ejstubbs

I'm sure this topic has been discussed before but I'm afraid my search mojo seems to have failed me. My Yeti has just failed its MoT due to the offside headlamp aim being too high. I can't find anything in the manual about how to adjust this. I seem to remember some discussion about having to reset the levelling system (or maybe not). Any informed advice - or even just a link to the earlier relevant thread - would be most gratefully received. For clarity: the car is a 2017 SE L with the Bi-Xenon headlights. As an aside: they also failed it because of a fault with the 13-pin socket for the trailer lightboard. Allegedly this was not operating the rear fog lamp. When I got home I hooked up my towball mounted bike carrier and confirmed that all the lightboard functions were operating correctly. So I have to admit I'm a bit skeptical about quality of their testing...)

I find using the pull strap is actually a bit awkward. Firstly, it's closer to the hinge than just pulling on the outer/bottom edge of the tailgate, so the lever is shorter and thus the force required is higher. Secondly, you can't pull it all the way down using the strap or you'd find yourself shutting your hand/arm in the tailgate as it closed*. Doubly awkward for a 6-footer like me: I have to duck down in order to exert a continuous pull on the strap, and then pull my hand out of the way at the last minute. It all seems a bit unnecessarily athletic. It may be that the strap is primarily provided for shorter people. Overall, for me, the strap is not the most simple or clever feature of the Yeti. And the process is not made any easier if the catch is out of alignment, which isn't uncommon (AIUI there have been a number of service actions issued to address that). I find it much simpler just to use the edge of the tailgate and pull it gently 90% of the way down before giving it a final wee shove to latch it closed. The drawback with that is that your hands get a bit grubby, as the tailgate does accumulate road muck. Which could be another reason that the strap is provided. However, I don't find the actual effort involved in that excessive or onerous. It's no worse than my previous car (Subaru Impreza), or my wife's Polo. Whenever I see cars with self closing tailgates (usually seems to be a Volvo estate at the supermarket driven by a yummy mummy) my thoughts always follow sequence that goes roughly as follows: 1) Ooh look, that's swish 2) Hang on, have we as a species reached the point where we can't even shut a car door without help from an electric motor? 3) Well, I suppose if you've got your hands full with a baby or something**... 4) ...but shouldn't you put the kid in the car first, before trying to load eight bags of heavy shopping into the boot? 5) Oh well, each to his own. * As a general rule I don't think that trying to close a door using a handle on the other side of the door to where you are is a particularly great idea. Not as bad as trying to open it with said handle, though: I think that's called "breaking and entering". ** Although I don't think I've ever actually seen anyone trying to close their tailgate while thus, or similarly, encumbered. I'm just trying to be generous.

I live in Edinburgh. If I waved at every Yeti I saw on the road round here I'd probably get done for not maintaining proper control of my vehicle. Seriously, they're everywhere. (SWMBO reckons it's because Edinburghers are grippy as anything and are taught from an early age to recognise good value when they see it.)

Unfortunately the dealer can't fit me in until a week today. On the plus side, the noise was not as bad today as it was when I first posted. I only have a couple of shortish trips to do between now and when the dealer can look it so I'm fairly chilled about it overall...

I've come up with a theory about why sharp right-hand turns seem to make it worse. The noise is definitely worse at low speeds (not much more than walking pace) even if I'm not braking at the time. When turning sharp right, the offside rear wheel is going to be going quite slowly cf the nearside (that's what differentials are for) hence triggering whatever it is that makes the noise worse at low speeds. Well, it's a theory... Is there a straightforward way to check for stones in places they shouldn't be? I'm not looking to start dismantling brakes and such but if there's something I could easily get at with the wheel off I might decide to have a go at it this weekend.

Hmm, sounds like I'll be handing it to the dealer to investigate further, then. If it does turn out to be a stone (which is sounding increasingly likely from what you folks have described) would that necessarily require any parts to be replaced, or would it more probably just be labour time? Oh, and another thing: although obviously not ideal, is it actually safe to drive until I can get it looked at? I have a few local errands to do over the next few days that I'd rather not postpone unnecessarily.

I've tried the reversing trick, didn't change anything. Would you expect a trapped stone to behave the way I described? I'd have thought it would cause a continuous noise rather than being triggered by something and then diminishing over a shortish period of time. Would hope it's not anything rotted on a car less than three years old!

I know this kind of problem turns up quite frequently here but I thought I'd run this particular one past the assembled minds to see if there might be a straightforward solution before it goes to the dealer for them to take a look at. About a week ago I started to notice a grinding noise from the rear wheels as the car started moving. At first I put it down to corrosion on the discs arising from not having been using the car much recently. I expected it to go away after a few miles or ordinary stop/start driving. Which it mostly did but it seems to come back from time to time while I'm driving. Specifically, tight right-hand turns e.g. at mini roundabouts seem to set it off, particularly (if not necessary solely) on the offside rear. After being triggered in this way it seems to persist for a good mile or so, diminishing slowly, but becoming much more obvious if I slow down on the throttle i.e. not braking (braking does seem to make it go away, mostly). If I manage to get up to any kind of speed (e.g. roughly above car park speed) it's no longer discernible. I'm wondering if maybe I've got a sticky caliper on the offside rear that is somehow being upset by tight turns? Or something else? Grateful for any suggestions/ideas.

Hmm. The Origamis on my first Yeti lasted 7 years with nary a hint of corrosion. And that's in Scotland, where the gritters (usually) aren't slow to come out. Then again, I had a separate set of steelies for my winter tyres so maybe the alloys just never had to cope with the worst conditions.