it look like a fully-sick unit
, but they might be too wide and rub.

 

[The Y-man]

I've never ever sold a tyre of that size. Are you sure it's not a 165/60/14?

http://www.holden.com.au/vehicles/barina-spark/range/features

Wow, it's true!
15" x 5" 5 spoke alloy wheels. 165/60 R15 tyres (4)


The Y-man

 

[VYBerlinaV8]

http://www.holden.com.au/vehicles/barina-spark/range/features

Wow, it's true!
15" x 5" 5 spoke alloy wheels. 165/60 R15 tyres (4)


The Y-man

It is indeed. I checked it myself.

The tyres that are currently on there are Goodyear Duragrip - a tyre model I'd never heard of. And unfortunately they seem to wear fairly quickly. I doubt we'll see more than 40,000km out of the set, even with rotation.

Would a 185/55/15 fit on the wheel? There'd be a lot of offset, maybe too much, I'd have thought.

 

[BayView]

Would a 185/55/15 fit on the wheel? There'd be a lot of offset, maybe too much, I'd have thought.

Not sure if they'll fit. I would have thought so...but only just. Maybe worth visiting the local tyre guys to get them to have a squizz.

 

[VYBerlinaV8]

Not sure if they'll fit. I would have thought so...but only just. Maybe worth visiting the local tyre guys to get them to have a squizz.

What about a 175/55 R15...?

Cheers.

Alternatively, I could spring for some cheap mags which fit standard 185/60 tyres, maybe 14s.

 

[BayView]

What about a 175/55 R15...?

Cheers.

Alternatively, I could spring for some cheap mags which fit standard 185/60 tyres, maybe 14s.

The 175/55/15 has a rolling diameter of 574mm, which is within the range, so yes.

Still an odd size; very rarely ever sell it. Price starts at approx $135 +

 

[VYBerlinaV8]

The 175/55/15 has a rolling diameter of 574mm, which is within the range, so yes.

Still an odd size; very rarely ever sell it. Price starts at approx $135 +

Thanks for all your free advice - it is greatoly appreciated! I figure I'll cast around for quotes when the time comes to change the tyres. If they cost less than $150 a corner I'll probably just suck it up. I only expect to own the car for 80,000km or so anyway.

 

[Ideo]

I use this when I am looking at changing tyres etc

http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html