Just a little rant about my weekend. I'd been driving from London to East Grinstead and back for 3 days last week and the steering wheel was a bit wobbly at motorway speeds so I booked it in for a wheel check/balance on Saturday. The guy at the garage showed me how the tyres had flat spots which would make the ride a bit rubbish but there's not alot to do apart from getting 4 new boots. The tread's are all good, they're just rubbish tyres. Anyway, one back tyre was OK so he balanced it and put it on the front and the other front one was better than the back, so he balanced that as well. I also had the alignment done.

So £60 lighter, I took it for a spin and no wobble. Great, I thought, except when I got to our destination I discovered a bloody great screw through the front tyre (the one taken from the back).

OK, no problem, I thought, just have to get it repaired. So down to Kwik Fit on Sunday

but realised the first garage hadn't put the wheel locking nut back .

I've got to drive to Swansea over Easter so it needs sorting but I just hope the garage has got my locking nut somewhere or I'm in for a proper nightmare trying to get it all done in time. I'm having to take tomorrow morning off work to get it sorted :mad:

Can I buy one over the counter from Skoda? Anyway, rant over

If you're in a rush for new lock nuts, you might have to get a set. They're only about £20.

All sorted!!! I was banging on the doors of the garage at 8.30 this morning. The guy came straight up to me and apologised and handed me the nut (he didn't know I was coming, just saw me and remembered) so I got him to fix the tyre as well. The screw came out but there was no leak :confused:. It hadn't gone all the way through. What are the chances of that?

Reminds me of a wheel balance problem I had after getting two new front tyres [not an Octavia]. The balance was rubbish so I took it back three times for the tyre place to rebalance the two new front tyres - without success.

Co-coincidently I discovered that I had a bolt missing from a rear wheel and a service garage gave me one for free as it was a safety issue.. The out of balance on the front tyres disappeared immediately.

Conjecture is that the tyre fitter had lost a bolt on a front wheel so had "borrowed" one from a rear wheel! That car had wheel covers so the bolts were not visible.

Could not prove anything at the time but I hear that particular good tyre place has now generally got a poor reputation in the town.

Jesus – that could have been nasty. When I saw the screw in the tyre my first thought was 'B*****ds, they've done that on purpose to get me back for more work', which just goes to show how easy it is to become wary and paranoid. Anyway, on reflection, I decided they'd be mad to do something like that and endanger a whole family's life but your bolt story seems to suggest otherwise. :(

I actually do think these guys are genuine and that screw had probably been there for ages. It was in the back wheel, which you don't see as often because it doesn't turn and gets hidden behind mudflaps. So if he hadn't moved it to the front I would never have known or got it fixed. The mechanic did say he meant to tell me but they were mad busy on Saturday.

Anyway, another lesson learned – always get the locking nut back and check your tyres more regularly